Rolling Thunder: A Rock Journey is a 50-year celebration of the fall of Vietnam in 1975. Besides dealing with the Vietnam War, the show also has 18 musical numbers from the classic rock period of the 1960s and 1970s — songs you probably haven’t heard in eons.
Rolling Thunder began its life in Australia, and the book, written by journalist Bryce Hallett, is based on a mix of letters and interviews from four young American recruits: Johnny (Drew Becker), a Midwest farm boy; Mike (Deon’te Goodman), who wants to be a patriot; Andy (Daniel Yearwood), who was just drafted; and Thomas (Justin Matthew Sargent), who always wanted to look like his Dad in his Marine regalia. The ladies in the show are Courtnee Carter, who plays a nurse and mother, and Cassadee Pope, who is Johnny’s girlfriend Linda. There is also a marvelous band of five experts playing those vintage tunes.
Once the soldiers get to Saigon, the story bogs down. The scenes seem like fillers. The book doesn’t give us the drama that war needs. Both American and the Vietnamese seem stymied by the dangerous lives they are trying to get through.
But what saves the show and definitely kept everyone entertained are the 50-year-old songs that thread both Act One and Act Two, especially with that tremendous Broadway cast of six singing them live.
Here is a sampling of a few of the songs, and they are just as terrific as they were 50 years ago:
“Gimme Shelter” by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
“Black Magic Woman” by Peter Green
“Help Me Make It Through The Night” by Kris Kristofferson
“Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Simon and Garfunkel
“Nowhere To Run” by Brian Holland
“Killing Me Softly” by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel
Twelve more too! These songs will stay in your head.
A hot night in the middle of July was a cool winter of fun.
Rolling Thunder: A Rock Journey (rollingthunderus.com) is playing at New World Stages, at 340 West 50th Street, through September 7th.
Photos: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade
