The Broadside goes Broadway when it will present hits from musicals “Jesus Christ Superstar” “Hair” and “Tommy” in November. Broadway singer-actor Michael Cerveris, along with Mia Borders, Debbie Davis, Arsène DeLay, Antoine Diel, Kimberly Kaye, Edward Simon and Charlie Wooton are all part of the production.
Cerveris was the first performer to play Tommy in the Who’s rock opera “Tommy.” In the OffBeat interview with John Swenson, Cerveris talked about getting the role. “I auditioned for a role at the La Jolla… I went out there with my guitar and played ‘Young Americans,’ not even knowing what role I was auditioning for. I got called back a couple of times and got the role as Tommy. There was no script, and it wasn’t until I got down there and I did the read-through and started singing some parts that I realized it was going to be historic. The irony was having spent my teenage years and my 20s having parallel lives as an actor and a rock kid, all of a sudden there was an opening for someone who was passionate about both things.
Michael Cerveris stands between George Martin and Pete Townshend.
“After we did ‘Tommy’ at La Jolla I had to re-audition for the Broadway part. I had just been really sick, and I lost my voice during the audition. By the time it came to ‘Sensation’ it was my worst nightmare, I was just blowing it. Later we were talking, and Pete Townshend started saying ‘I want you to come over to London and see my studio, and the places where we played our first shows, introduce you to some of the kids that I grew up with, I just want you to have a real sense of my childhood and my early days with The Who.’ Then finally he says, ‘I just think it’s great that we saw a couple of thousand people for this show and we’re going to give the role of Tommy to the guy who did the absolute worst audition.’ That’s when I realized I had the job. So, I went to London and Pete told me, ‘I can’t teach you how to act but I can teach you how to be a rock ’n’ roll star.’ I had to feel some sense of ownership and some right to stand up there and sing these songs. We went to the studio, and he had just completed the rough mixes for the Psychoderelict album. He sat me down at the console and told me to listen to the songs and write down my thoughts on a pad and paper. Here I was, sitting in Pete Townshend’s writing studio, listening to Pete Townshend’s rough mixes and taking notes.”
“Jesus Christ Superstar” was released as an album in 1970 even before it became a sensation on Broadway. The show is filled with great songs, including “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” “Everything’s All Right,” and “Superstar,” and more.
The oldest show is “Hair” which opened off Broadway in 1967. But within a year it was on Broadway, creating a sensation. Although the songs were all very good and eventually were covered by other artists, the controversy was because of the nudity and profanity.
There probably isn’t another musical which spawned so many hit songs. Susan Cowsill along with her brothers, The Cowsills, covered the title song “Hair.” The 5th Dimension combined the songs “Aquarius (which opens the show) with “Let the Sunshine In” (which closes the show). Oliver covered “Good Morning Starshine” and Three Dog Night covered “Easy to Be Hard.” Nina Simone also combined the songs “Ain’t Got No” and “I Got Life” which hopefully will be performed at the Broadside. Some other songs that are a bit controversial would be fun to hear, such as “Sodomy” “Colored Spade” and “What A Piece of Work is Man.”
Friday, November 11, 2022, at the Broadside, 600 N Broad St, (504) 218-1008.
