This last Saturday was evidently my day for trying out musicals I didn’t like the first time around and fortunately I had a better experience with both of them on the second watch. The first was The Lightning Thief at The Empress (review here) and then I saw Ride the Cyclone at a new company Roller Coaster Theatrics. I had previously seen this cult favorite show a few years ago and did not have a great experience (see review here) Thankfully I had a much better experience this time and found a new company to be excited about.

It’s really quite poetic that Roller Coaster Theatrics would start out their company with a production of Ride the Cyclone. Like I said this is a cult favorite musical about what happens when a group of choir students has an accident on a roller coaster, all die and have to plead their cases to a fortune teller named The Amazing Karmak.

This show takes place at The Hive Collaborative and it is directed by Kate Allen with music direction by Zachary Sharp. They smartly keep things simple and in some ways it feels like a black box space rather than a thrust theater. It’s got that small intimate feeling of a black box. The cast is small with 7 in the afterlife and 2 actors playing Karnak (I think I had Alaina Hyland but I’m not positive.)

Each of the recently deceased has a song that serves as their introduction to the audience and their testimony before the Karmak to win a trip back to Earth. They are all very well performed with Maryn Christensen being the standout as Ocean O’Connell Rosenberg. My favorite part of Christensen’s performance is actually her acting outside of her song. Her responses when the others are singing is very compelling. She really creates a complete character we come to understand throughout the musical. I also loved Hailey Portolesi as Jane Doe. She has a beautiful voice and is perhaps the character who surprises us the most as viewers.

Part of the reason I didn’t like Ride the Cyclone before is it felt forced in its comedy and quirkiness. Because its a cult classic it felt like everyone was laughing at inside jokes that I didn’t get. This is obnoxious. I also felt like the actors were shouting at me in every song. It reminded me of Beetlejuice which in this aspect is not a good thing. Thankfully I did not feel this way in this more intimate heartfelt staging. I also really enjoyed the video of the actors as children made to look like old film reels (I don’t have program so not sure who to credit for that.)

That said if you do like Beetlejuice you probably will like Ride the Cyclone. They both have similar styles and themes. I think this feels a little more creative because it’s an original story but they have some elements in common. Unfortunately Ride the Cyclone is only playing 2 more times this weekend but I will be curious what Roller Coaster Theatrics does next. Tickets can be purchased here.

Ride the Cyclone has music, lyrics and book by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell. It is an original story and it first premiered in 2009 in Canada. Then it had its Off-Broadway premiere in 2016. It had its premiere in London this year

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