Pete Townshend was a member of The Who from 1962-82; the group's first recording was in 1964. He has written hundreds of songs, many of which have been chart hits. He has written and composed several major collections that have won international recognition; Tommy is the best known. Awarded the Ivor Novello Award by his songwriter peers in 1981 and the British Phonograph Industry Award in 1983 for service to the British music industry. In 1990, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He has been nominated for two Grammys and an Academy Award (for the Tommy film score). He has most recently been honored with the 1993 Tony Award for Best Original Score for Tommy on Broadway. Recordings with The Who (1965-82): My Generation; Who's Next; Tommy and Quadrophenia (rock operas). Solo (1980-89): Empty Glass, Chinese Eyes, White City (with long-form video), Iron Man (songs for a musical based on Ted Hughes' original story. Publications: The Story of Tommy (with Richard Barnes) and Horse's Neck. Active as a songwriter, performer and producer, he continues to work as an editor at Faber and Faber, which he joined in 1983. Married, with three children, he lives in Twickenham, England.
Des McAnuff (Book) received Tony Awards for his Broadway stagings of Big River (1985) and The Who's Tommy (1993). He directed Lee Blessing's A Walk in the Woods on B'Way in 1988 and in Moscow and Lithuania in 1989-90. He is Director-in-Residence of the La Jolla Playhouse where he served as Artistic Director from its 1983 revival until 1994, during which time the theatre won more than 200 awards for excellence. For the Playhouse, he directed Romeo and Juliet; A Mad World; My Masters; Big River; As You Like It; The Sea Gull; The Matchmaker; A Walk in the Woods; Two Rooms; 80 Days; Macbeth; A Funny Thing Happened...; Twelfth Night; Three Sisters; Elmer Gantry; Much Ado About Nothing; The Who's Tommy and the 1995 Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. McAnuff's play, Leave it to Beaver is Dead, was produced in Toronto and NY City, where received the SoHo Arts Award. A co-founder of the Dodgers, he directed its first production, Gimme Shelter (SoHo Arts Award), as well as Mary Stuart and How It All Began, when the theatre moved to the New York Shakespeare Festival. McAnuff staged Henry IV, Part One for Joseph Papp in Central Park and was awarded a Rockefeller grant for his play, The Death of Von Richthofen as Witnessed From Earth, which he directed at the Public Theatre (SoHo Villager Award). He has directed for the American Rep Theatre at Harvard, Yale Rep and Stratford Festival of Canada and is a former faculty member of the Julliard School. McAnuff is married to actress Susan Berman and they are proud parents of Julia Violet.
