Seaside Music Theatre, in Daytona Beach FL, is celebrating it's production of Pete Townshend's Tommy with a "wiz" of a promotion.

All ticket holders for Tommy are eligible to enter a pinball contest held an hour prior to each performance of the show. Each player has one ball to play. An usher will enter the scores for each performance and the winner will receive a chance to compete in July 22's Daytona Beach Pinball Wizard play-off. The grand prize winner will receive two tickets to see a concert by the rock group that originally wrote and performed Tommy, The Who, in West Palm Beach, Fl.

Tommy was first released as concept album by The Who in 1969, then was made into a movie in 1975, and adapted to the stage in 1993, under the title The Who's Tommy.

The show's hero, Tommy, is a boy who is stricken deaf, dumb and blind after watching his father, just returned from a World War II prison camp, shoot his mother's lover. Tommy's only form of communication is his wizardry at pinball. It's this uncanny talent that turns him into a media sensation. Tommy falls victim to the pranks of his Cousin Kevin, to the sexual abuse of his Uncle Ernie, and the passive-aggressive behavior of his parents. Tommy is finally set free when his mother, frustrated by the many years of non-communication with her son, smashes the mirror in which he viewed the murder.

Seaside Music Theatre is celebrating its 21st summer season as one of the few rotating repertory companies in the South. Tommy is currently running in rep with Tom Stoppard's Rough Crossing, and Stephen Sondheim's Company. Tommy is directed by SMT's Artistic Director Lester Malizia, and choreographed by Donna Drake (Madison Square Garden's Wizard of Oz). Tommy runs until July 26.

For tickets and more information, (904) 252-6200 or refer to the Seaside Music Theatre in the regional theatre listings of Playbill On-Line.

-- By Sean McGrath