The Who’s rock opera Tommy was a game-changer for rock ’n’ roll when it came out in 1969. Rock had never heard something quite so ambitious (if a little incoherent) as guitarist-composer Pete Townsend’s sprawling story of a young boy shocked into becoming “deaf, dumb and blind” only to emerge as a pinball-playing messiah. The Who performed it at the Met, and Townsend later turned it into a Broadway musical. But even in his wildest dreams, he couldn’t have foreseen director Ken Russell’s wild technicolor acid trip musical version, with Oliver Reed as the stepdad, our special guest, the Oscar-nominated Ann-Margret, as the mother driven mad, and curly-haired Who singer Roger Daltrey as the cut young messiah. Cameos provide some of the best moments, including Elton John’s jealous, giant-booted Pinball Wizard rival and Tina Turner as the predatory Acid Queen. — Doug Pullen
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