Ones to Watch: Ali Louis Bourzgui Is Finding His Inner Rock Star for The Who’s Tommy

On his days off this Broadway season, you might find Ali Louis Bourzgui strolling around Central Park, wearing headphones and mouthing along to his own personal soundtrack—which could be anything from James Taylor or Bonnie Raitt to Anderson .Paak or Lil Wayne.

For someone who happens to be playing a hearing-impaired character on stage, Bourzgui is at his happiest when deeply immersed–lost, even—in music. He’s really gotten into listening to the bands Yes and the Faces before showtime. “I just kind of play a few songs that hype me up and do some jumping jacks or something, because for most of the show I’m pretty frozen,” he told Charlie Cooper on The Broadway Show.

Bourzgui is about to make his Broadway debut as “the blind, deaf and dumb boy” Tommy Walker in the revival of The Who’s Tommy, the epic rock opera based on The Who’s groundbreaking 1969 concept album. Directed by Des McAnuff, the production is a reimagined version of the show that first opened on Broadway in 1993, also directed by McAnuff.

Bourzgui is reprising his role from the production’s premiere run at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre in the summer of 2023. (In between, he’s been on the road, playing Paul in the national tour of Company.) “I'm such a big music fan and there's this huge legacy with that role,” he said, “where you get to perform this amazing rock opera and these iconic songs, but then still bring an element of theater to it. That's first and foremost the most interesting thing to me.”

Watch Ali Louis Bourzgui with Charlie Cooper on The Broadway Show.

To prepare for his role in the show, Bourzgui went in search of his inner rock star. “People kind of told me to have that rock star swagger—have it in my body, but then also have it in my voice. Just like a sort of F.U. attitude, which then translates through everything you do—which is very different from my own self. Bringing that in was hard, but once I found it, I really did.”

He also became something of an expert in The Who, watching “every single archival Who video” he could find and studying their powerhouse, notoriously destructive live act. “I wanted to start from a place where I honored the famous performances of all those songs,” he said. Sometimes in the show, Bourzgui’s voice evokes the gritty, roof-raising growl of The Who’s lead vocalist Roger Daltrey. At other times, he conjures the more fragile tones of Pete Townshend, the band’s main songwriter (and Tommy visionary) who also sang some of their biggest songs. The point, always, was inspiration, not impersonation. “My voice is so different than Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend,” said Bourzgui. “I kept their style and then kind of figured out how it worked in my voice. It’s helped me to find some things in my voice that I didn't even know I had.”

The pre-show warmup is “very intense," Bourzgui admits, involving “tongue-pulling” and some pretty weird noises. “I’m glad I have a private dressing room.”

Growing up, Bourzgui was exposed to a wide variety of music—everything from Nat King Cole to Michael Jackson. “My mom's side of the family is very musical. They would always sit around and sort of sing little harmonies together, or we would just come up with songs. A lot of my aunts and uncles would always help me make little movies or make little songs or little magic shows. There was always some element of performance going on.”

Bourzgui also makes his own music—in a style that couldn’t be further from the raucous power chord-thrashing style for which The Who is famous. It’s “lullaby music,” said Bourzgui, in the acoustic guitar-caressing vein of Jake Collier or James Taylor. “If I’m writing music, it’s to calm myself, or get myself through something. Sort of like a form of therapy.” When he gets around to releasing an album, it will definitely be inspired by the grand theatrical scope of Tommy. “I kind of want it to have a concept,” he said. “Not necessarily a story, but a linear theme that goes from beginning to end.”

In the meantime, Bourzgui is excited to unleash his inner rock star on Broadway eight times a week. The end of the show, he promises, will bring some serious rock concert energy to the Nederlander Theatre. “There's almost this ceremony where we all stand up and sing and everyone feels the music,” he said. “We’re all sharing some joy.”

That’s the power of music for you.

GET TO KNOW THE ONES TO WATCH
Left to Right: NICHELLE LEWIS (The Wiz) | ALI LOUIS BOURZGUI (The Who's Tommy) | JOY WOODS (The Notebook) | BRODY GRANT (The Outsiders) | SHAINA TAUB (Suffs)

Watch the full episode of The Broadway Show with Tamsen Fadal highlighting all six of these rising Broadway talents. Also: Flip through the complete gallery of photos from our exclusive Broadway.com photo shoot.

The Broadway Show Credits: Directed by Zack R. Smith | Producers: Paul Wontorek and Beth Stevens | Senior Producers: Caitlin Moynihan and Lindsey Sullivan | Videographers: Born in Brooklyn, Shaun Copeland, Luis Ferrá, Eddie Lebron, Anton Ponomarev, Nick Shakra and Tyler Ward  Photo Credits: Photography by Emilio Madrid | Photo Assistants: Alan Padilla and Cooper Hammel | Location: Corner Studio. Styling Credits: Styling: Eliza Yerry | Hair: Monique Gaffney | Make-up: Angella Valentine and Eldo Ray Estes | Brody Grant: Black Tank: Abercrombie & Fitch; White Tank: Sunspel; Pants: Mavi; Shoes: Gola; Jewelry: Title of Work | Joy Woods: Dress: A.Potts; Shoes: Gianvito Rossi; Jewelry: Jenny Bird | Ali Louis Bourzgui: Top: Acne; Pants: Diesel; Shoes: Nike; Jewelry: Title of Work | Shaina Taub: Jumpsuit: Miss Selfridge; Shoes: New Balance; Jewelry: Jenny Bird | Nichelle Lewis: Jacket: Khy; Bodysuit: Wolford; Skirt: ASOS; Shoes: RAID