I’m late to the “Ride the Cyclone” party but after learning it will be playing until October, I decided to I had better see this musical phenomenon for myself. The show had its original run in March at Theatre South Playhouse , an intimate venue and teaching facility in the Dr. Phillips neighborhood southwest of downtown Orlando.
But its popularity resulted in several extensions and now a series of pop-up performances. The performances are termed “pop-up,” according to artistic director Hillary Brook, because each performance’s cast will assembled from the multiple actors who know each of the roles — much like how theme-park shows build their schedule. There are other aspects of “Ride the Cyclone” that give it a theme-park sheen: The small stage, the recorded backing music, the youthfulness of the cast.
But the fresh-faced actors I saw at a recent matinee are key to the success of this polished production of an offbeat show, which is making its local debut. “Ride the Cyclone” tells of a members of a high school chamber choir who all die during a trip to the carnival when the Cyclone roller coaster derails. One of those creepy mechanical fortune tellers found at the carnivals of yesteryear offers one of them the chance to return to life, setting up a showdown for the youths to make their case for living.
But creators Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell don’t overplay the competition angle, and director Brook turns a showdown into a showcase for an array o.