The Quadrophenia era might be 60 years old, but some things about being young haven’t changed. Jimmy, the protagonist of the Who’s classic album – later a film, now a ballet – brims with awkwardness and scrappy bravado. His hunger for life and his desperation to be someone are viscerally felt when the fantasy of adult life rubs up against the sometimes grubby reality.
Should a ballet version of the Who’s 1973 album work? Well it turns out that it does. Pete Townshend might be the man behind the Who’s sound, but it’s his wife, composer and orchestrator Rachel Fuller, who is in large part responsible for this. She originally orchestrated the album for the Classic Quadrophenia project a decade ago, and that’s the backdrop for this show, minus vocals. The music is majestic, especially the recurring riff from Love, Reign O’er Me that does sterling dramatic work each time it appears and builds to an almighty climax as Jimmy faces crisis after the famous mods and rockers clash on Brighton beach.
