Ride the Cyclone

Ride the Cyclone is a musical with music, lyrics and book by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell. It is the second installment in Richmond's "Uranium Teen Scream Trilogy", a collection of three theatrical works, one not yet written, that take place in the exaggerated Uranium City.

Premise
Members of the St. Cassian High School chamber choir of Uranium City, Saskatchewan, have perished on a faulty roller coaster called The Cyclone. Each tells their story, in the form of song, to win the reward from a mechanical fortune teller: the chance to return to life.

Productions
The world premiere production took place in Victoria, British Columbia at Atomic Vaudeville in 2008. A production played at the Theatre Passe Muraille, Toronto in 2011, and there was a tour of Western Canada in 2013.

The American premiere took place at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Directed by Rachel Rockwell, the production opened on 29 September 2015, playing a limited run until 8 November. With Rockwell again directing, the show opened Off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre with an official opening night on 30 November 2016, ending its limited run on 18 December. Taylor Louderman was initially cast in the production but withdrew during previews, citing creative differences. She was replaced by original Chicago company member Tiffany Tatreau. The cast also included Alex Wyse and Gus Halper. Charles Isherwood of The New York Times praised the show, stating "this delightfully weird and just plain delightful show... will provide the kind of thrills we look for in all musical comedies, however outlandish their subject matter: an engaging and varied score, knocked out of the park by a superlative cast, and a supremely witty book." The same production went to Seattle in 2018 at the 5th Avenue Theater. Following the death of original director/choreographer Rachel Rockwell, a production based on Rockwell's direction opened at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta in 2019, directed by Leora Morris and featuring much of the same cast and creative team, with replacement actors for Ricky (Scott Redmond replaces Alex Wyse) and Mischa (Chaz Duffy replaces Gus Halper).

Synopsis
The musical begins with a seemingly headless mysterious girl in a school uniform singing a song of an unending dream-like state ("Karnak's Dream of Life").

The Amazing Karnak, a mechanical fortune teller automaton, introduces himself as the show's narrator. Karnak tells the audience that he is able to predict the exact moment of a person's death and formerly could inform the subject of the details of their demise, but the carnival in which he operated set him to "Family Fun Novelty Mode," meaning that he could only repeat vague predictions and fairground advertising. Karnak reveals that he will die soon, as a rat he has named Virgil has been gradually chewing through the rubber of his power cable and will soon bite down on 200 volts of electricity, instantly killing both of them. "As there is nothing more base than death," Virgil is enlisted to play the bass.

Karnak, in his guilt for being unable to warn five teenagers from Uranium City, Saskatchewan of their impending deaths, summons their spirits to take part in the show, which he has constructed as a "final apology." Karnak introduces the audience to the Saint Cassian Chamber Choir and recounts their deaths on The Cyclone, a malfunctioning rollercoaster. During the crash, the teens lament their lives in Uranium City, a once-boomtown that declined drastically with the closure of its uranium mines ("The Uranium Suite"). The five teenagers arrive in Karnak's limbo and are introduced, each given a catchphrase to quickly reflect their personalities. Karnak reveals the teens are being placed into a game of life and death, where they must compete for a chance to return to life. Karnak reads a prophecy: "The one who wants to win it the most shall redeem the loser in order to complete the whole."

A sixth victim, the "mystery contestant," dubbed Jane Doe by the coroner, is introduced. She is the same character who opened the show. Since no family came to claim her body when it was found headless, and Karnak never read her fortune, her identity is unknown by both herself and everyone else ("Jane Doe's Entrance"). In the off-Broadway costume and prop design, it is suggested that Jane has replaced her head with that of a doll, whose body she carries around with her. Jane's entrance frightens the other choir members, but Karnak proceeds undisturbed and begins the competition.

The first contestant is Ocean O’Connell Rosenberg, a perfectionist over-achiever. As a child of "far-left of center humanists," Ocean always felt like the self-proclaimed "white sheep" of the family. She tells Karnak that she "has seen enough reality TV" to know what he wants her to do. She proceeds to sing a song themed around her own self-importance and ego, comparing herself to the other teens and pointing out how they all fall short compared to her. She believes she is the only one worth bringing back to life, as she has the highest chance of succeeding in the world ("What the World Needs"). After her song ends, Karnak reveals that the choice of who lives will be made by group consensus. Though Ocean clumsily attempts to take back her words, the rest of the choir, including her best friend, Constance Blackwood, has been incredibly offended by her social Darwinist rant.

The next contestant is Noel Gruber, the only gay boy in his small town who dreams of being a cold-hearted French prostitute, but was instead stuck working at a Taco Bell. He sings about his desire to live the tragic, loveless life of his alter ego, "Monique Gibeau" (inspired by Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel), who dies of typhoid flu at the end of the song ("Noel's Lament"). Ocean expresses annoyance that his song did not have a moral. Despite Karnak’s objection, she insists that every story has a lesson ("Every Story's Got a Lesson") and gets Constance to perform an anti-drug improv PSA with her, though it soon becomes clear that Constance's dark sense of humor is antithetical to how Ocean wants her to be.

The third contestant is Mischa Bachinski, a Ukrainian adoptee who immigrated after his mother, dying from radiation poisoning while on a Chernobyl disaster clean-up crew, put him up for adoption and lied about his age. When he reached Canada, his adoptive parents were expecting a "recently potty-trained" two-year-old, but instead received a violent teenage boy with a drinking problem. To cope with the isolating treatment he received from his adoptive parents, he turned to "self-aggrandizing commercialized hip-hop," posting his own original raps to YouTube. His song begins as a gangsta rap track that heavily relies on autotune ("This Song Is Awesome") before transitioning into a passionate Ukrainian love ballad to his online fiancée whom he met through his YouTube comment section ("Talia"). Noel, whose own performance was previously supported by Mischa, comforts him.

The fourth contestant is Ricky Potts, a boy who was born with an unnamed degenerative disease that left him mute and unable to walk, though in the afterlife his ability to speak has been restored. Depending on the staging and the ability of the actor portraying him, his physical impairment may vanish as well. (A brief 2023 revision in the licensed script removed Ricky’s physical disability and replaced it with the trauma of experiencing his now-Pentecostal preacher father being fatally bitten by their pet viper JoJo. This backstory was later relegated to the show’s High School Edition.). To combat being misunderstood by those around him, Ricky developed complex fantasies to retreat into, based on a childhood spent mainly with his 14 cats, where he was a religious leader, the savior of a race of sentient, anthropomorphic "sexy cat women" from a distant galaxy ("Space Age Bachelor Man"). At least until the Off-Broadway production, he conceded his chance of being resurrected, but this was removed in later versions.

Rather than singing about her hopes, dreams, and fantasies, Jane Doe sings about her own despair ("The Ballad of Jane Doe"). Jane's headless body was found in the wreckage, and though she was presumed to be a member of the choir because of her uniform, her body went unclaimed and her identity remained unknown following the stress-induced death of their choir director later that day. Her spirit has no memory of who she was. After hearing Jane's tale, the choir rallies together and holds a birthday party for her featuring a rewritten birthday song, sharing a tender moment with each other ("The New Birthday Song").

While Ricky bonds with Jane by giving her one of the names he had been "saving up" in life, and Noel and Mischa connect over seeing each other as they want to be seen, Ocean and Constance finally come to a head. Ocean, still desperate to return to life, hurts Constance deeply in her own self-obsession. Constance, fed up with being Ocean's sidekick, finally stands up for herself by punching Ocean in the boob.

Finally taking her turn, Constance reveals that, just three hours prior to the accident, she had lost her virginity to a 32-year-old carnie in a porta-potty. She says she did it to "just get it out of the way;" however, she backtracks and reveals that it was more of an action of self-loathing. Frustrated with her image as the "nicest girl in town," Constance talks about her family's pride for having worked in Uranium City "since they opened the mines" and that though she agreed with them at first, high school made her think it was lame to feel that way. Feeling guilt for how she resented her parents in life, she recalls the moment the coaster derailed, and how all her anger and misconceptions had dropped away as they flew through the air. Constance shares how she finally learned to appreciate every small moment in her life and love her small town. She laments that "it took a horrible accident for [her] to realize how goddamn wonderful everything is." ("Jawbreaker/Sugar Cloud”). At the end of her song, Ocean apologizes to Constance, "as if seeing her friend for the first time."

At last, it is time for the final vote. Karnak suddenly changes the rules, telling Ocean that she alone will get the deciding vote because she has the highest Grade Point Average. Having a crisis of conscience, she refuses to vote for herself. Recalling Karnak's prophecy, she realizes that Jane is the only one who doesn't have memories to take to the afterlife with her. Ocean says that while the teenagers died young, they at least had a life, admitting that she would "gladly take [her] seventeen years over nothing." The choir support Ocean in her decision and send Jane to "The Other Side." Karnak reveals her name to be Penny Lamb (a character in Richmond's play Legoland). Whether she returns to life as Penny or starts a new life is left ambiguous. A compilation of home movies of her new life from youth to old age is played ("It's Not a Game"). Virgil finally tears through the rubber, killing himself and Karnak before the latter can give his final piece of insight. As Karnak dies, he says the same fairground advertising he told the teens before they rode The Cyclone: "Your lucky number is seven. You will soar to great heights. Be sure to ride The Cyclone."

Somewhere outside of limbo, the remaining teens unite and sing an uplifting song ("It's Just a Ride") before their spirits travel to whatever comes next.

Characters

 * The Amazing Karnak - A mechanical fortune-telling machine that serves as the narrator and gamemaster. He appears several times throughout the cast album, breaking the fourth wall by directly addressing the listener.
 * Ocean O'Connell Rosenberg - Born December 22nd, Ocean is a competitive over-achiever who struggles to put others before herself. She is mainly portrayed as the protagonist throughout the show.
 * Noel Gruber - Born March 5th, he is the only gay man in Uranium who has an obsession with French New Wave cinema. He sings as his alter-ego: Monique Gibbeau, a hooker in post-war France, who is partially based off of Marlene Dietrich as Lola Lola in 'The Blue Angel (1939)'.
 * Mischa Bachinski - Born August 18th in a small town outside of Odessa, Mischa is a Ukrainian adoptee who puts on a gangster persona to conceal his passionate nature. He sings two songs: one about autotune and money, in the style of a traditional autotune rap song, and the second song about his online fiancée Talia, of whom he met through his YouTube comment section, where he raps under the name of 'Bad Egg'.
 * Ricky Potts - Born June 5th, Ricky Potts is a mute boy with a degenerative disease and an overactive imagination. He gains the ability to speak in the after-life and talks about his fantasies of the 'Zolarian galaxy'.
 * Jane Doe - A decapitated girl who is unsure of her true identity. She is revealed at the end of the show to be Penny Lamb, born April 7th. Penny Lamb is also the sister of Ezra Lamb, a separate character in the play 'Legoland'.
 * Constance Blackwood - Born November 14th, Constance is the secretly self-loathing "nicest girl in town" who has complicated feelings about her hometown.
 * Virgil - The rat chewing through Karnak’s power cable, who plays the bass guitar throughout the show.

Cut characters from earlier versions of the show include Trishna (played by Almeera Jiwa), a shy nerdy girl next door who was into entomology and had a crush on her neighbor Hank. Her character was changed to Astrid, Ocean's Nordic cousin (played by Celine Stubel), in October 2009. Hank (played by Tim Johnson) was repurposed into Astrid's boyfriend, and a character named Corey Ross (played by Carey Wass) would have a rap battle against himself in the show. Astrid and Corey's characters would later be cut to create Mischa Bachinski.

Musical numbers

 * "Karnak's Dream of Life" – Jane Doe
 * "The Uranium Suite" – Ensemble
 * "Jane Doe's Entrance" – Ensemble
 * "What the World Needs" – Ocean O’Connell Rosenberg and Ensemble
 * "Noel's Lament" – Noel Gruber and Ensemble
 * "Every Story's Got a Lesson" - Ocean O'Connell Rosenberg and Ensemble
 * "This Song is Awesome" – Mischa Bachinski and Ensemble
 * "Talia" – Mischa Bachinski and Ensemble
 * "Space Age Bachelor Man" – Ricky Potts and Ensemble
 * "The Ballad of Jane Doe" – Jane Doe and Ensemble
 * "The New Birthday Song" – Ensemble
 * "Sugar Cloud" – Constance Blackwood and Ensemble
 * "It's Not a Game / It's Just a Ride" – Ocean O'Connell Rosenberg and Ensemble

Notes
 * The Uranium Suite, the show's current opening number, is featured in the 2019 Atlanta production of the show, the World Premiere Cast Recording, and all productions onwards. In the 2016 Off-Broadway and 2015 Chicago versions of the show, this song's spot was held by "Fall Fair Suite." In the 2018 Seattle production, this song was replaced by "Waiting For The Drop." In the original Canadian productions, this song was originally a combination of The Uranium Suite and a song called "Tragic Fact."
 * A World Premiere Cast Recording, also referred to by Richmond and Maxwell as a "concept album", was released digitally on May 7, 2021, featuring the 2019 Atlanta production cast (minus Karl Hamilton, who was replaced with writer Jacob Richmond in the role of Karnak) and several cut songs. It also features Karnak breaking the fourth wall several times, addressing the listener under the context of an album instead of the show.
 * Initially, Ocean's song was called "Play to Win", and was more of a Gospel style song as opposed to the pop style of "What the World Needs". It was cut from the show, but there are still snippets of the song available on YouTube and SoundCloud, alongside the original "The Ballad of Jane Doe," "Sugar Cloud", "The Uranium Suite / Tragic Fact" and "Space Age Bachelor Man".
 * "Noel's Lament" originally included a section in which Monique, Noel's alter ego, conceived a child with an unnamed lover, which she then sold to two Romani traveling merchants. This was cut during previews of the 2016 production onwards. This version is also available on SoundCloud.
 * During the 2018 Seattle production, a song named "Be Safe, Be Good" took the place of the song "It's Not a Game / It's Just a Ride", although "It's Not a Game / It's Just a Ride" would return for the 2019 Atlanta production. In the memory of Rachel Rockwell, the original director of the show who died in 2018, the song was featured in the World Premiere Cast Recording, since she was very fond of the song. It was retitled "Be Safe, Be Good (For Rachel)" and was sung by co-writer Brooke Maxwell and the rest of the cast.
 * "Noel's Lament" fits the definition of a ballad, while "The Ballad of Jane Doe" would be more accurately called a lament. This is speculated to be a deliberate choice by the songwriters, as Noel and Jane Doe each have what the other wants; Noel had a life and a family that Jane never got to experience, while Noel craved tragedy and Jane's story is nothing but tragic.

Many lyric changes have also been made throughout the shows history.

Concert Cycle (2015)

 * Brooke Maxwell as Mischa Bachinski
 * Britt Small as Mischa Bachinski
 * James Insell as Mischa Bachinski

Off Broadway (2016)
McCarter Theater (2022)
 * Tiffany Tatreau as Ocean O'Connell Rosenberg (Taylor Louderman left the production during previews citing 'creative differences')


 * Matthew Boyd Snyder as Ricky Potts

Arena Stage (2023)

 * Katie Mariko Murray as Jane Doe

Controversy
In November 2022, the actor who portrayed Ricky Potts in the 2022 McCarter Theater production, Yannick-Robin Eike Mirko, who was also the first disabled person to play Potts, a character who is written as being disabled in his pre-death existence but able-bodied in the afterlife, was allegedly fired during the run. He alleges in a TikTok that on May 26th 2022, McCarter fired them on basis of disability after a medical emergency that sent him offstage the previous night. Their able-bodied understudy, Matthew Boyd Snyder, assumed the role of Ricky Potts for the final three shows of the McCarter run as well as the Arena run.

Revisions made during the McCarter production to decrease ableist language, in addition to the removal of Ricky's disability altogether, would later be integrated unannounced into the officially licensed script in 2023. The replacement of Ricky's degenerative disease with trauma received backlash from several fans, with the "#SaveRickyPotts" campaign inspiring multiple online petitions and discussions regarding representation. Jacob Richmond and Arena Stage, the venue hosting the McCarter production's 2023 revival, responded in a Tweet that these changes would not bar a disabled actor from playing any roles in the show.

A second unannounced revision would later revert the licensed script to its original state, while the McCarter changes were relegated to the show's High School Edition.

TikTok virality
In 2022, after a clip of Jane Doe singing "The Ballad of Jane Doe" was circulated on TikTok, Ride the Cyclone became a viral sensation on the app as other songs from the cast recording began to be used in videos. Many users created fan theories, memes, and cosplays relating to the musical. The musical became particularly popular with Gen Z users who discussed Ride the Cyclone 's lore and created or fleshed out more backstories for the characters. Several TikTok videos gained up to 400,000 likes and millions of views.