In 'The Who's Tommy,' Ali Louis Bourzgui Is A Reimagined 'Pinball Wizard' For The Ages

Audiences fortunate enough to catch Broadway’s new revival of “The Who’s Tommy” are likely to leave the theater buzzing about Ali Louis Bourzgui, whose portrayal of the title character is both deeply moving and delightfully weird.

While the role is a breakout moment for the 24-year-old actor and singer, he says he grappled with imposter syndrome during the audition process for the musical’s pre-Broadway 2023 run in Chicago.

“I started coming up with every excuse as to why I wasn’t right for the part,” Bourzgui told HuffPost in an interview. “I was like, ‘I’m not old enough. I’m not a rock star. This is too high of a role, vocally, for me to sing.’ I started that week thinking, ‘I don’t know about this.’ And by the end of the week, I was like, ‘I really hope I get this, because now I’m obsessed.’”

Fortunately, the musical’s creative team — which includes director Des McAnuff, choreographer Lorin Latarro and The Who musician Pete Townshend, who wrote most of the songs on the seminal 1969 album which spawned a 1975 film and the stage musical — never doubted Bourzgui’s thespian chops.

“He hasn’t needed a lecture about what makes a star, and what can cause a star to fall,” Townshend told the New York Post last week. “He just gets it.”

“The Who’s Tommy,” which opened at New York’s Nederlander Theatre last month, tells the story of Tommy Walker (played by Bourzgui as a young adult), who goes deaf, mute and blind as a child after witnessing a grisly incident firsthand. Unable to defend himself, Tommy experiences further trauma ― including sexual abuse at the hands of his Uncle Ernie (John Ambrosino) and cruel bullying from his Cousin Kevin (Bobby Conte) ― as he matures.

Before long, Tommy’s penchant for arcade games makes him