When Ali Louis Bourzgui sings “I’m a sensation” every night on Broadway these days, he might be on to something. He’s starring in the title role of the new iteration of "The Who’s Tommy," which has returned to Broadway for the first time in three decades in a thrilling new production at the Nederlander Theatre.
Tommy, originally a rock opera, tells the story of the “deaf, dumb and blind” pinball wizard who channels his trauma into worldwide fame.
Bourzgui is making his Broadway debut after the show’s run in Chicago. A singer, actor and musician, he’s a graduate of Ithaca College originally from Pittsfield, and according to his website, more than all that he loves peanut butter.
What's your go-to type and brand?
Well, Teddie’s peanut butter is my favorite. But I can usually only find that in Massachusetts. So Smuckers is number two, anything that's chunky. It's gotta be chunky and natural.
Are there other Berkshires things that you have to get sent to you in New York during this run?
I get espresso sent from No. 6 Depot and get sometimes I get Fire Cider sent from home.
I want to ask you more about growing up in Berkshire County. But first, let's talk about this show. I had a chance to see it right before previews were over. Now that it's been a few weeks, how are you enjoying the run so far?
I'm enjoying it. These kinds of audiences just make it such a blast. I mean, the show's already a really wonderful piece to do every night, but to also have audiences that are the supportive and this moved by it, it's not always the case. So it's been really wonderful.
What's the process like for you going from the out of town tryout and then bringing it to Broadway? You've been doing the role for such a long time, which can be unusual sometimes in the theater.
Yeah, we started rehearsals in Chicago almost exactly a year ago. So I've been sitting with this character for a year, which you don't always get that chance. And so, as people evolve, a character also sort of grows up within a year. So I really feel like who Tommy was back when I first started rehearsals in Chicago to now has really grown and changed and morphed alongside myself and my own growth, but also based on the location and also what's going on, just in the world at the time. It's such a piece about pop culture and about following leaders and singular people off cliffs, and how that's dangerous. So that always evolves with pop culture. The character just really has changed in the past year, which has been cool to witness.
How did you get the part?
I was in New York, and I had already had a part set up to play Young Mazin and Yousif in 'Layalina,' in this world premiere play at the Goodman as well. And then, since I kinda had already met the casting team through that show, I got an audition for 'Tommy,' which is going to be later in their season. So I was in New York for a bit and auditioned for that did a whole week of callbacks and at the end of that week, got it and then discovered that I'd be in Chicago for about half a year.
Did a lot change from Chicago to New York? And you know, we should say, this iteration of the Broadway revival has the same director, Des McAnuff and, of course, Pete Townsend still involved, who worked on the first iteration of it. But what were they still tinkering with over the past year?
You know, not too much has changed since Chicago. We really had a wonderful thing there and the audiences love it, so I think Des wanted to perfect it in certain ways, but also make sure that…you know, it wasn't broken. There wasn't too much to fix. But I think the things that we did we just deepened the story. We had more time to explore each of the characters and explore the story in general. So we just answered more questions, dove deeper into each scene. And we have a few new ensemble members, that was cool, too, we got some new people into the world. And (Lorin Latarro) made some of the choreography a little different and a little bit more even more electric.
Here's something I've always wondered in productions like this. There are multiple children who play Tommy at young ages. So I'm imagining that you're cycling through different colleagues on stage depending on the show. What's your relationship like with the younger versions of your character, as you're going out there each night?
Yeah, you know, I'm so impressed by these kids. I think the youngest are both around 6 and 7 and the middle Tommys are both 11 and 12, around that range. And the professionalism that they bring into the space is so impressive for their age, and they're so brilliantly talented, I think there's so much to learn from children in general, but also, as actors. They just have such a wonderful sense of immediate impulse. And they don't have too much of a filter. So it's really wonderful. I've been learning a lot from them. And also just to have this sort of a more optimistic view of the world, in general, it's infectious. The way that Des directs is we go chronologically through the piece. So when we first started, it was the kids who kind of got their first hand, discovering who this character was. So I got to witness the kids kind of create their own version of Tommy. So then by the time I enter the story, and take the baton from them, I was inspired so much by how they decided to go along with the character and the things they found. And I was able to take things that they had found and discovered and made up and, you know, I think vice versa, they took things that I created. The character Tommy is a very collaborative piece, the show in general, but even just the character. I'm inspired by what Roger Daltrey originally did with it. And then when Michael Cerveris did with it, and then, you know, the kids worked on this new version, and I worked on this new version. So the character in itself is really a collective art piece in a way.
How did you decide how you would approach the role? Given all of that history that you mentioned? I mean, we're talking about a work that goes back, you know, to 1969, 1970. And it's iconic. I mean, there's no way around it.
Like you said, there's such there's such a legacy with it. And with that, a series of expectations. So, I knew that all I could do was do my homework and have respect for it. So I watched the movie and I went back and watched all the performances they did live of ‘Tommy’ and, you know, everything else, and watched all these videos of The Who performing and took all that in and really instilled it in myself. I even did all this research, reading everything that Pete Townsend has ever talked about on the piece and how he was inspired by gurus and Meher Baba and all these different spiritual teachings. And I felt like I didn't leave a stone unturned. I like really did as much research as possible. So then when I came into the character, I knew that I had a foreground of homework. And then from there, I was able to find how I applied to this piece, because I wanted to create something new and not be too locked down by past iterations. So with Des’ his help and his permission, we sort of found who Tommy is in the modern era. And, you know, at the end of the day, I'm not Roger Daltrey. So I honor him in many ways, and I choose different parts to sing in the style that has his, you know, raspy sort of rocker voice. But I also wanted to do my own thing. So there's a combo of that.
You mentioned that you know, you I've had a greater understanding, I guess, of the character and the show in the many months now that it's been. I'm a Who fan, big time, but the story has always been kind of a little fuzzy for me, you know, the music is one thing, the story is fuzzy. And the movie, of course, is pretty bent. So how important was it for you to kind of understand the story and the theme in order to play it?
Yeah, I think that was my biggest challenge in Chicago, because it is such an abstract piece. And it's almost a modern folktale. There's so many parts of it that don't exist in a realistic sense. But then there are scenes that exist in a hyper realistic world. So you have to toe the line between abstract and very grounded, and it shifts with every scene. So in Chicago, I really was focusing mostly on the music, and I created one whole arc with the character and felt comfortable with it. But then in New York with having more time, I was highly inspired by the movie ‘Poor Things’ recently, and I was watching an interview where Emma Stone was talking about how, throughout the movie, she created four different characters within the one character for different stages. And I love that idea because and, you know, she was living in an abstract world too with a character that sort of grows up through it. And I think that's similar to Tommy.
So here in New York, I really established four separate characters within the one character, that in the first act, I'm a narrator, and it's an omniscient sort of character who invites the audience in and it's sort of this ability to see past this theatrical barrier and invite people in as a storyteller, and also be able to know and understand every aspect of what's going to happen in the scene. He knows what's happened to his younger self. So he exists within his younger self. And it's like he's existing in at all times. And then that narrator disappears, and I become the present tense Tommy, and I'm in that catatonic state. And that's the second character, which is, you know, being frozen in a state of trauma. And then the third character is breaking out of that and becoming a celebrity and breaking out into this world where I don't fully understand social cues, having not lived in it as a social being since I was 4 years old, and being immediately turned into a leader; all these people give me all this love and put me up on a pedestal. And I don't truly understand it, but I assume that it's love. And so I go along with it until I realize that that causes violence and danger. So then, you know, the fourth Tommy is that I shed all that, I denounce it and I turn back to family and become sort of more of a grounded empathetic being. So yeah, I had to be very detailed in that way, in order to make it very clear for myself and also for the audience.
It occurs to me that because this is like your breakout role, you were on ‘The Tonight Show,’ and people are really getting to know you now for the first time that you must be having your own kind of mirrored experience of fame, while you're playing someone who goes through an arc like that.
Yeah. It's actually very useful with the character and then also the show is teaching me about life. I am doing this because I love the art and I love telling stories and I love the community that theater brings. And unfortunately, for the most part, fame's and spotlight is something that comes along with that even though it's not necessarily what you look for — at least some people do, I guess, but the actual spotlight element of some of all this is not something…I'm a very private person, again, I'm all about the art so all this eyes on me is kind of a new thing and not something that I necessarily feel all the time super comfortable with. But I think the show has taught me that you don't have to let it change you as a person and you know, you can accept it as a thing that happens when people appreciate what you're doing. So I take it more as an appreciation and just make sure to hold on to my empathy and my groundedness and remember that it's all about the art and the people that I surround myself with and my family so the show has helped me stay clearheaded about all of it.
What was it like going from doing ‘Company’ and Sondheim on stage to then going to, like, the loudest Broadway show there is?
Yeah, you know, that actually happened between. So I did ‘Tommy’ in Chicago and then I did ‘Company’ right after that for a few months, and then came back to New York once this moved here. So it was actually a bit of a respite. It was really fun because ‘Tommy’'s very serious and ‘Company’ has serious moments, but it's also mainly a comedy. So I really made it a polar opposite. I mean, I was just goofing off the entire time in the best way. And we were being really fun. I mean, I was just smiling the entire time. And that's the thing I love about theater. And this job is you just get to jump from different character, a different character and explore all the range of your emotions and possibilities of what it means to be human, but through different lenses. Paul in ‘Company’ was just this light, bubbly, goofy guy, and then Tommy's you know, this almost like dark rock force. So to be able to do both in the span of a year was a really fun challenge for me as an actor and a person.
Can you talk about the physical approach playing a character who, as you say, he's got these disabilities at the beginning of the story. Onstage in your performance, he's kind of fighting against the limitations. How did you approach that part of it?
In the first act when I’m the narrator, I really try to play with the sense of floating and flying through space. The ensemble sort of lifts me everywhere I go. And the choreography is very choppy, and electric and sharp. And so I figured, if I want to be the one person that's kind of outside of the world that everyone else is in, if I'm floating and flying and gliding, and all these opposite things, I almost bring in a different sense. So that was cool. And then in Act Two, the first 15 minutes, when I'm in the traumatized state, sort of went about it being like what could trauma do to a person and that really involves freezing up. And so it's a very frozen state and I keep my eyes open. In this like sort of place that I got locked in. It's like a state of shock.
But when I look into the mirror, it's a comforting presence and I can see my past selves and then I blink. It's like I switched from that to blinking and almost being a little bit more comfortable. And you know, I'm playing pinball, I made a very sharp like the choreography, I was inspired by Lorin in that way of like, what it would feel like to just kind of feel things just through vibrations. And you know, when I break out of that, then it's sort of the same thing. It's like, how does this person who hasn't experienced the world since he was young, then go about being a celebrity, and it's very primal. There's a lot of anger and rage and vengeance almost, for being forced into the state. And so it gets very tense. But then, in the end, I kind of release all that once I realized that it doesn't service me and becomes a bit more relaxed.
Let me ask you about Berkshire County now, where you're from, a really rich part of our listening area in terms of theater. Were you always on the path toward this type of life in the arts?
Yeah, from a pretty early age. I mean, because it's the Berkshires and because there's just so much art, I was exposed to it from such a young age, and I fell in love with everything. Tanglewood, I fell in love with music, Jacob's Pillow, I fell in love with dance and then all the theaters, Berkshire Theatre Group, Barrington Stage, Shakespeare & Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival. I mean, I just got to go around and see all this incredible theater and then get to be a part of it. I started doing all of Berkshire Theatre Group’s community shows in sixth grade and then kept doing it onwards. And I did one show at Barrington. And you know, I always shout out Barrington Stage because they also, I don't know if they're still doing this, but when I was growing up, they had a discount where if you were under 30, I believe, you got tickets for like 20 bucks or something. And so they made theater affordable. And so I got to go and just watch so many shows. And that was so inspiring to me and it really formed me as an artist to watch all these incredible shows. So yeah, I fell in love with it because the area is just such a rich, a rich place for it. So I'm very grateful for where I grew up. I always say that I am truly who I am, so much of my being is formed by the nature and the arts of the Berkshires.
OK, one more thing. Have you played any real pinball since you've taken on this role?
Yes, I have and I'm so bad. I'm so bad at pinball. I've tried I really have tried to like get better. I'm not good at it. I'm good at Pac Man. That's my arcade game.
Because I played pinball not long ago. And I was, of course, thinking about 'Tommy.’ I don't understand how you can be good at it because sometimes you just can't hit that ball.
It just goes right through! I don't understand. That’s what happens to me every time, it goes right through the flippers. I tried!
