Tommy – the show that finally brought
Broadway into the rock era! This hit musical, winner of five Tony
Awards, is based on The Who’s 1969 double album rock opera
Tommy. The famous show revolves around Tommy who becomes
deaf, dumb and blind as a boy, and later rises to fame as a
pinball wizard. It includes the classic rock hits “Pinball
Wizard,” “I’m Free” and “See Me, Feel Me.”
Director Mindy Cooper is a 25 year Broadway veteran where her
performance, directing and choreography credits include
Chicago, Titanic, Beauty and the Beast, Song & Dance,
Tenderloin, Dracula, the Musical and Wrong
Mountain. Her local theatrical work has won a total of ten
Bay Area Theater Critics Awards including 2009 Best Director of a
Musical and 2009 Best Musical. She has been honored as UC Davis
Granada Artist-in-Residence twice before when she directed
Oklahoma! at Mondavi Center’s Jackson Halland
Urinetown: The Musical at Main Theatre.
The UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance presents The
Who’s Tommy directed by Granada Artist-in-Residence Mindy
Cooper with music and lyrics by Pete Townshend.
Mindy Cooper has had the privilege of spending
the last 40 years working as a dancer, choreographer, director,
producer and teacher. From dance companies (Twyla Tharp Dance,
Eliot Feld Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Thingsezisee’m Dance
Theater) to Broadway/Off-Broadway
(Chicago, Titanic, Song and Dance, Beauty and the
Beast, Dracula The Musical, Being Seen, The Eternal Space,
Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, Live!, 50 Shades – The
Musical Parody, Soul Doctor, Wrong Mountain), her passion
for new works has always steered her career.
