Issue date: 9/5/08 Section: ARTS & LIFE

Media Credit: Rebecca Evans Chris McQueen, lead guitarist of Oso Closo, tries to communicate with ten-year-old Tommy, played by Christian St. John Chiles, while guitarists Lindsey Miller and Andy Rogers, and lead singer Adrian Hulet look on.

Media Credit: Rebecca Evans Betsy Wolfe plays Mrs. Walker, a mother who tries to do what's best for her deaf, mute, and blind son Tommy, played here by Heath L. Williams II.

Media Credit: Rebecca Evans Four-year-old Tommy, played by Heath L. Willams II, prays to be understood by those around him in the prodution of Tommy at the Dallas Theater Center.

Media Credit: Rebecca Evans Chris McQueen, lead guitarist of Oso Closo, plays atop a pinball machine as Tommy, played by Cedric Neal, plays pinball with impressive skill.

Media Credit: Rebecca Evan Captain Walker, played by Nehal Joshi, and Mrs. Walker, played by Betsy Wolfe, command four-year-old Tommy, played by Heath L. Williams, to keep silent about the murder he has seen.

Media Credit: Rebecca Evans Tommy, played by Cedric Neal, prays to be understood by those around him in the prodution of Tommy at the Dallas Theater Center.

Media Credit: Rebecca Evans Guitarists Andy Rogers, Chris McQueen, and Lindsey Miller of Oso Closo provide music for the Dallas Theater Center's production of The Who's Tommy.

Thundering guitar solos aren't typically theater-appropriate ­- that is, unless it's The Who's 1969 rock opera, "Tommy."

When the Dallas Theater Center contacted Denton's Oso Closo to perform in the theater's 50th anniversary season opener, vocalist and guitarist Chris McQueen said his initial reaction was that "it probably wouldn't work for us."

"We were all a little bit curious to see if we were going to have to play a bunch of cheap synthesizer parts and things that we weren't too much into," McQueen said.

After Oso Closo's manager talked to Kevin Moriarty, artistic director of "Tommy," "it ended up being such an awesome feeling, it was a no-brainer," McQueen said. "It was right on the money as far as being artistically genuine."

Though plans were in order for a fall tour, drummer Ryan Jacobi said, "The 'Tommy' gig came along and it was a very unusual way for us to get our name out to literally thousands of people who had no idea who we were."



Not Your Typical Musical

What appealed to vocalist and pianist Adrian Hulet was the feeling Moriarty wanted in the performance - "a melding of a rock show and a musical."

"It's a mixture of a rock concert and a musical theater production," McQueen said. "Kevin wanted it to feel like a rock concert."

With musical director Lindy Cade's help, they took all the different recordings and versions and picked the points they liked best.

"It was like, 'We want this to have the feel of the live recording, the ending like the record, but the bridge and chorus from the Broadway version,'" Jacobi said.

Not only is Oso Closo on stage the entire time, versus hiding in an orchestra pit, but with bassist Andy Rogers and guitarist Lindsey Miller, the band becomes a part of the production, provoking characters and comforting Tommy.

"We run around and interact with the characters," McQueen said. "At certain points, we become actual members of the story."

Making it their own

The production is more "Oso Closo plays 'Tommy' instead of Dallas Theater does 'Tommy' with some band from Denton," Jacobi said.

"As this process has been going on, what we've realized is that in general, the music still sounds like Oso Closo," Jacobi said. "We didn"t change the music - you can still tell the songs - we just made it our own."

Which leads to the big surprise.

As it turns out, McQueen and Jacobi said no one in the band was a "really big Who fan."

"We are all into classic rock 'n' roll bands and the whole history of rock and roll, but for whatever reason, none of us had really gotten into The Who," McQueen said. "None of us had the dream of playing The Who."

Jacobi's only experience with "Tommy" prior to DTC came from a high school marching band show.

So why didn't the Dallas Theater Center hire a tribute band or a crowd of random musicians to play "Tommy"?

"For whatever reason, they went with us," Jacobi said. "We know how to rock hard and party hard, but we can also write really good charts and show up to rehearsals on time, cliché things rock bands don't really do."

Little by little, Hulet said the songs have naturally become "Oso."

"Basically, it's the craziest thing ever," Hulet said. "I never would have expected to be doing this, but I'm really glad that I am."



See the show for yourself

The rock opera opened Aug. 27 and will run through Sept. 28 at the Kalita Humphreys Theater on 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd. in Dallas.

Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, and admission ranges from $16 to $60.

The Katlia Humphreys Theater is hosting an all ages, free original Oso Closo show on Sept. 22.

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