Stage Left Theater’s ‘Ride the Cyclone’ takes viewers on quite the emotional, humorous ride, with perished teen choir singing for their (new) lives

Social media has a way of making things that could be considered old, or at least older, new again. Songs, for example, can re-enter the charts after someone choreographs a popular dance to them. Or fashion trends that were once considered outdated, like low-rise jeans, can become popular again after others see photos the clothing styled in a new way.

“Ride the Cyclone,” a musical that originally premiered in 2008, got the revival treatment in 2022 after a video of performer Emily Rohm singing “The Ballad of Jane Doe” went viral on TikTok. Fans created backstories for the characters, dressed up as their favorite character and used other songs from the musical in videos.

Though director Holland Jones and actor Lacey Olson were fans of the musical before its TikTok popularity, the pair, who are involved with Stage Left Theater’s production of “Ride the Cyclone,” are happy to see the show getting the credit they feel it’s due.

“Ride the Cyclone” runs Friday through March 23 at Stage Left Theater.

“Ride the Cyclone” is set in a dilapidated warehouse at an abandoned amusement park, complete with a roller coaster car. The musical opens with a mechanical fortune teller, the Amazing Karnak (Jason Young), coming back to life. Karnak is able to predict the moment a person will die and was able to alert the person to their cause of death, but while at the carnival, he was set to “Family Fun Novelty Mode” and could only recite vague statements.

Feeling guilty that he couldn’t warn five high school choir members that they would die after riding the Cyclone, the park’s malfunctioning roller coaster, Karnak summons the spirits of the teens for a singing competition, the winner of which will return to life.

The first singer to plead her case is Ocean O’Connell Rosenberg (Olson), an overachieving perfectionist. Ocean believes the way to win the competition is to point out how much better she is than the other contestants, which quickly turns the rest of the group against her.

Next up is Noel Gruber (Owen Henderson), the only gay boy in the teens’ small hometown, a fictionalized version of Uranium City, Saskatchewan, Canada. Noel dreams of being a French sex worker but is stuck working at Taco Bell.

Mischa Bachinski (Rhead Shirley), a Ukrainian adoptee, is up next. Though his performance initially begins with a heavily autotuned rap, he eventually transitions into a Ukrainian love ballad for his fiancée, who he met in the comment section of his YouTube videos.

The fourth singer is Ricky Potts (Declan Sheehan). In an effort to deal with childhood trauma, Ricky created a fantasy world inhabited by a race of cat women inspired by the 14 cats he grew up with. He sings about this world in “Space Age Bachelor Man,” a moment both Jones and Olson are excited for audiences to see.

The fifth contestant is a teen dubbed Jane Doe (Kailyn Wilder). Though wearing a choir uniform when she died, Jane’s body wasn’t identified after the roller coaster accident, so her true identity is unknown. As such, she has no memories of who she was before the accident and sings of her feelings of despair.

The sixth and final singer is Constance Blackwood (Tori Diana), Ocean’s best friend. Constance is frustrated by her reputation as the nicest girl in town and shares that though she was proud of her family for their lengthy history in Uranium City, her time in high school made her feel embarrassed about that pride. She then sings that she’s finally learned to appreciate the little things in life.

After each contestant has taken their turn, it’s time for the final vote to decide who gets a second chance at life.

“Ride the Cyclone” also features Jean Williams. The book, music and lyrics were written by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell. The show is directed by Jones, production managed by Trevor Iwata, assistant directed by Barin Saxton, music directed by Cedric Bidwell-Williams, choreographed by Delaney Kahler, stage managed by Lizzy Kitzig and assistant stage managed by Jenna Majeskey.

“Ride the Cyclone” features scenic design by James Landsiedel, lighting design by Alana Shepherd and costume design by Patty Garegnani.

While each character in “Ride the Cyclone” initially fits a type – the overachiever, the angry one, the imaginative one – as time goes on, each character’s actions seem to contradict that type. Finding out about the character’s backstory and motivations, the facade they carry and their truer self, was a big part of the rehearsal process.

Olson, for example, suggested that Ocean is bratty to Noel in one scene because of an experience they shared in the past. Henderson took that suggestion and ran with it, solidifying some of the history between the two characters.

“What I do love about this show, it could be very easy to pigeonhole the angriest boy in town, and that’s the trope,” Olson said. “But what the show does is it gives the actor and the audience a chance to explore, ‘Why are you the angriest boy in town?’ We could write that off as being the angriest boy in town just because, but there’s a reason for that, and you really get to see that with all of the characters.”

Because she doesn’t have a backstory, Jones said Jane Doe, on the other hand, can act like a mirror for audiences. They can fill in her story themselves or reflect their own lives and experiences onto her.

Physical elements of the show, which Jones and Olson said can be a little racy at times, were also discussed with help from Dawn Taylor-Reinhardt, who talked with the cast about being consent-forward artists.

Jones also brought in a psychologist to ensure the cast was able to keep a firm line between the silly and somber elements of the show. Yes, on paper “Ride the Cyclone” seems like “Cats” but for people, but the show itself begins after the teens have died in a tragic accident.

The show is like a Sour Patch Kid, Jones said, where moments of grief and sadness can lead to moments of beauty and acceptance. Death is a part of life, and by honoring the deaths of these teens, “Ride the Cyclone” also celebrates their lives.

There’s an appreciation of the little things in life, as well as a sense of comfort and healing, in “Ride the Cyclone” that Jones believes audiences can take with them at the end of the show.

“This show helps people process and let go,” they said. “You’re going to laugh, hopefully you’re going to cry, in the best way possible, and it’s not too intense. It’s not in your face.

“I think it’s going to benefit people. It’s going to give them that break, but also help them, because it’s hard to process a lot of stuff. You want to. It’s uncomfortable. So I think it’d be a really great musical for the exact kind of thing.”