Review: Strong Storytelling Rumbles in Distant Thunder but Lightning Never Strikes

An Indigenous storyteller (Irma-Estel Lageurre) gathers the audience and begins a tale of a man returning to his lost homeland, as dancers dressed in shawls, bells, and feathers spin and pound their feet.

These opening moments of Distant Thunder, now running at A.R.T/New York Theatres, sweep the audience away immediately (the show is produced by Amas Musical Theatre in association with Tall Tree Productions). Though it can’t quite hold this spell forever, it’s successful in showcasing the amazing talents of its performers.

As the first mainstream Indigenous musical produced in New York, Distant Thunder purposefully skims the surface of the issues of the Blackfeet nation to cover as much ground as possible. While this provides an engaging and emotive night of theater, it also keeps the audience from truly knowing the characters.

Prodigal son Darrell (Shaun Taylor-Corbett) was taken away from his Blackfeet tribe as a child by his white mother for reasons he doesn’t understand. Now a big city lawyer, he returns to the reservation after her death to broker a deal that he believes will benefit the tribe. His secret goal is to find his estranged father, White Feather (Jeff Barehand), and get answers for why he never pursued a relationship with him.

From there, the plot takes predictable turns, but the show has enough momentum to make the audience forget that, at least at first. As Darrell reconnects with members of the tribe and remembers what he loves about them, the cast gives delightful and emotional performances that make it easy to connect with the material. The vibrant group of friends and family includes Betty Still Smoking (Michelle Rios), a grandma-like but sassy figure in Darrell’s life; Old Man (Brent Florendo-Sitwallapum), the medicine man and guide for both Darrell and the tribe; and Dorothy (Angela Gomez), a former close friend and current potential love interest. They might be stock characters, but the extremely talented and vocally impressive actors make them feel real.

The most effective songs (music and lyrics by Shaun Taylor-Corbett and Chris Wiseman and additional music by Robert Lindsey-Nassif and Michael Moricz) intertwine traditional musical theater motifs with Indigenous rhythms, vocals, and instruments. The melodies are gorgeous, particularly those with the native-influenced backup sung by Chava Florendo.

Other songs incorporate a country music sound, and though pleasurable, they’re less memorable. The choreography, by Lynne Taylor-Corbett, is even more successful at blending these elements, bringing together standard musical-theater moves, Indigenous dance, and western line dancing.

The Indigenous dances in particular were beautiful and meaningful. Small sequences of choreography rippled through the actors in time to a beating drum, communicating their unity as a tribe. This attention to the smallest details elevates the production throughout, especially in the cultural touchstones the creators have chosen to include. There is a wonderful sense of community that comes through the culturally authentic food, traditions, and costumes, designed by E.B. Brooks.

In focusing on that community, though, the story loses the specificity that gives the characters staying power. At one hour and 50 minutes, the show breezes by a bit too fast. Many musicals could stand to lose a song or two, but this one needed a few more to build out the relationships between the characters and make them more three dimensional.

The book by Lynne Taylor-Corbett and Shaun Taylor-Corbett could also be further filled out with more nuanced character interactions. Several of the plot’s loose ends remain untied at the end. In one case, this is acknowledged by the storyteller and is clearly intentional. I thought this acknowledgement might lead to a bigger thematic message that Indigenous people have endured the genocide against them and are alive today with ongoing hopes, problems, and journeys. But instead of landing on this or any other larger truth, several storylines end in ways that feel incomplete.

Distant Thunder brings to life a thriving, joyful community despite the challenges it faces, and leaves audiences wanting more time, and deeper connection, with them. The talented creatives on and behind the stage have so many unheard stories to tell, and I hope they’ll give us more.