Word: townshends
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Rock has expanded since 1969 -- as these bands indicate, there are now many thriving subgenres -- but like sports heroes, the performers have gotten smaller. There were no young musicians at Woodstock '94 who compared in sheer potency to Pete Townshend or Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin. Still, some turned in rousing sets. Rapper B-Real of Cypress Hill flouted authority, smoking a marijuana joint onstage and then throwing himself into the crowd to surf on the hands of his fans. Guitarist-singer Melissa Etheridge offered a punchy, joyous version of her pop-rock hit Come to My Window...
...subject was the same perennial, youthful fury captured by the Sex Pistols, before they too self-destructed, and by the Who, before Pete Townshend survived to purvey nostalgia to Broadway theatergoers. Youthful nihilism may not be new, but no artist invents all his materials; it's what he does with them that counts, and Cobain wrote great rock songs as he explored a familiar theme with genius...
...also shown, predictably, his passion for the actress Ellen Terry and his celibate marriage with Charlotte Paine-Townshend. yet Voysey Cleverly avoids monotony in his presentation of the monologues by depicting Shaw in various different contexts: dealing with an interviewer for an "unauthorized biography," reading his letters aloud to himself or delivering one of his many broadcasts over the radio...
SHOW BUSINESS: The Prime of Pete Townshend...
What's onstage, however, is anything but stuffy. In a tryout last July at California's La Jolla Playhouse, the first act moved like a rocket, while the second act sputtered. So composer-lyricist Pete Townshend and director Des McAnuff rewrote the libretto again, added new music and clarified -- purists would say changed -- the underlying message. Now the whole production hurtles forward with visual excitement and emotional clout worthy of the score...