''Quadrophenia'' is a stage musical based on the sixth studio album by English rock band

The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

, released on 19 October 1973, and a film of the same name, released in 1979. The album was the group's second full-length rock opera, and the story reveals social, musical and psychological events from an English teenager's perspective. The music and songs were composed by

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is co-founder, leader, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. Townsh ...

and the story is set in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

in 1964 and '65. The name of the musical is a variation on the popular usage of the medical diagnostic term "

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...

" as dissociative identity disorder, which reflects the four distinct personalities of Jimmy, the story's protagonist, as well as the personalities of the four members of The Who.

Background

After the rock opera was released in 1973, The Who attempted to perform the album on a supporting tour. However, the effort turned out to be disastrous because of the complexity of the production. The album's music made extensive use of

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s and sound effects, which meant the group had to work to backing tapes for live performance. The band was constrained by playing to the tapes, and early performances were plagued by tape malfunctions. The band soon abandoned most of the rock opera in favor of their other hit songs. Only a few of the album's songs would be performed regularly on the group's subsequent tours in 1979–80, 1981, 1982, and 1989. In Pete Townshend was approached to perform ''Quadrophenia'' for the 1996

The Prince's Trust The Prince's Trust ( cy, Ymddiriedolaeth y Tywysog) is a charity in the United Kingdom founded in 1976 by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are u ...

concert at

Hyde Park, London Hyde Park is a Grade I-listed major park in Westminster, Greater London, the largest of the four Royal Parks that form a chain from the entrance to Kensington Palace through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, via Hyde Park Corner and Green Pa ...

. He at first planned to perform the opera as a solo acoustic show using scenes from the film on backing screens, but after receiving offers of financing from

Vespa Vespa () is an Italian luxury brand of scooter (motorcycle), scooters and mopeds manufactured by Piaggio. The name means wasp in Italian. The Vespa has evolved from a single model motor scooter manufactured in 1946 by Piaggio & Co. S.p.A. of ...

, Townshend decided on a elaborate production. The opera was performed with a large backing band, including Roger Daltrey,

John Entwistle John Alec Entwistle (9 October 194427 June 2002) was an English musician who was the bassist for the rock band The Who. Entwistle's music career spanned over four decades. Nicknamed "The Ox" and "Thunderfingers", he was the band's only member ...

on bass,

Zak Starkey Zak Richard Starkey (born 13 September 1965) is an English rock drummer who has performed and recorded with English rock band the Who since 1996. He is also the third drummer to have appeared with English rock band Oasis. In 2020, Starkey toure ...

on drums,

John "Rabbit" Bundrick John Douglas "Rabbit" Bundrick (born November 21, 1948 in Houston, Texas) is an American–English rock keyboardist. He is best known for his work with The Who and associations with others including Eric Burdon, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Roge ...

and

Jon Carin Jon Carin (born October 21, 1964) is a musician, singer, songwriter and producer who has been a longtime collaborator with the bands Pink Floyd and The Who, and the solo careers of David Gilmour and Roger Waters, Pete Townshend, Eddie Vedder, Kate ...

on keyboards,

Simon Townshend Simon Townshend (; born 10 October 1960) is a British guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is the younger brother of the Who's guitarist Pete Townshend, and is most associated with The Who and the various side projects of its original members ...

and

Geoff Whitehorn Geoffrey Charles Whitehorn (born 29 August 1951, London, England) is a guitarist and singer-songwriter, who has played as a member of If, Crawler and Procol Harum. History In August 1973, Whitehorn joined the pioneering British jazz-rock ba ...

on guitar, and special guests including

Phil Daniels Philip William Daniels (born 25 October 1958) is an English actor, musician and singer, most noted for film and television roles playing Londoners, such as the lead role of Jimmy Cooper in ''Quadrophenia'', Richards in '' Scum'', Stewart in ''Th ...

as the Narrator/Jimmy,

Gary Glitter Paul Francis Gadd (born 8 May 1944), best known by his stage name Gary Glitter, is an English former singer, songwriter, and record producer. He achieved success during the glam rock era of the 1970s and 1980s, and his career ended after he w ...

as the Rocker,

Adrian Edmonson Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. He was part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s and had roles in the television series '' The Young Ones'' ( ...

as the Ace Face/Bellboy,

Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...

as the hotel manager,

Trevor McDonald Sir Trevor McDonald (born George McDonald; 16 August 1939) is a Trinidadian-British newsreader and journalist, best known for his career as a news presenter with ITN. McDonald was knighted in 1999 for his services to journalism. Career ...

as the newsreader and

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in 1967, shortly before the departure of founding member Syd Barrett. P ...

as the bus driver & contributing guitarist. The band was augmented by a horn section and backing vocalists. Afterward, Townshend, Daltrey, and Entwistle performed a scaled-down version of the production at Madison Square Garden, before being pressured to take the show on tour in 1996-1997 as the Who. For the subsequent tour of the UK and the US, Daniels was replaced by a filmed actor, and Gilmour's role as the bus driver was taken over by Simon Townshend. Gary Glitter,

P.J. Proby * Pajamas, or PJs Arts and entertainment * ''P.J.'' (film), a 1968 film starring George Peppard * P.J. (Disney), Pete Junior, a Disney cartoon character * P.J. (comics), a character in ''The Family Circus'' comic strip * PJ (singer), Paris Ale ...

, and

Billy Idol William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is a British-American singer, songwriter, and musician. He first achieved fame in the 1970s emerging from the London punk rock scene as the lead singer o ...

were among the guests at different points of the tour.

Development as a stage musical

In November 2005, Luna C Productions staged a theatrical version of ''Quadrophenia'' in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, starring Stephen Shareaux as Jimmy. Additional performances were produced in March and November 2006. In February 2007, students from the

Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama , image_name = Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.jpg , image_size = , motto = , established = 1949 , type = Public , staff = , vice_chancellor = , students = 779 (2017/18) , undergrad ...

staged "the first independent theatrical production of ''Quadrophenia'' blessed by Pete Townshend" at the

Sherman Theatre The Sherman Theatre ( cy, Theatr y Sherman) is a venue in the Cathays district of Cardiff. It was built as a twin-auditorium venue in 1973 with financial support from Cardiff University. Sherman Cymru was the name of the Sherman Theatre between 2 ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Wales. This production was reworked, recast and expanded by director Tom Critchley and playwright Jeff Young into a successful full-scale UK Tour which launched at the

Theatre Royal, Plymouth Theatre Royal, Plymouth, is a theatre venue in Plymouth, Devon. It consists of a 1,300-seat main auditorium, The Lyric, which regularly hosts large-scale musicals, opera and ballet; a 200-seat studio, The Drum; and a 50-seat studio, The Lab. ...

in May 2009. The four Jimmys were played by Ryan O'Donnell, Rob Kendrick, Jack Roth and George Maguire. Actor Ryan O'Donnell received a 2009 nomination for "Best Performance in a Musical" from the TMA Theatre Awards for his performance as Jimmy in the stage version of ''Quadrophenia''. As of March 2013, NK Theatre Arts based in Romiley, Stockport, produced the world amateur premiere of the show with the personal permission of Townshend. Spotlight Musical Theatre Group, Beccles, Suffolk, have been given permission from Pete Townshend's Production Company to perform the NK Theatre Arts version of Quadrophenia from 27 June to 1 July 2017 at the Public Hall, Smallgate, Beccles.

References

5. Spotlight Musical Theatre Group - www.spotlightbeccles.org.uk - Summer 2017 production of NK Theatre Arts adaptation of Quadrophenia.

External links

The musical's Facebook pageMusical's YouTube trailerQuadrophenia resource guide
{{The Who 2007 musicals Rock musicals Sung-through musicals Pete Townshend The Who Rock operas Quadrophenia British musicals Musicals set in England