REVIEW: Ride the Cyclone (Arena Stage)
Preview: I’m a sucker for a good cult musical. It’s not every day a musical on that has a solid fanbase on TikTok ends up being good, much less enough for an acclaimed, two-time Tony winning regional theatre to put on — let’s not discuss Be More Chill, shall we? However, this one is not one I see much about on the web, at least not in the same ways. The premise is that a bunch of choir kids die in a roller coaster accident and then must compete against each other in front of a haunted mechanical fortune teller to make it back to the land of the living. Although, I went into this mostly blind, only vaguely aware of the competition amongst the kids that is central to the plot. A friend of mine had seen a production of Cyclone and merely called it “wild” (non-derogatory), in a conversation where we both agreed that Arena Stage was the top musical producer in the city right now — so needless to say I was quite excited to see this. To make it even more exciting, Arena Stage invited me to attend the press night, the first of my blossoming amateur critic career! It was very cool to have the opportunity to be there in the room with the buzzing energy of a bunch of proud parents watching their kids dance recital. But, of course, I’m still going to be honest about the show; that’s what a critic is, right?
Acting: There’s a lot of solid, memorable performances in this. Given the nature of the plot, you need to have a strong ensemble to capture the different personalities in ways that aren’t homogenous or too distracting from the others. And even though Shinah Hey’s Ocean O’Connell really kicks things off with the catchy, self-absorbed pop anthem of “What the World Needs”, my attention was constantly bouncing between her cynically upbeat performance and her foil, her back-burner-bestie Constance Blackwood (Gabrielle Dominique)…and Ukrainian adoptee Mischa (Eli Mayer)…and savior of an alien cat planet Ricky Potts (Matthew Boyd Snyder)…and wannabe French noir prostitute Noel Gruber (Nick Martinez)….basically, everyone pulls their weight hard. Each song, even if not that catchy (rare), was worth paying full attention to due to the wonderful performance and varied, exciting dancing (wonderfully done by Jim Lichtsheidl) put on by everyone. However, I want to put particular praise toward Karnak and Jane Doe (Marc Geller and Ashlyn Maddox). Karnak sits in his booth, stage left, the entire show. He moves his head, sometimes, and speaks pretty monotone. But with impeccable sarcasm and indifference towards these kids, he serves as a grounded antagonist that leaves you wondering what he’s gonna say next and when, who almost never disappoints. Yet, the core of the eeriness lies within Doe, my favorite performance, who robotically teeters around the stage like an undead barbie doll. Her plight also grows in emotional weight as the show progresses, and by the end you could be convinced this was all about her the entire time. 9/10
Production: Arena Stage seems to throw a lot of the budget at set design, and this is no exception. While most of the set is static, and there is greater reliance on projections than I would like, the way that the rotating stage allows the audience to focus on the varied choreo throughout the runtime was a great touch that adds dynamism to what would ordinarily be like watching an ornate picture frame with people inside. Jiyoun Chang, two-time Tony nominee in lighting design, continues to make her case for winning someday with colorful, textured lighting that floods each performance with the right amount of emotion and charm. Costumes, well done by Trevor Bowen, match the charisma and splendour demanded by each character relatively well. Hell, there’s even a character that literally flies through the air, no wires! I also was pleasantly surprised by the amount of costume changes and one-off props, which I believe actually impacted the show in a positive way overall instead of just sweetening up one or two scenes. 7/10
Book/Lyrics: The money-maker. Cult musicals don’t become cult musicals without killer songs, especially given the relative economic privilege needed to go out and see a show. While this was not my absolute favorite score of all time, I can totally see why it has made the impact it has. The songs have your typical mix: emotional Broadway ballads, electropop Gurl Power™ anthems, Slavic techno-rap, a Fursuit Number, etc. (No? Not typical? Whoops). They all match their characters as well as you’d expect this carnival-tinged Willy Wonka story to. Some are more generic than others, namely Doe and Constance unfortunately, but none are skip-worthy or ever drone on. Dialogue and lyrics also can be seemingly cheesy, as a teen-oriented musical often is, but none so bad I had to cringe. The main thing you should know is that once I got home, the 2021 cast recording immediately got put on the rotation. 8/10
VisDev: The program matches the widespread Arena Stage campaigns you may find around town, the oil painting of Karnak behind the group. What I would have liked to see more of is an actual representation of the cast members in the roles depicted, especially because Karnak’s actual design in the show is markedly different, in all the right ways, in the show, as well as a representation of the devilishly creepy Jane Doe. Could this have been intentional? Maybe, but I think it runs the risk of being perceived as generic. The pre-show staging setup is reminiscent of Phantom of the Opera, with rusty, beat-up knick knacks from days past that light up the house once its own dim. It paints a grim, spooky environment that sets the tone well for a show set in limbo, against mechanically creepy forces. 7/10
