Review: RIDE THE CYCLONE at New Conservatory Theatre Center

Ride the Cyclone – The Musical

Book, Lyrics and Music by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell

Directed by Stephanie Temple

New Conservatory Theatre Center

NCTC opens its 2024/25 season with a whimsical, cosmically existential fantasia on the meaning of life. Sounds highly cerebral, but in the capable hands of director Stephanie Temple and a crack creative crew and super ensemble, Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell’s play soars and crackles with imagination, humor, and pure joy. It’s a solid hit and must-see theatre.

The amazing Karnack, a precognitive carnival fortune teller (played with sarcastic mischief by Kaylyn Dowd) predicts the date and time of death for the five young members of a small-town choir. Their ride on the rollercoaster Cyclone will end in disaster, sending the five into a limbo space between life and death. There they are charged with unanimously choosing one who can return to life, a heady concept that both challenges and bonds the kids.

Set in a uranium mining town in rural Saskatchewan, the choir is made up of a motely collection of unusual characters. Ocean O’Connell Rosenberg (Anne Norland) is the overachieving, narcissistic queen bee, sure she should be the unanimous choice to continue her perfect life. Noel Gruber (John Gary Harris) is the forlorn gay, bitter that he’s never gotten drunk, had sex, of realized his ‘tragicness.” Constance Blackwood (Sage Alberto) is Ocean’s lackey, stuck in a dead-end town and ashamed of her hardworking parents and her bleak existence. Ricky Potts (Milo Boland), the choir’s tambourine player, is non-verbal but possesses the most amazing imagination. Mischa Bachinski (Matt Skinner) is a Ukrainian sex bomb with two emotions: rage and passion.

Add to the mix a mystery spirit, Jane Doe (Grace Margaret Craig), a headless body dressed in the choir’s uniform. No one remembers her, even the omniscient Karnack. She’s creepy and dark before transforming into the most sympathetic character.

The Amazing Karnack narrates a short bio of the kids before they each perform some amazing musical numbers choreographed by director Temple and wonderfully supported with the musical direction of Ben Price. The self-absorbed Ocean explains how crucial she is in “What the world Needs”, In “Noel’s Lament”, Noel morphs into his French whore alter ego, Mischa’s number is a sex-charged hip hop, Ricky turns extrovert in an imaginative space age romp (Space Age Bachelor Man”), and Constance realizes her small town world is just fine in a sugar-coated tune (“Jawbreaker/Sugarcloud”). Jane Doe’s number, “The Ballad of Jane Doe,” is a delight and is staged as well as any Golden Age dance number with Craig’s amazing soprano and Jorge R. Hernandez’s spectacular costumes.

The Amazing Karnack precogs her own death by a rat who chews through her electric cable and the six spirits bond by the finale deciding who should return to life. Ride the Cyclone is visually stunning, humorous, witty, and charming.

Ride the Cyclone continues through October 27th. Tickets available at www.nctcsf.org/ride-the-cyclone or by calling 415-861-8972.

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