Back in 1973, The Who’s seminal rock opera album captured the angry unrest among working class kids that felt shut out by a class-ridden traditional world stacked against them. It was brought to the big screen in 1979 with a cast including Ray Winstone, Sting, Leslie Ash and Toy, with Phil Daniels as lead character Jimmy and Pete Townsend as screenwriter.
50 years later and much may have changed, and yet so much is still the same. So the idea of a bold modern dance production tackling these evergreen themes, backed by Townsend (who’s also on writing duties again) is tantalising.
Especially when the Broadway smash show Stereophonic just hit London’s West End, channelling Fleetwood Mac’s tumultuous recording of 1977’s Rumours.
Quadrophenia: A Mod Ballet is soundtracked by the Royal Philharmonic’s thunderous 2015 recording Classic Quadrophenia, which was arranged by Townsend’s partner Rachel Fuller.
The staging, orchestrations and melodrama have all been dialed up to eleven. Much of it is thrilling. And yet…
The atmospheric staging is sensational, huge hinged mobile screens create grainy images of rainy high streets (with a stunning sequence where Jimmy stares at his reflection) or Brighton’s stormy seafront across the back, sided and above the stage, while projections ripple waves across the floor.
The often gorgeous score is relentlessly theatrically lavish(and always at full blast). It frustratingly leaves no space for quieter interludes as London mod Jimmy (a beautifully nuanced, vulnerable Paris Fitzpatrick) angsts his way into adulthood. Desperate to be seen, to mean something to someone, anyone, he numbs pain and insecurity in booze, pills and gang culture.
A mash-up of modern dance and musical theatre, the choreography skims through his daily life and inner thoughts but rarely takes flight. Having four dancers as ill-defined aspects of his psyche can be rather confusing, especially in group scenes – particularly when the gifted Fitzpatrick is more than able to convey all that is needed.
There is a touching moment when Jimmy catches up with his best friend, now part of the rival rockers, or when his deeply unhappy parents waltz around the living room and then spin apart again. A train ride to Brighton is vividly done, especially when is spills into Jimmy’s drug-fuelled brain. His feverish imagination also stages a cleverly choreographed threesome with the waitress he fancies and her strutting mod gang leader boyfriend.
Royal Ballet superstar Matthew Ball cameos as an arrogant lead singer to The Who’s reworked My Generation, but the pedestrian choreography underwhelms, especially when he then flashes his acting chops cruelly toying with and then discarding groupies and fans.
The climactic mods and rockers running battle along Brighton’s seafront packs a punch and leads to the dramatic, if a tad cheesy, finale.
There is so much to like, but the source film and music, and themes that resonate just as powerfully today, should combine to ignite and electrifying show. I enjoyed much of it but felt very little.
PETE TOWNSEND’S QUADROPHENIA: A MOD BALLET IS AT SADLER’S WELLS TO JULY 13 AND THE LOWRY, SALFORD JULY 15-19