DILLON — Even mixed in with the many other bands of the British invasion of the 1960s, The Who stood out early in the game. While most of the acts relied on one or two guitar chords, a catchy chorus and a bit of harmony, The Who hit the stage with more complex tunes and lyrics, a guitarist and a drummer who quite literally attacked their instruments and a bassist who played his ax like a lead guitar. Headline-grabbing exploits — such as the time Keith Moon blew up his drum kit on The Smothers Brothers Show or drove a car into a swimming pool — garnered the band notoriety (and the derision of parents everywhere), while the man who wrote all the songs was not-so-quietly pushing the boundaries of what rock music was and could do.

It's extraordinary, really, to recall that Pete Townshend was just turning 24 in 1969, when The Who released the double album “Tommy.” Billed, not quite accurately, as the world's first rock opera, “Tommy” nevertheless went in a direction no other rock album had before. With its thematically linked songs about a deaf, dumb and blind boy, “Tommy” (with The Beatles' “Sgt. Pepper's” two years earlier) changed forever the notion that rock was a musical genre limited to three-minute songs about girls.

While in my mind “Tommy” has never been the equal of The Who's 1973 other long-form work “Quadrophenia,” “Tommy” is the one that ultimately went on to become more adaptable to the stage. With its colorful characters, stand-out hits like “Pinball Wizard” and “See Me, Feel Me” and poignant themes of longing and redemption, “Tommy” resonates in a more universal way than the punk gang-bangers of “Quadrophenia” ever could. And while “Tommy” was never originally performed with staging like a true opera or musical, Townshend was part of the team that, in 1993, sought to address that with “The Who's Tommy,” the stage production Summit County audiences will see this summer at the Lake Dillon Theatre.

Tommy in Dillon

Anyone who doubts this little theater's ability to mount a big, ambitious musical like this in such a small space need only recall the triumph of last summer, when the Dillon theater put on roof-raising productions of “Rent” and “Hair.” The latter won the 2010 Denver Post Ovation Award for best musical and, back in the day as the first rock musical, set the stage, literally, for “The Who's Tommy.”

Once again, Dillon is working with professional actors this summer as part of its repertory season, and once again artistic director Chris Alleman has assembled a crack corps of young talent that can act, sing and dance, rehearse round the clock and perform in multiple shows over the course of the summer. At a dress rehearsal of “Tommy” Wednesday night, the ensemble cast roared through this somewhat complex musical with remarkable aplomb as the technical staff worked through the final details and last-minute glitches.

Pinball and crazed fans aside, “Tommy” is, at its heart, the tale of a tormented young boy who suffers a great trauma at a young age. The character is represented on stage as a boy by the almost entirely silent Alex Anderson, while grown-up Tommy is adeptly portrayed by Josh T. Smith. Those who've seen the bizarre 1975 Ken Russell film of “Tommy” no doubt associate Who singer Roger Daltrey with the face of Tommy, with his flowing blond curls and rock-god identity. Smith, on the other hand, looks like the boy next door who just wants to fit in, which is ultimately what “Tommy” is all about. Under Alleman's direction, this Tommy is the bemused observer of the turmoil surrounding his own life for much of the show. When he has his “breakthrough,” Smith really gets to shine, showing off his powerful voice and assuming a new-found authority that helps him manage the menagerie of hangers-on and groupies that suddenly surround him.

There's some tough material here — a lot of child abuse, some drug abuse and a murder, and I wouldn't recommend this show for children under 12. “The Who's Tommy” was really written as a song cycle, not a musical, and no doubt Townshend's challenge in 1993 was crafting the narrative to flow more smoothly. One interesting twist is having young and old Tommy appear together on stage throughout the show. Even though silent and a good deal shorter than his older self, Anderson commands a great deal of attention as little Tommy, and he does a fine job of comporting himself with the detached insularity his condition dictates. As he haunts older Tommy later in the show, the two of them occupy a world unto themselves, with all the noise and bluster of the other characters being just that.

As Tommy's parents, Amy Jo Jackson and David Piazza provide a strong center to the action as they frenetically seek a cure. A real standout in the ensemble is Michael Jayne Walker as the evil Cousin Kevin, and I look forward to seeing more of him this summer along with Garrett Bruce, who played several different roles.

“The Who's Tommy” is not your warm-and-fuzzy musical. It asks a lot from the audience, but the superb casts delivers at every turn and creates a memorable theatre experience that will have people talking about it long after the curtain call.