A New Spin On An Old Tale

Growing up in the ‘60s and ‘70s, Eric Mingus’ musical diet consisted mainly of the occasional pop song he heard on the radio and the jazz and classical music recommended by his father, legendary jazzman Charles Mingus. When his father died, 14-year-old Eric found it hard to listen to the music he’s been raised on and sought solace by “spinning the dial on the radio, just looking for something”. He happened upon The Who’s My Generation, which immediately struck a chord. Delving into the band’s body of work, Eric eventually crossed paths with their 1969 rock opera, Tommy, and a lifelong connection was formed.

Now, over three decades later, Mingus is paying tribute to Tommy with a radical re-interpretation that’ll be performed live at the upcoming Adelaide Festival. Assembling an eclectic line-up of musicians and performers to present the story of deaf, dumb and blind “pinball wizard” Tommy, whose relationships and experiences comprise the best and worst of human nature, the singer, bassist and spoken word artist is giving the rock’n’roll classic a jazz-and-R&B-infused makeover, all with the approval of The Who’s Pete Townshend.    

“I’ve run into a lot of rock’n’roll people who have been influenced by my dad’s work, Pete among them,” says Mingus. “At some point I wrote him a letter, just a fan letter – you know, ‘Your music was there for me during a dark time’ – and he responded and we began a long-distance friendship. I told him one day I wanted to do this thing with Tommy, which he thought was a great idea... It’s important to me that he digs it but it’s also important that I take it and make it my own, which I think he’s expecting.”

Among the artists taking part in this production of Tommy are Camille O’Sullivan, Irish singer-composer Gavin Friday and musician Harper Simon, the son of Paul Simon. The title role will be played by Australian actress Yael Stone, perhaps best known for playing Lorna Morello on the hit TV series Orange Is The New Black.

Stone hails from a musical family (her brother Jake was the frontman for Bluejuice, and her sister Elana – also appearing in Tommy – is “a bit of a dude on the scene... an incredible musician in her own right”), but when her OITNB co-star Natasha Lyonne hooked her up with Tommy producer Hal Willner, she was a little nervous. “I have an incredible love of music, I’ve been surrounded by it all my life, but it hasn’t been my passion,” she admits. “I’ve had great experiences singing in productions, and really loved it. But I would never say ‘Oh, yeah, I can sing...’”