The Ensemble (Photo: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)

Rolling Thunder

By Julia Polinsky

Rolling Thunder, a new show that originated in Australia, is about the Vietnam era, scored to the music of the times. It's just opened at New World Stages, rolling out its considerable energy until September 7. Considering that this year is 50 years since the fall of Saigon, it is clearly a timely show. Catch it while it's here, especially if you're of a certain age and know every word to every song, as much of the audience seems to.

From the moment you enter the theater, you're fixed in time. It's that transitional era in American history: the late 1960s/early 70s, also known as the Vietnam Era. Multiple televisions placed around Wilson Chin's useful multi-level set show snippets of pop culture icons - the Jetsons, the Beatles, the Monkees, the Flintstones, Simon and Garfunkel, Star Trek, et al - some in color, some in B&W, just like it was back in the day. Of course, the Vietnam War was the first war to be televised, so it's appropriately evocative to have the TVs in our faces before the band even starts.

The Ensemble (Photo: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)

Band? yeah, there's a band, right on stage, which makes Rolling Thunder feel somewhat more like a concert than a musical, especially with Jake DeGroot's knockout stadium concert style lighting design and Mike Tracey's sound design. (Heads up: it's also LOUD. Like, LOUD-LOUD). It's a damn good band (arrangements and orchestrations by Chong Lim and Sonny Paladino), doing excellent covers of massive hits of the time - seriously, the royalties budget for Rolling Thunder must have nearly broken the bank. The Stones. Dylan. Roberta Flack. Gladys Knight. Hendrix. Santana. Simon and Garfunkel. the list goes on, and the audience was enthralled.

Which means, yes, it's a jukebox musical, with familiar songs and a sorta-kinda plot shoehorned in between them. That plot, such as it is, (book by Bryce Hallett) holds no surprises: it's the often-told tale of young people sent off to fight a war, the folks back home who miss them, and what happens to them all. The show bills itself as "part rock concert, part documentary;" here, "documentary" means the Ken Burns-style of reading letters aloud and speaking directly to the audience, and Rolling Thunder definitely fits that bill. If the story lines get a little confusing as the war continues, that's no surprise. Lots of things got confusing in that era, and the show makes much of anti-war protests, the Girl Back Home, race and civil rights. Kudos to the show for making sure that nurses got a focus (Courtnee Carter is outstanding here), as well as mentioning that some soldiers made friends with the Vietnamese, with all the risks that involved.

Deon'te Goodman, Drew Becker, Justin Matthew Sargent, Daniel Yearwood (Photo: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)

The cast -- Drew Becker, Cassadee Pope, Justin Matthew Sargent, Daniel Yearwood, Courtnee Carter, and Deon'te Goodman - belts or wails or warbles the rock hits and moves the story along very well, under Kenneth Ferrone's athletic, enthusiastic direction. Andrea Lauer's costumes fill the purpose, although it's hard to make khaki fatigues look good on stage no matter what you do. Caite Heyner's projections bring in the necessary helicopter, burning, and television visuals that evoke "Vietnam War" like nothing else, and continue the "revolution will be televised" vibe.

Rolling Thunder soothes the urge to acknowledge this terrible war and honor those who fought, died, nursed, protested, and lived through it. There's a lovely moment at the end that fosters a little extra healing. In this world, where you can trace where and who we are now back to the changes during that time, any healing is good.

 

Rolling Thunder

At New World Stages, 340 W. 50^th St.

Tickets: https://www.telecharge.com/Rolling-Thunder-tickets?AID=OBW001462000

Through September 7