Ride the Cyclone features six different characters who have different dreams and totally different personalities. They are also on totally different paths in life when they die at the same time at the same place: a roller-coaster accident in a small town in Saskatchewan.
“The show is essentially them doing their final performances before they go to the great beyond,” says Carey Wass, who provides the voice for Karnack, a fortune-telling machine, in Ride the Cyclone.
Wass says that when those involved in the show tell people it’s about six teenagers who die in a roller coaster and are now singing for puppets to try to win their affections (you have to see it to really get it…), everyone replies by saying it sounds very dark.
“They’re not realizing that, first, the show’s comedy,” says Wass. “Secondly, it’s a musical, and, thirdly, it gives people tons of joy based on a description… you wouldn’t expect that.”
Needless to say, when people watch Hollywood movies or Broadway shows, they anticipate similar endings and stories. That’s not Ride the Cyclone.
For example, according to Wass, audiences can expect something special with the music in the show. The six different characters will talk about what their hopes and dreams were by singing six different types of songs. And that’s just one special thing in a show that’s just special all around.
“It’s a very difficult show to explain,” says Wass. “I was saying to my friend yesterday, ‘The best way to tell someone about the show is that you just have to go see it to believe it.’ We are embracing a unique form of storytelling. That’s not typical of most theatrical shows. It’s a unique type of play.”
Ride the Cyclone
Phoenix Theatre, UVic
December 11-15
ridethecyclonemusical.com