Ride the Cyclone pulls together the lives and aspirations of its characters, creating a story full of ups and downs, twists and turns. Originally conceived as a cabaret of musical numbers, Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell’s musical has since developed into a fully-realized story with connected characters. The script’s wide range of musical genres and unique fantasy worlds make it full of possibilities and challenges. How are these various elements all wrapped up into one production? And what connects all of these characters with seemingly disparate interpretations of the world? We spoke with some of the Ride the Cyclone collaborators about how they navigated these differences and similarities as they constructed each rail and wheel to form this roller coaster of a show.
Kira Small – Actor portraying “The Amazing Karnak”
“Karnak opens Ride the Cyclone in the last hour of his life as a fortune-telling animatron. The character was created to take this show from a cabaret to a story with a plot line, and, while snarky at times, their main goal is to force the children to tell the truth and show off their authentic selves. In a musical with this many outrageous and diverse technical elements, Karnak is the middle ground between tech and actors; if you can buy into Karnak, you can buy into the whole show. For me, rehearsals have been a balancing act between human and machine, so I’m hugely excited to integrate the lights, sets, makeup and costumes into that process.”
Jessica L. Peña Torres – Choreographer
“Each of the characters in Ride the Cyclone introduce a distinct music style that they sing (and move) to. To create the choreography, I listened to the music of each of the ‘bumpers’ and studied the character arcs by analyzing the script to devise specific movement language that evoked the emotions, desires and frustrations of each of the kids in the play. In order for the movement to work in each individual bumper, director Jenny Lavery and I met a handful of times to discuss every ‘beat’ of each musical number (what is happening in each moment?) so that the dancing always reflected character motivations and, as dance numbers are supposed to do in musicals, move the story along. Noel’s dreams of living in Paris after the war, for example, inspired Jeremy (associate choreographer) and me to come up with movement sequences that reflected his desire for love and excess. The choreography for that number, thus, is all about recreating his dream, with fellow characters supporting his imagined world by playing the secondary roles that allow him to explore his sexuality, albeit in a fantasy.
One of the biggest challenges of a show like this is that each song asks for different movement qualities. Ricky’s bumper, for example, is full of campy, exaggerated, animalistic moves, while Ocean’s is all about perfect formations, sharp lines and even a human pyramid. There are some recurring motifs in the movement throughout the whole play but there’s many more variations to accommodate the fluid and changing music genres. I believe the first and last musical numbers help tie it all together into one world.”
Alex Titsworth – Sound Designer
“[When designing this show] I started with each one of [the character’s] dreams and wondered what each of their worlds would sound like. That lead me to thinking about their songs and the effects used for each one of their parts. For instance, Jane is a mystery and kind of creepy so a lot of her sound is echoed or suspended in a separate world from the weird game we find the characters in.
I used Karnak’s design to bring everyone together. I went with the interpretation that Karnak is a sort of puppet master for this world so during the characters’ scenes [Karnak is] controlling each one of the kids. Each time the kid is introduced, [Karnak pulls] a lever which folds their world into Karnak’s game.”
Eli Mendenhall – Actor portraying “Noel Gruber”
“I am incredibly excited to be able to say I portray Noel Gruber, a member of the St. Cassian High School Chamber Choir. Noel is a wealth of biting wit, as well as a patron of all things macabre.
As the show progresses, we learn what it means for Noel to be queer in a tragically small town. All the while, we slowly become privy to his twisted sense of romance and how that doesn’t exactly align with what was in store for him in his life before the Cyclone incident.
Ride the Cyclone as a script has about a billion and one moving parts. From highly demanding costume changes, a myriad of obscure references, whiplash-inducing genre jumping and just general eccentricity, this show needs all hands on deck to work.
And oh…does it work. Everyone on this team is here to play, and it creates such a poignant spark that I can safely say does the show such justice.
The world of Ride the Cyclone, and more specifically Noel’s character, is informed so intensely by the spirit of theatre. This team has that spirit in spades, and I absolutely cannot wait to share it with anyone who wants to come alone for the ride.”
Yuge Ma and Xinyue Zhang – Dramaturgs
“Being a part of the rehearsal process and watching this show grow has been a life-affirming experience. We started by asking ourselves these questions: What makes a life well-lived? How do we live a life in the face of its uncertainty, unpredictability and contradictions? As dramaturgs, we made observations on the world of the play and investigated its shape before the rehearsal started. However, it is with the whole team that we flesh out the trajectories of each character in Ride the Cyclone: their different upbringings, different relationships with themselves and the small town they grew up in and their wildly different dreams. Even the seemingly omnipotent narrator of the play, Karnak, is holding onto something that might be called ‘a version of life.’ As the ensemble works through the play–as the actors bring characters to life through songs, movements and dialogues—we keep discovering those promises that characters live with and their shared language, to create a world where the characters transform into their best selves–a self that fully recognizes their surroundings and people around them.
We are telling a story without a protagonist. Discovery is what drives the story forward. For every musical number, everyone is present for each other to realize their individual visions and dreams of life. In this process, they come to see in each other what they previously couldn’t see and wholeheartedly feel each other’s joy and sorrow. Throughout rehearsals, we–both those within the play and outside of it–developed trust and care through which our understanding of ourselves and each other grew. These discoveries, only possible with the people in the room, will make this production unique.”
Ride the Cyclone
October 25-November 5, 2023
B. Iden Payne Theatre
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Written by Sydney Pattillo.
