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Pete Townshend discusses The Who’s Tommy from the Stratford Festival

Pete Townshend, of The Who, recently appeared onstage at the Stratford Festival, taking a bow with the cast of Tommy.
The Who's Pete Townshend at Curtain Call for Tommy

While in town Townshend recorded an interview for CBC Radio’s Q with Jian Ghomeshi, scroll down for the full audio interview.

Guests of the May 15th performance of “Tommy”, inspired by The Who’s renowned 1969 concept album of the same name, were treated to a surprise curtain call by the band’s lead guitarist and songwriter. Townshend wrote the music and lyrics for the show. The book is by Townshend and Des McAnuff, who’s directing the Stratford production.

Here’s a video of Stratford’s Tommy

Townshend’s visit generated a lot of activity on social media. The buzz began on Twitter.
Tweet from Andrew Dougall About Townsend's Appearance

Tweet from Julius Sermonia, Tommy Ensemble Member
The appearance also generated heavy traffic on Facebook, where a photograph of Townsend with the cast had over 700 likes and more than 600 shares on Stratford Festival’s page.
Facebook Comments on Townsend's Appearance

Townshend’s visit, however, didn’t just create buzz on social media, traditional media publications such as Sun News Network and Broadway World also reported on his appearance.

Friday, Townsend, along with the cast of “Tommy” and director Des McAnuff, appeared with Jian Gomeshi on CBC Radio’s Q. Here’s the feature interview with Townshend.

A film adaptation of Tommy was released in 1975 by Ken Russell, prior to its debut on Broadway in 1993.

The production will run in Stratford until October 30th.

Visit HERE for more information on Stratford’s Tommy.

Click HERE to follow The Stratford Festival on Twitter, and HERE to like their page on Facebook.

Once the show opens read all the reviews, or post your own now, on Stratford Festival Reviews

-Emily Stewart

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Pete Townshend discusses The Who’s Tommy from the Stratford Festival

Keith Tomasek

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