“Life isn’t a game. It’s a ride.” This zany Canadian musical takes that mantra and blasts it into orbit. The setup is simple: six teens from the Saint Cassian Chamber Choir of Uranium City, Saskatchewan die in a roller-coaster accident. After that, the weirdness ramps up fast. The afterlife is presided over by a robot named The Amazing Karnak, a mechanical oracle who foresaw their deaths and calmly predicts his own. He informs the teens that one of them can return to life, but only if the vote is unanimous. What follows is a series of musical pleas as each teen lays out not just the life they lived, but the one they fantasised about. Their stories spill out in songs that swing between comedy and heartbreak. We meet the town overachiever, the macho Ukrainian immigrant, the closeted Taco Bell employee, the eager-to-please nice girl and even a teen whose identity is a complete mystery. This show is a gem. It sparkles with self-deprecating wit, meta jokes and killer performances. Baylie Carson nails the grating charm of the class leader, Ocean, and Grace Galloway’s soaring voice is simply electrifying in “The Ballad of Jane Doe.” Damon Gruber scores big laughs in his reimagined self-portrait as an abused chanteuse. Mischa Bashinski’s breakdancing is impressive and he scores big as the not-so-secretly-sensitive tough guy. Jack Maverick delights as the nerdy “Space Age Bachelor Man,” and Robyn Gilbertson gives Constance a touching, grounded warmth as the one kid who actually loves her hometown. Director and choreographer Lizzie Gee works wonders with the theatre’s tricky layout, and Ryan Dawson-Laight’s lighting and design polish every moment. At one point Ocean declares that every story needs a moral. Ride the Cyclone delivers that and plenty more. This is a high-energy, laugh-inducing, over-the-top amusement park of a musical that you don't want to miss!
Rated: ★★★★★
Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Danny Kaan
When, Where, Getting there:
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