Grammy award-winning artist to play title role

By Charlene Baldridge | Reportero SDUN

Artistic Director Sam Woodhouse opens the San Diego Repertory Theatre’s 36th season with “The Who’s Tommy,” July 16–Aug. 14 on the Lyceum Stage, Horton Plaza.

Written by the Who’s Pete Townshend and Des McAnuff (then artistic director of La Jolla Playhouse), the rock musical premiered at La Jolla Playhouse in 1992.

The story concerns Tommy, who at age 4 witnesses his father accidentally kill his mother’s lover. As a result, the child becomes blind, deaf and mute, and the only thing he responds to is an old pinball machine. Dubbed the “Pinball Wizard,” Tommy begins a magical journey out of the darkness of disability, a tale told in scores including “Pinball Wizard” and the unforgettable “See Me, Feel Me.”

Two-time Grammy Award nominee and African-American B. Slade (formerly known as Ton3x) plays the title role. Slade, who received a 2008 San Diego Critics’ Circle Award for his appearance in San Diego Musical Theatre’s “Dreamgirls,” said that after that ceremony Woodhouse, who had directed him earlier that year in the Rep’s “Princess and the Black-Eyed Pea” congratulated him on his award and said, “We love you at the Rep. I want to build something around you.” After agreeing,

Slade said he then waited three years for Woodhouse’s email. But finally, the long anticipated day arrived, and the pair met “at a quaint little North Park restaurant.”

“When [Woodhouse] said, ‘I want you to be Tommy,’ I thought he meant maybe Mr. Walker, something like that.” Slade said, recalling how he then asked, “Who’s Tommy?”

After realizing what Woodhouse meant, Slade was overwhelmed.

“It means so much to me, especially at this time, to have someone truly believe in my raw, God-given talent; to have him think enough of me to plan this project to showcase me. It’s so overwhelming my heart is full,” Slade said.

African-American Tommys are uncommon and perhaps unprecedented, but Slade (nee Williams) comes from a long line of “first” achievers. His father was the first African-American head football coach at San Diego City College and the first African-American on the board of directors of the California Teachers Association. His grandfather put together the first black firefighters union.

“Everyone says that black entertainers come from broken, drug-infested, gang-filled homes. I truly grew up in ‘The Cosby Show’ with the Huxtables. I had balance with my father being a teacher and my mother also an educator. They made sure I was well-rounded enough and exposed to all kinds of music.”

Slade, his father and his grandfather attended Horton Plaza’s opening day in 1985. “I was a little boy, so
thrilled by the architecture. Now I have difficulty seeing it in my head—walking down to the Lyceum and seeing that yellow poster with my face on it and the marquée that reads ‘The Who’s Tommy with B. Slade.’”

Once he gets over the shock, Slade’s next goal is to play another role normally assigned to a white actor—the title role in a Broadway production of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” a role noted for its high notes.

“As an actor and as an intense vocalist, Ted Neely [who played the role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical from 1973-2010] is my vocal inspiration, which is why I sing as high as I do now,” Slade said.

For information and tickets, visit sdrep.org or call (619) 544-1000.