ROLLING THUNDER to Make US Premiere at New World Stages This Summer
Performances start on July 10th in advance of a July 24th opening night.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Apr. 30, 2025
Rolling Thunder will make its U.S. premiere for a limited engagement this summer at off-Broadway’s New World Stages with performances starting on July 10th in advance of a July 24th opening night.
Rolling Thunder was originally developed and produced in Australia by Blake Entertainment, helmed by Blake. The book is by journalist/writer Bryce Hallett. This new U.S. production will be directed by Kenneth Ferrone (The Wanderer, Prelude to a Kiss, Cruel Intentions). Casting and creative news will be forthcoming.
Part rock concert, part documentary, this exhilarating and moving show tells the heartfelt stories of young soldiers caught in the abyss of the Vietnam War and the galvanizing protest movement that sought to end it.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War with the fall of Saigon on April 30th, 1975, when NVA tanks rolled through the gates of the Presidential Palace.
Rolling Thunder brings together legendary songs of the period of the ‘60s and ‘70s, raw and potent storytelling inspired by Vietnam veterans and their families. The draft, combat, civil rights movement, and homecoming are evocatively reawakened in this intimate and epic work. At heart, it’s a deeply moving love story of courage, longing, loss, and hope.
Celebrated in Australia with numerous engagements and tours, critics have hailed it as “a musical and dramatic triumph” that “reaches deep into the soul” and a show “that brings alive the pulse, character, uncertainty and urgency of a generation on the brink of a revolution”.
The conflict - the world’s first televised war - gave rise to some of the most blistering and lyrical songs of the 20th century. Rolling Thunder showcases more than 20 rock classics, including ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall’, “All Along the Watchtower”, “Born to be Wild”, “People Get Ready”, “The Letter”, “Black Magic Woman”, “Gimme Shelter”, “Help Me Make it Through the Night”, “Eve of Destruction”, “Killing Me Softly with His Song”, “We’ve Gotta Get Out of This Place” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water”.
The show encompasses the musical influence and legacy of many of the most notable songwriters, including Paul Simon, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Roberta Flack, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill, Gladys Knight, Curtis Mayfield, among others.
