The Evolution of Ride the Cyclone

Ride the Cyclone was originally a comedic song cycle developed at Atomic Vaudeville, a theatre company in Victoria, British Columbia. The first version of the show was performed in 2008. Writers Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell restructured and revised entire characters, plot lines, and songs as the musical developed in Canada and toured the US. 

Ride the Cyclone’s US national premiere was at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. In 2019, the Atlanta touring company released a cast album. Shortly after that, a recording of the 2016 Off-Broadway production of the show started circulating on the internet, and quotes and songs for the musical gained popularity as sounds on TikTok. Through the magic of social media,  thousands of teens and young adults were introduced to Ride the Cyclone. It’s amassed a dedicated fanbase so far and has quickly ascended to cult musical status among Gen Z theater fans. 

Before RTC-- Legoland:

Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell initially imagined Ride the Cyclone to be the second show in what they called the “Uranium Scream Teen Trilogy”. Before RTC,  there was Legoland–  a play also set in the fictionalized version of Uranium City, Saskatchewan. 

Legoland reveals the origin of Penny Lamb, the real unidentified girl behind the identity of Jane Doe. Many consider Legoland to be an unofficial prequel to Ride the Cyclone.

In Legoland, siblings Penny and Ezra Lamb become separated from their parents after their isolated hippie commune is shut down for running an illegal marijuana operation. They are thrust into the real world, which their commune had dubbed “Legoland.” After Penny becomes fixated on an American boyband, she embarks on a quest to “save” the lead singer,  Johnny Moon, who had rebranded as a misogynistic gangster rapper. Penny and Ezra hop on a bus and travel throughout Canada and across the border, financing their trip by selling the medications that they had been prescribed. 

The play is performed in one act, with only Penny and Ezra on stage, telling their tumultuous tale as part of a court-required community service act, under the supervision of their social worker. The storytelling is done in a deadpan style, with slapstick and vaudeville elements. The show ran in 2008 and 2013 at Theater Passe Murielle in Toronto.  No known recording exists on the internet, and there are very few images of what the production looked like on stage.

2008- Atomic Vaudeville:

The initial version of RTC was a song cycle, and it did not have the through-line of teenagers competing for a chance to live again. Instead, it was a selection of songs showcased by eight characters (some of which would be cut in the later versions of the show). 

Cut characters from earlier versions of the show include Trishna, a shy nerdy girl next door who was into entomology and had a crush on her neighbor Hank. Her character was changed to Astrid, Ocean's Nordic cousin in October 2009. Hank became repurposed into Astrid's boyfriend, and a character named Corey Ross would have a rap battle against himself in the show. Later, for the 2010 run, Hank and and earlier version of Ricky would combine to create today’s Ricky, and the characters of Astrid and Corey would be combined to create 

Mischa.      

2011- Toronto and Vancouver, workshopping runs: 

In 2011, Ride the Cyclone premiered at Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto, with a positive reception.  Richmond and Maxwell had reworked the script and cut/created new characters, giving the script more of a spine and overarching theme. The musical was becoming popular across Canada, and agents had started to scout out RTC for possible national and American tours. 

“Rumour has it that Theatre Passe Muraille welcomed the show partly so that other producers, as well as audiences, could see how it played in a larger venue. The exposure will pay off—at the opening-night party, wildly amused theatergoers kept whispering about futures in New York, and apparently an Off-Broadway producer had been in the audience.” – Toronto Book Review 

Later, Maxwell and Richmond would have another very successful test slot in Vancouver, leading to a tour of western Canada. 

2013- Western Canadian Tour: 

After the 2011 installment of Ride the Cyclone, producers from New York City pushed Maxwell and Richmond to find a thread to hold the story together. They dreamt up the warehouse, and an idea of an inanimate fortune teller set to family fun mode that switched off to predict the children’s untimely death. This production went to Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Nanaimo. The song cycle fully transforms into a musical. 

2015-2019- American Tour and cast recording: 

During the American touring process, the creators tweaked script elements every time the show came to a new city, workshopping their process with reactions and feedback from a live audience. 

Kholby Wardell, Emily Rohm, Tiffany Trateau, and Lillian Castillo played Noel, Ocean, Jane, and Constance for the entirety of the American tour and on the 2019 recording. The actors playing Ricky and Mischa changed with every stop. 

2015- Chicago Shakes:

 In 2015, Ride the Cyclone had its American debut at our very own Chicago Shakespeare Theater! To this day– this has been the only production of Ride the Cyclone within Chicago’s city boundaries! 

2016- Off-Broadway: 

In 2016, the production had an off-Broadway run at the MCC theater, featuring Gus Halper as Mischa, and Alex Wyse as Ricky. This is the version of the show that went the most “viral” among young teens on the internet— a quality recording of this version was uploaded to YouTube in 2019. 

2018- Seattle:

 After the Off-Broadway run, the show went to the 5th Avenue Theater in Seattle. 

2019- Atlanta:

 After the tragic passing of Rachel Rockwell, a legendary Chicago director who directed the Off-Broadway rendition, the cast revived the show at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta, GA, and subsequently recorded a cast recording.

Promo material: 

Scrapped Tracks: 

Tragic fact– 2013 opening song

U R A I N U M – Demo, unknown era

Fall fair suite, 2016 opener

Waiting for the Drop, 2017 Opener

Play to Win: Ocean's Original Solo, 2011

2011 Ballad of Jane Doe

After reading the script, we can ask:

This section essentially boils down to the following: there are a lot of versions of Ride the Cyclone out there. What do you think about this musical’s evolution and workshopping process as they toured? 

• Why does this musical mean so much to our generation, and those a bit younger? Why was it this wacky, surrealist, and dark-humored cult show that rose to fame completely organically, through social media? 

• Who is our intended audience for this show, and why is it important to do a show at TTS that represents theater that many young people want to see? 

• How does Ride the Cyclone and its' underlying messages relate to our current moment?