The Who’s Quadrophenia to be revived as a ballet

More than 50 years on from its release, the concept album has been reimagined in a collaboration with Sadler’s Wells and will tour in 2025

Quadrophenia has had many lives since its release in 1973: first as a groundbreaking concept album, then a 1979 cult film starring Phil Daniels and Sting, before several live revivals, including one for the Teenage Cancer Trust in 2010 that featured Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and the former Kasabian frontman Tom Meighan.

When the Who’s Pete Townshend wrote it in the early 1970s, he wanted to release a record that would reconnect the band with its mod fanbase, who had drifted away from the group and were obsessed with soul music, sharp fashion and scooters.

Quadrophenia: the Mod Ballet opens at Plymouth Theatre Royal on 28 May 2025 before touring the UK