There are two sorts of individuals on this world: People who love bone-shaking, ear-splitting spectacles, like fireworks and arena-sized heavy steel live shows, and those that need nothing greater than to overlook such occasions for an evening on the sofa with e book and a cup of scorching chocolate.

One such teen had a seat within the orchestra throughout a Broadway efficiency of “The Who’s Tommy” and stated as a lot on the high of his lungs. “I don’t like this!” the small little one screamed throughout a uncommon lull within the overwhelming motion. “Get me out of right here!”

The kid’s upset was so comprehensible that the viewers laughed for lengthy whereas. “Tommy” is pure sensory overload, with lights flashing, scrims rising and falling, pictures carousel-ing throughout the again wall, and the refrain continuously operating, leaping, goosestepping and swinging one another throughout the stage. It’s like a machine: As soon as it’s switched on, it simply retains going, no matter viewers outbursts — there’s not a second of stillness or silence till the lights come up.

On high of all that, there’s Pete Townshend’s music, fantastically overseen by Ron Melrose and carried out by Rick Fox, however sung right here with out the guts and soul that The Who delivered to their album “Tommy” in 1975. However what the music lacks in feeling, it makes up for in quantity. It’s the sort of loud that rings in your ears for days.

The plot of “Tommy” is inappropriate for anybody below three ft tall. 5-year-old Tommy (Cecila Ann Popp) turns into deaf, blind, and unable to talk after witnessing the homicide of his mom’s lover by his estranged father (Adam Jacobs), simply again from Battle Battle II. So Tommy, now broken and susceptible, is poked and prodded by medical doctors, diddled by his alcoholic uncle (John Ambrosino), brutalized by his sadistic cousin (Bobby Conte) and left alone in an alley with a drug-addled maniac who can’t wait to get her arms on him (the Acid Queen, performed by Christina Sajous). Years later, when Tommy regains his capacity to see and listen to, he turns into a cult chief. However that doesn’t final lengthy as a result of even Tommy, ultimately, simply desires to go dwelling.

Don’t get me incorrect: Judging from the efficiency I noticed, the viewers loves the present, with a narrative by Who guitarist Townshend and Des McAnuff (who additionally directs). However almost definitely it wasn’t concerning the plot, which is pointless, or Lorin Latarro’s choreography, which is surprisingly uninspiring. Boomers can rock out of their seats and cheer when the solid breaks into previous favorites like “It’s a Boy, Mrs. Walker” and “Pinball Wizard,” nevertheless sanitized the renditions. (The projection design by Peter Nigrini and the lighting design by Amanda Zieve would match proper right into a Who live performance, although it’d induce psychosis if any theatergoers who smoked a doobie through the present.)

And there are standout performances. Mop-headed Ali Louis Bourzgui, who performs Tommy as a younger grownup, has stage presence and good pipes, and Alison Luff, taking part in Tommy’s mom, Mrs. Walker, brings actual grit to her one solo, “Smash the Mirror.”

Possibly when you’d missed the ’70s, when The Who’s distinctive album stirred the hearts of youngsters making sufficient noise to vary the world, you wouldn’t care that this manufacturing of “Tommy” is principally for previous individuals, and never for a brand new era.