Following the announcement that a new ballet based on The Who’s 1973 rock opera Quadrophenia will premiere in the U.K. in 2025, Who co-founder Pete Townshend has spoken with NME about what inspired the new project.
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As previously reported, the production, titled Pete Townshend’s Quadrophenia: A Mod Ballet, will have limited preview engagements in three U.K. cities, starting in Plymouth on May 28, before it officially opens at the Sadler’s Wells theater in London on June 24.
Townshend, a longtime ballet fan, told NME that he came up with the idea for the production after hearing early demo recordings of an orchestral score for Quadrophenia that his wife, Rachel Fuller, conceived in 2015.
“I heard her score and I remember saying to her, ‘I can just see dancers dancing,’” he recalled. “It had tones of [Russian composer Sergei] Prokofiev about it.”
Townshend and his wife, along with Fuller’s arranger, Martin Batchelar, then began collaborating with Sadler’s Wells, a renowned dance venue. Choreographer Paul Roberts and director Rob Ashford brought together a cast of young dancers from various contemporary troupes to help turn the Quadrophenia story into a ballet.
As the production was being workshopped, Townshend said he observed “a poetic sensibility” to the presentation.
“I was just shocked and surprised,” he told NME. “I thought, ‘Hey, there’s new shadow here, there are new shades, there’s new optimism.’”
Townshend Admits He Didn’t Like the 1979 Quadrophenia Movie
The 79-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer admitted that he was “never happy” with the 1979 film adaptation of Quadrophenia.
“I felt the film was lazy,” he maintained. “It was not based on my story and it didn’t include much of my music. So I thought here [with the ballet] was an opportunity to do something that honors the music, but also possibly takes it into a new era, a new place.”
About Quadrophenia
Quadrophenia is set in the mod scene in mid-1960s London. It follows the story of a young working-class outcast named Jimmy. The young man is a Who fan trying to fit in with his friends who are mods while grappling with four different personalities, each one reflecting a member of the band.
The album, which was written solely by Townshend, “The Real Me,” “5:15,” and “Love Reign O’er Me.”
About The Ballet’s Initial Performances
As previously reported, preview performances of Quadrophenia: A Mod Ballet will take place in Plymouth from May 28 to June 1, Edinburgh from June 10 to June 14), and Southampton from June 18 to June 21. The production’s official opening engagement at the Sadler’s Wells theater runs from June 24 to July 13. The ballet then will move on to Salford, U.K., from July 15 to July 19.
Visit ModBallet.com for more information about the ballet and to book tickets.
Townshend Also Shared Details About an Opera He’s Writing
Townshend also talked with NME about The Age of Anxiety. The long-in-the-works opera project is tied in with his 2019 novel of the same name.
“I’ve been working on [an opera] for a long time, The Age of Anxiety, and I’m very fearless now about calling it an opera,” he declared. “It’s a f—ing opera. Sorry. My friend [singer/songwriter] Rufus Wainwright writes operas, I can write operas.”
Townshend then noted that the music for the opera will feature elements of various genres.
“[I]n The Age of Anxiety, I mix rock and electronica and orchestral soundscapes together, and I’m not afraid of doing that,” he pointed out. “The only area I’d be wary of getting involved in would be complex jazz. I don’t have the musical literacy to do it, or the virtuosity to do it, but if I did I certainly would.”
