A Wild ‘Ride’
A metaphysical Gen Z Breakfast Club musical would be a fairly accurate yet wholly inaccurate description of the joyful, weird, chaotic, and heartwarming trip that is Ride the Cyclone: The Musical, now playing in the Burbank Theater at Santa Rosa Junior College through Nov. 23.
The town of Uranium’s high school choir is composed of five (or is it six?) students who decide to ride the Cyclone rollercoaster at a local carnival together. A terrible accident befalls them, and they end up in an odd purgatory ruled over by a self-aware fortune-telling automaton, Karnak (Aliya Webb), who offers one of them the chance to return to life. Thus starts a song and dance competition like no other.
All the usual teen tropes are here: the overachiever, Ocean (Scarlett Sanders), the gay one, Noel (Chase Thompson), the angry one, Mischa (Jaden “Moose” Frank), the quiet one, Ricky (Addison Brown), and the mousy girl, Constance (Maya Tuchband). However, those tropes are reexamined in a Zennial reimagining of what lies beneath them. As far as the plot is concerned, yes, it’s easy to guess where it’s going, but there’s no way to predict the wild ride along the way.
There’s also that sixth student (Reilly Trainor). Trainor is an amazing performer with a beautiful voice, a great stage presence, and a polished level of characterization.
Sanders, Thompson, Frank, Brown, Trainor, and Tuchband are a tight ensemble. The energy between them is palpable, infusing every scene with a sense of vitality.
Brown and Frank especially display levels of vulnerability that would make Tennessee Williams proud. Their ability to somehow fully portray their tropes yet never lose that vulnerability helps keep all the other characters grounded.
Scenic design (Austin Mueck) is extraordinary, with broken pieces of the coaster breaking the proscenium. Costumes (Reynalda Cruz) are a fever dream of creative chaos. And musical direction by Nate Riebli is, as always, top-notch.
Were there flaws? Of course, it’s live theater. At one point, Brown’s mic started malfunctioning, and the spotlight operator had a hard time keeping the ever-moving cast lit. Also, as a stage manager, I almost had a heart attack when the swinging started. The team responsible for the rigging and safety of that scene deserves kudos.
Sometimes, lightning strikes and the right show finds the right cast and the right team. Director Sarah Wintermeyer has somehow bottled that lightning and turned it into one wild ride.
‘Ride the Cyclone: The Musical’ runs Weds–Sun through November 23 in Santa Rosa Junior College’s Burbank Auditorium, 1501 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa. Weds-Sat, 7:30pm; Sun, 2pm. $15–$25. 707.527.4307. theatrearts.santarosa.edu
