Produced by Sir George Martin and directed by Des McAnuff, with choreography by Wayne Cilento, and groundbreaking iconic projections by Wendall K. Harrington, the original cast included Michael Cerveris (Tommy), Marcia Mitzman (Mrs. Walker), Jonathan Dokuchitz (Captain Walker), Paul Kandel (Uncle Ernie) and Cheryl Freeman (The Gypsy/Acid Queen), plus an ensemble that included Alice Ripley, Christian Hoff, Norm Lewis, Tracy Nicole Chapman, Michael McElroy and Sherie Rene Scott.

Cast included Michael Cerveris (Tommy), Helen Hobson (Mrs. Walker), Joe Lutton (Captain Walker), Roger Bart (Cousin Kevin), Bill Kocis (Onkel Ernie), Linda Dorsey (Acid Queen) plus an ensemble that included Stephen Bienskie, Nicci Brightman, Patrick Clancy, Tim Talman, and others.

A production ran in the West End at the Shaftesbury Theatre from 5 March 1996 until 8 February 1997, featuring Paul Keating (Tommy) and Kim Wilde (Mrs.

[3] The original Broadway cast performed a one night only reunion benefit concert at the August Wilson Theatre in New York City on 15 December 2008.

It is directed by Kerry Michael and features original West End cast member Peter Straker as the Acid Queen (after previously playing the Narrator).

This production made some revisions to the script including the removal of "Tommy's Holiday Camp" and new rewrite of the verses of "We're Not Gonna Take It".

Mrs Walker has since attained a new lover, and they celebrate her twenty-first birthday and discuss marriage together with four-year-old Tommy ("Twenty-One").

Captain and Mrs Walker embrace but soon realize what Tommy has witnessed, and violently shake him, telling him he did not see or hear anything ("What About the Boy").

However, Tommy fails to celebrate his father's release, and his family quickly realizes that he has apparently gone deaf, mute, and blind.

The Walkers leave Tommy with a slew of vicious babysitters, including alcoholic and sexually abusive Uncle Ernie ("Do You Think It's Alright?"

The desperate Captain Walker is approached by The Hawker and Harmonica Player ("Eyesight to the Blind") who promise a miraculous cure for Tommy.

The Walkers, at their wits' end, passionately confront each other in an effort to reconcile and face the reality that Tommy might never be cured ("I Believe My Own Eyes").

With the mirror in pieces, Tommy suddenly becomes fully lucid and interactive for the first time since the age of four, and he leaves home ("I'm Free").

Through 1961 to 1963, news of Tommy's miraculous regaining of full consciousness receives huge media attention ("Miracle Cure"), Tommy is idolized by the public and the press ("Sensation – Reprise"), and he begins appearing in packed stadiums, playing pinball with a helmet that temporarily blinds and deafens him ("Pinball Wizard – Reprise").

He suddenly realises that he had thought his fame came from his miraculous recovery, when it in fact arose due to his fans' desire for a spiritual leader, hoping he could communicate wisdom from his experience of not being able to hear, see, or talk for so long.

Ken Russell's film made a reversal and killed Mr. Walker's character, having the lover then assume the role of a step-father to Tommy.

The new pieces created for the film, however ("Bernie's Holiday Camp", "Champagne", "Mother and Son"), were not retained for the stage production.

Tommy's experience with the Acid Queen (Scene 11) is also handled differently between the album, movie, and stage productions.

In both the album and movie, Tommy appears to have taken a drug from the Acid Queen which produced a visceral response in the otherwise mostly catatonic child.

In the musical, his father brings him to see the Acid Queen, then changes his mind and leaves before Tommy partakes of her "charms."