Everyone loves witnessing something morbid. Maybe it’s the safety of witnessing someone else’s misery from a distance or the powerful woe of hearing a truly tragic story. In the case of Ride the Cyclone, the musical takes the story of a carnival visit gone wrong as a group of teenagers board the ricketiest roller coaster in town, spiraling into limbo and being forced to confront a difficult question. The fortune teller machine The Amazing Karnak (Robert Foran) offers them a chance to send one person back to the world of the living. Over the course of a one-act structure, it’s up to everyone to plead their case. The results are some of the most entertaining, thought-provoking, emotional theater possible. It may be a small, abstract story, but its journey through these colorful characters’ lives reveals something palatable for the audience. What have we done to make this life a worthwhile ride? The answers will hopefully surprise you.
The stage is decked with the charm of a rundown carnival. Along with Karnak, there are boxes thrown astray, where decaying food and loose, scraggly outfits fall to the floor. It’s a world that’s dystopian akin to purgatory. Behind a curtain is the void into the great unknown, but that’s for later. For now, it’s time to figure out why everyone is there and how they can return to their happy little lives. Watching the small cast perform a peppy cheer number sets things into gear, finding the enthusiasm being contrasted minutes later with “Minor Turn.” As they become thrown astray across the stage, the wonder of what’s to happen overwhelms the darkly lit stage. Everyone must realize how much they do and don’t like each other. Also, they must figure out who this Jane Doe (Em Flosi) is; a headless girl who seemingly has no identity.
Because the show follows a ticking clock format, every moment is underlined with anxiety, making the audience hyper-aware that even the most comedic beats can break down momentarily. The small quibbles could amount to nothing and overachieving A-students like Ocean (Haley Wolff) may not realize their foolishness in time. With that said, Karnak is compassionate enough to hear everyone out, allowing their lives to play out with a resume that falls across the stage. Overhead in a series of panels are the photos that define their lives. The supporting cast plays various smaller roles in order to make the flashbacks vivid, allowing the emphasis to shine more. What’s even more impressive is sometimes not how well the actors transition to these parts, but how quickly they transition back into their prominent characters in time for a jaunty musical number.
This is a show that has an abundant amount of personality. There are times where the cast sings a dramatic cabaret of being gay (“Noel’s Lament”), rap songs (“This Song is Awesome”), and even a kooky space opera (“Space Age Bachelor Man”). The versatility may seem unfocused, but it actually helps to reflect the individuality of every character. Even in moments that read as a novelty, there’s some emotional catharsis building, finding ways that teenagers navigate the world, trying to find their own ways to survive. With the tragic reality that even the most empathetic characters aren’t likely to survive, the revelations show how difficult it is to envision your whole world before you’ve really lived it. They have died just as things have gotten interesting, and it makes the whole thing bittersweet.
The structure is fairly straightforward with each approaching Karnak to discover their fates. Each time it carries that curiosity that makes one wonder what secrets lie behind their self-defensive nature. It’s a story of learning to think outside of yourself and appreciate the struggles of others. Sometimes it’s silly and inconsequential, but other times will produce numbers like “The Ballad of Jane Doe,” where the emotions pierce through the room as Jane Doe swings from the ceiling, crying from her lack of identity. It’s the type of execution that makes a later scene all the more powerful for its quietness.
It's to the staff’s credit that this is a show not only put on brilliantly by the cast, but also by the tech crew. The stage may use minimalist props, but the backdrops help to create a sideshow quality. The pictures line the stage, peering into worlds that are only hinted at. The show does a phenomenal job of making the audience empathize with them, wanting to see what their lives would be like if they survive. Even if the ending can be perceived as optimistic, it’s still one rooted in chills, where the revelations reflect profound character growth, but at a terrible cost. Ride the Cyclone is a show that’s best interpreted as abstract and dealing more with emotions and themes than any grounded story. The idea is to capture something existential, asking the audience to ponder their own lives and nobility. Are they capable of being saved, or would they recognize why someone else deserves it more? There’s so much here that’s entertaining, but it’s also a haunting story that feels exactly like its whacked-out carnival setting would suggest. It’s in the loose threads that one is really allowed to think of the greater meaning, and it’s quite possible that each character will resonate differently depending on personal values.
The show’s run at Chance Theater in Anaheim, CA holds the special honor of being the west coast premiere of the Canadian musical. It was also shared during a post-show Q&A that it was put on prior to any contemporary alterations and thus certain characteristics (especially around the disabled character Ricky) reflect an older version of this story. In this writer’s opinion, without seeing the changes I think taking away the disability plot line removes an emotional core of the character, and am grateful to have seen this interpretation of the material before it’s potentially changed for future productions.
With all of this said, the staff at Chance really knows how to warm up a crowd. In a small theater venue, employees greeted the audience prior to the performance to offer details on upcoming shows while holding raffles for people to win free tickets to future shows. There is a warmth and familiarity for even the newest faces when entering the theater, where the staff is approachable and the mystery of the next 90 minutes only grow with every tease. They may have some higher profile shows like Ride the Cyclone and Rent in the works, but there are also smaller, local shows that could be worth considering (a show prominently discussed was Colonialism is Terrible But Pho is Delicious). There’s a lot to look forward to and after sitting through this show, there’s more than enough reason to want to come back sooner than later.
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