Pete Townshend in an undeniable part of rock history. As co-founder of The Who and a solo artist, Townshend's contributions to rock, and music as a whole, have been monumental — including Pete Townshend's Quardophenia, A Rock Ballet. To celebrate, the icon himself is sharing everything with fans during iHeartRadio ICONS with Pete Townshend on Thursday, November 13th.

Pete Townshend's Quardophenia, A Rock Ballet is set to take over New York City Center this month. Featuring direction by Rob Ashford and choreography by Paul Roberts, the acclaimed dance production is a fresh take on The Who's 1973 album QUADROPHENIA. After the album was released, it quickly became a multi-million selling album, and inspired the cult classic feature film of the same name. Now, the album takes on a new form in Quadrophenia, A Rock Ballet with a large cast of exceptional dancers, introducing new audiences to the story, while remaining true in spirit to the much-loved original.

In a statement, Townshend said of the ballet, "QUADROPHENIA is the only Who album that I solely composed and produced, and the movie that followed in 1979 launched the careers of some of the finest young actors of the time. In 2016 Rachel Fuller agreed to create an orchestral score of the album. When I first heard a demo of this version, without vocals, my first thought was that it would make a powerfully rhythmic and emotionally engaging ballet." He continued, "Workshopped in 2023, that thought became a reality and I knew we had something that would resonate with new audiences, and also bring joy, as it had in its other iterations for decades. The themes of young people growing up in difficult times are still so relevant. It's going to be poignant, tender and poetic and epic."

During iHeartRadio ICONS with Pete Townshend, the legendary rocker will give an intimate acoustic performance and talk about Quadrophenia, A Rock Ballet and more in a special Q&A hosted by iHeartRadio's Jim Kerr. Fans can tune in to iHeartRadio ICONS with Pete Townshend on Thursday, November 13th at via iHeartRadio's Classic Rock channel at 7pm ET/4pm PT.

Jeffrey T. Mason