Opening night for The Who’s album-turned-ballet was a starry one. Pete Townshend himself beamed in a green beanie from the front row of the circle, and the press office said we were sat just behind Elton John, but to keep it to ourselves.
But the brightest dazzle was on stage, in Paris Fitzpatrick’s star-making performance. As hero Jimmy – a mod wannabe in 1960s London, searching for his tribe – Fitzpatrick (who first made a mark in Matthew Bourne’s Romeo + Juliet) has a compulsive, scrappy energy. He’s a lost boy and scaredy kitten. His fists wheel in fury, his restless legs swirl and twist. You can’t look away.
