Captain Walker (character) - Other Incarnations - 1993 Stage Version

1993 Stage Version

In 1993, Townshend and La Jolla Playhouse theatrical director Des McAnuff wrote and produced a Broadway musical adaptation of Tommy. The production, titled The Who's Tommy, featured a new song by Townshend ("I Believe My Own Eyes"). Initially, the show received mixed reviews; for example, while The New York Times theatre critic Frank Rich praised it, the same paper's music critic Jon Pareles argued that "Their (Townshend's and McAnuff's) changes turn a blast of spiritual yearning, confusion and rebellion into a pat on the head for nesters and couch potatoes". Later, Townshend partly responded to the criticisms. Ultimately, the production won five Tony Awards that year, including Best Original Score for Townshend. Various touring revivals have met with popular acclaim since.

The setting of the musical is in post-World War II Britain, as in the film version. Nevertheless, unlike the film, the lyrics "Got a feelin' '21 is gonna be a good year" remain the same, though now referring to Mrs. Walker's age at her birthday. Also, Captain Walker kills the lover, as in the original album and unlike the film, where the lover kills Captain Walker and takes his place. Perhaps the most striking change vis-a-vis previous versions is that after the "Sally Simpson" scene, Tommy renounces his messianic role and returns to his family, embracing and praising the kind of "normality" that everybody else has and that he has been deprived of (significantly, the new version introduced lines such as "freedom lies here in normality" and excluded the earlier versions' "Hey, hung-up old Mr. Normal, don't try to gain my trust").

The play and its soundtrack album include 2 additions (written by Pete Townshend) to the standard playlist:

1. "I Believe My Own Eyes"—Occurs between "Tommy, Can You Hear Me?" and "Smash the Mirror!" and details the strain of Tommy's condition on his parents as they consider institutionalizing him.
2. "Sally Simpson's Question"—Precedes "We're Not Gonna Take It", and shows Tommy getting disillusioned about his messianistic vision as he listens to the girl.

"Captain Walker/It's a Boy" also contains the tag verse from the film version, "We've Won", albeit with slightly different lyrics. In general, the song sequence and some of the lyrics more closely mirror the film version than the original, although the phrasing and internal song arrangements usually echo the original, and none of the 6 songs Townshend added for the 1975 version are included. Finally, many songs (i.e., "Sensation") feature reprises at various locations in the playlist, and there is a small amount of dialog at the beginnings and endings of some songs.