A decidedly weird little Canadian musical by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell has developed quite the online following since it debuted in 2008 in Victoria, British Columbia. By 2016, Ride the Cyclone had opened off-Broadway in New York City and it has proceeded to win awards and nominations over the years.
According to Cody Fogh, the director of a local production of the show playing through January 26, Santa Maria Civic Theatre also hopes it will attract Central Coast Gen Z-ers into the realm of live theatre audiences.
Ride the Cyclone takes you on an emotional ride: laughing at its hilarious dark comedy and timing, feeling compassion for outsiders, experiencing a tear-jerking moment when an unknown headless girl gets an unlikely chance. All the while, it entertains you with varying musical styles: pop, showtune-esque blockbusters, Euro-rap, ’80s space-pop (think Bowie’s Space Odyssey phase), country-folk, rock ballads, and even operatic vocal acrobatics. There is literally a song-style for most everyone to enjoy.
This show is fresh. I can honestly say I have never seen a play quite like this one.”
Cyclone attempts to draw in today’s youth by addressing a myriad of current relationship issues, providing youthful language and lyrics and newer music styles, and including plenty of modern examples of teenage angst in the characters’ arcs.
This show is fresh. I can honestly say I have never seen a play quite like this one. Cyclone’s macabre storyline, the verisimilitude of character emotions expressed through lyrics and dance, and the modern vehicles used to move the plot forward are truly brilliant. This production is performed to near-perfection.
If you’ve been to Santa Maria Civic Theatre productions you already know its venue has some stage limitations. Really, it’s just a smaller stage area to work within.
In this case, there’s genius in the set design—created by the director. There’s a carnival fair’s midway that includes an outdoor table, benches, and umbrella on far stage right; a moving roller coaster car literally bursting through the upstage back wall with a bandstand leading into an exhibit tent; and on the far stage left is an old, automated fortune teller in a glass box. The Amazing Karnak is programmed to tell fair-goers how and when they will die (be warned of the dark humor in this show).
All of the elements of this production are completed with artistry and talent.”
The story is set in rural Canada and this gifted ensemble cast is glowing with energy and talent. Six high schoolers go to a choir competition where they don’t win top prize but decide to stay positive and enjoy their time at the carnival. Though Karnak warns of impending doom, he still says his tagline as he is programmed to do at the end of every fortune: “Don’t forget to ride the cyclone.” The kids go ride the coaster and sure enough, an axle breaks on the first car and sends the six kids to their deaths.
When they “wake up” they are floating through space and land in a hellish place where the trickster Karnak, overseeing this purgatory, is judge and jury of the students’ fates. Turns out, Karnak suggests a competition amongst the choir members to see which student deserves to return to their life and the world of the living. Only one can go back. The rest will perish. It should be the most “deserving” one, and the students must vote them through. Tough choice.
As students plead their cases, they tell their personal stories through song while we learn their personalities, inner-truths . . . and secrets. Who is deserving of life? No spoilers, but in the end, I appreciated the winning candidate.
All of the elements of this production are completed with artistry and talent. The music direction and choreography are executed with flair under Christine Fogh. The ensemble cast is undeniably good. Before we go there, however, a note on the use of puppetry craft in this production.
The Karnak character could have been played by a live actor sitting in the glass fortune-teller’s box, but the director has chosen the much more authentic and inspiring (although less convenient and more expensive) choice of having the character be a near life-sized puppet enlivened by two puppeteers. Veteran actor Jim Dahmen is the voice of Karnak, and puppeteer Irene Dahmen moves all the “automated” parts. Together they successfully create the seventh and most nefarious character in the play—a realistically clunky animatronic fortune-telling machine of yore. The result is fantastic.
Don’t miss this show. It is smart, witty, dark, funny, self-reflective, and yes, fresh.”
Now let’s get to know the live performers.
The ever-positive self-declared choir leader (but she’s not self-absorbed) and mezzo-soprano Ocean O’Connell Rosenberg is gleefully and intentionally overdone by energetic local actor Sarah Ruth Smith. Ocean’s shy, loyal, and withdrawn (until she’s not) best friend and alto Constance Blackwood is given a spot-on performance by Janelle Stellar. Loved her pop number “Sugarcloud!”—great vocal tone.
Brandon MacDonald nails his performance as tenor Noel Gruber, the only outwardly gay student in the small Canadian town (who actually has secret dreams of being a cabaret singer in a Paris nightclub . . . dressed as a woman). David Smith gives an equally outstanding performance as baritone (and mad rapper) Mischa Backinski who portrays his truth: that tough Ukrainian males do cry—and kiss.
Tenor Ricky Potts (played like a real savior by Jaime Espinoza) has something of a speech impediment. Shy and socially awkward, he rarely speaks at all—that is, until he opens up and shares his true identity and his special mission here on Earth. Watch out, space kittens!
Lastly there is the haunting lyric-soprano Jane Doe, a mysterious doll-like creature who mesmerizes as much as she terrifies. Portrayed unnervingly well by AJ Fogh, her creepy way of moving and staring is frightening. Yet her voice simply floats eerily over all the other voices when she sings. This young lady could have an opera career (toi, toi!).
Don’t miss this show. It is smart, witty, dark, funny, self-reflective, and yes, fresh. If you think theatre is stale and boring, prove yourself wrong. Ride the Cyclone!
Go see a show!