Playhouse Hit ‘Tommy’ Set for Broadway : Theater: Des McAnuff will again direct the musical based on The Who’s 1969 rock opera.

“Tommy,” the record-breaking La Jolla Playhouse hit that closed Oct. 4, will open on Broadway in the St. James Theatre in late April. A national tour will follow in the fall of 1993, Playhouse officials announced Thursday.

Playhouse Artistic Director Des McAnuff, who directed the musical he co-adapted with Pete Townshend from The Who’s landmark 1969 rock opera, will again direct in New York. McAnuff starts rehearsals there in January.

The Houston-based PACE Theatrical Group and the New York-based Dodger Productions will produce “Tommy” on Broadway and on the tour--which is scheduled to come to Southern California in the spring and summer of 1994. Thomas R. Kendrick, president of the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, said he expects to present it there.

Scott Zeiger, president of PACE Theatrical, said the show will probably go to London too, but “we’re focusing on New York first.”

The La Jolla Playhouse, which originated the show, is not a producing partner and has “a very small percentage of the gross and no subsidiary rights,” according to Playhouse Managing Director Terrence Dwyer, who would not give exact figures. As creator and director, McAnuff will have a more significant share of the profits, although Playhouse officials would not say how much. McAnuff was not available for comment Thursday.

Casting has not been set, Dwyer said, “but I can only assume since it was such an extraordinary cast (at the Playhouse) that they will be high on everyone’s list.”

Talk about moving the show to Broadway has been in the air since “Tommy” opened July 9. It was a sensation from the beginning, with its run extended from six weeks to 13 1/2 weeks at the 492-seat Mandell Weiss Theatre. It played to 112% capacity, receiving standing ovations from standing-room-only crowds after each of its 110 performances.

The Who’s “Tommy,” on which the show is based, was also a sensation--and part enigma--when Who composer-in-residence Townshend wrote it.

The central character, Tommy, witnesses a traumatic event as a child that renders him deaf, dumb and blind. His parents take him to a variety of specialists, trying to cure him, but nothing works. He is abused and ridiculed, but somehow, despite his afflictions, he becomes a pinball wizard playing by feel alone. Later, he regains his senses and becomes a messianic figure.

Townshend has said he drew the character of Tommy from the emotions of his own life--in particular a “seminal” experience when his parents broke up and got back together again.

“Tommy” is the first show originated by the Playhouse that has gone to Broadway. But the Playhouse developed two other shows that originated in other theaters that also went to Broadway--both directed by McAnuff. McAnuff won a Tony for his direction of “Big River,” which was among seven Tonys won by the Broadway production of the show in 1985. He also directed “A Walk in the Woods” on Broadway in 1988.

Dwyer believes the success of “Tommy” will have a long-range salutary effect at the Playhouse, which is still struggling under a $1-million deficit. His goal is to turn the 30,000 new ticket buyers who came just to see “Tommy” into Playhouse subscribers. He hopes a continued collaboration with Townshend will result in more new work with the theater--and an increased cross-pollination between rock artists and musical theater.

“This is certainly not going to solve all our problems--by any means,” Dwyer said. “But what’s most thrilling is that Pete Townshend is interested in continuing work in musical theater at the Playhouse. Pete Townshend was Pete Townshend of The Who, and now he’s also Pete Townshend, a musical theater creator. And we’re thrilled to be part of that.”

Times staff writer Don Shirley in Los Angeles contributed to this report.