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Speaker 1: Rolling Thunder Vietnam is on at the Perth Concert Hall

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Speaker 1: next May nineteen and twenty. Tickets are on sale today

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Speaker 1: through Rolling Thunder Vietnam dot com. The producer is Rebecca

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Speaker 1: Blake and she is joining us now. Good morning, Rebecca, Good.

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Speaker 2: Morning, thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: Oh thanks for joining. For those who are unfamiliar, just

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Speaker 1: tell us briefly about the show.

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Speaker 2: Okay, Look, Rolling Thunder Vietnam's homegrown production. It's some one

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Speaker 2: the first stage shows anywhere to depict the Vietnam more

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Speaker 2: from an Australian perspective. The show features conscription, combat, homecoming.

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Speaker 2: It's a love story as well, which I think makes

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Speaker 2: it beautiful. And look, we did a lot of research

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Speaker 2: with veterans to get the script right. There's three soldiers

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Speaker 2: depicting their journey, which audience has become totally immersed with.

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Speaker 2: And then you have this fabulous music weeds in and

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Speaker 2: out of the storytelling, which is the glue to the show.

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Speaker 2: You know, music, fabulous music by Joe Cocker, Jimmy Hendrick,

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Speaker 2: Edwin Starr, the animals, so it just works. And then

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Speaker 2: there's projection, so the audience just goes along, I think,

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Speaker 2: not expecting to be blown away and they come back

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Speaker 2: again and again and love it. So we're doing something right.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right. And Rebecca, we know that the story

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Speaker 3: of the Australian slant on it. There wasn't always a

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Speaker 3: joyous homecoming for our troops.

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Speaker 2: No, look, it wasn't. I think it brought the horror

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Speaker 2: of war into everybody's living room. It was the first

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Speaker 2: televised and you know, politicians would say one thing, and

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Speaker 2: ordinary Aussies were watching mass killing and it was confronting.

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Speaker 2: But you know, out of this turbulent time came these

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Speaker 2: fabulous songs of pure beauty and we've managed to you know,

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Speaker 2: get the rights to do about twenty of them in

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Speaker 2: the show. And it's you know by the master musicians

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Speaker 2: of the Farm and Band. They've been with the show

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Speaker 2: from day one and they just love performing.

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Speaker 1: Most of us have grown up with war being televised.

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Speaker 1: I mean the Gulf War was televised in real time.

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Speaker 1: But it must have been such an amazing sort of

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Speaker 1: period for people to see this televised for the first time.

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Speaker 1: And I guess that's why it created such a period

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Speaker 1: of amazing protest and political unrest.

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Speaker 2: Look, it did, and Lucia means so much to the vets.

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Speaker 2: We've got veterans that have followed this show from day one,

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Speaker 2: and after the show they come and meet the cast

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Speaker 2: and they share their experiences and look, I think it's

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Speaker 2: heartening and I think our production can serve as a

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Speaker 2: catalyst and a tonic for them.

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Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about the music. It's very much demographic.

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Speaker 1: It's very ninety six a fair What are some of

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Speaker 1: your favorites that are in the show?

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Speaker 2: Oh gosh, look, I you know, it's incredibly challenging to

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Speaker 2: pick any of the music for the show because it's

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Speaker 2: such a good playlist. But I personally love all along

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Speaker 2: in the Watchtowel, which is performed with great energy by

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Speaker 2: the cast and musicians. Brett Garcei, which is one of

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Speaker 2: Australia's finest guitarists, of a masterful rendition of Black Magic Woman,

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Speaker 2: and then in the Love Story, We've got to help

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Speaker 2: Me make it through the night and you know, killing

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Speaker 2: me softly, and then the finales Bridge over Troubled Water.

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Speaker 2: I mean, all the songs are universal and they speak

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Speaker 2: to the fur generations.

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Speaker 3: Well you say that, Rebecca, because you walk into a

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Speaker 3: cafe these days and hear the Beatles or Credence or

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Speaker 3: Hendrix playing, and you probably get a multitude of various demographics,

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Speaker 3: different age groups going to see a show like this.

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Speaker 2: Look we do, and I think, you know, the audience

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Speaker 2: is surprised because I think they come along not expecting

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Speaker 2: to be blown away. And we've done about eighty shows

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Speaker 2: since this first you know, in twenty fourteen is when

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Speaker 2: we created this show, and every show at a standing ovation.

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Speaker 2: There's not one show where we don't get it, and

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Speaker 2: you know, everyone's dancing in the aisles and they just

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Speaker 2: love it. So we're doing something right. And we haven't

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Speaker 2: been to pers since twenty sixteen, and it'll be seven

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Speaker 2: years by the time we come back, and we're just

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Speaker 2: really excited to be coming to Perth.

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Speaker 1: When I think of this story, I think A fortunate Son.

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Speaker 1: That's the one I'm.

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Speaker 3: Looking forward to sung with anger, wasn't it.

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Speaker 2: Well that's the second show, Yeah, the second second song

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Speaker 2: in the show, and it's pretty amazing. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, Rebecca, thanks for joining us this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thank you. We can't wait, and we look forward to

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Speaker 2: seeing you all soon.

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Speaker 3: For the best