Author: Ed Heinzelman

The First Stage Young Company consists of advanced high school aged actors. They generally stage three shows per season and tackle adult plays and themes as seen in their recent productions of Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Ibsen’s Enemy of the People. And unlike the bigger First Stage musical productions at the Marcus that use adults and younger actors, Young Company seldom features adults in their offerings.

Young Company is currently offering a full blown musical in Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell’s Ride The Cyclone, The Musical [High School Edition]. Please pay attention to that last bit as this play does deal with mature themes and is recommended for young people 13 to 17 and adults.

Richmond and Maxwell have written a wondrous and dramatic musical here and Director Michelle LoRicco and the eight actors do just a marvelous job of bringing it all to life. This is certainly the most engaging play that I have seen at First Stage. The musical part of the musical borrows from the great history and genre of American musicals…moving through pop and contemporary sounds to West Side Story to Cabaret and to rap…with maybe a bit of The Three Penny Opera thrown in. The Young Company cast has mastered the nuances and styles here in a very commanding manner.

The story of course is ideal fodder for a teen age play. Starting with the excitement and light of youth as the youth choir performs at a carnival and swiftly blends into the macabre as they ride the cyclone roller-coaster and all perish when their car comes loose. And now we get to see them interact on ‘the other side’.

And once our choir members reconnect and become apprised of their situation, they meet an automaton named Karnak who is employed as a sideshow act predicting people’s futures and deaths for a few coins in the slot. But here he takes on a more sinister persona and promises to bring one of the deceased back to life after they each testify to their worthiness of such a boon and win a unanimous vote from the others. Without going into much more detail, Karnak seems to easily change the rules as we go or keep some of them to himself until they have had an effect on the choir. Edward Owczarski is Karnak and he is Karnak for every single minute of the 90 minute run time of the play. Beyond his pronouncements and gibes, he has to maintain his robotic presence and movements and gesturings even when the focus of the action is on other cast members. Owczarski maintains his persona throughout and believe me, he is more than the requisite creepy here!

Ocean is the self-assured young woman who assumes that she will be the one selected to return to life and makes her case fervently…and Evelyn Maassen makes her very very real for us. And her best friend, Constance, is equally appealing via the acting of Hazel Dye. And although Ocean disses her friends including Constance at times, Dye and Maassen never let us lose site of the fact that Ocean and Constance are besties.

Now before I forget, the action here is located in a small rural town in the middle of nowhere Canada. So as each character relates their lives and their stories and their goals…a lot of personal traits and experiences come out that would have been kept personal…given the nature of small towns. So beyond the overall story board, we see and feel a lot of other emotions. And the play takes on how we perceive our selves, how we never ever really know everything about even our closest friends, and how community affects our lives and our goals.

And we also have Mischa, an adopted Ukrainian boy aptly played by Max Larson, big and bold and present. And Thomas Bastardo is Ricky, who never spoke before the accident so was relegated to play tambourine in the choir…so his sudden ability to speak provides a bit of wonder for the group. And Lio Landis is Noel, with a few secrets of his own and now I am going to have to finally watch Marlene Dietrich in the Blue Angel. So that covers the five members of the choir, but:

A sixth child was found in the wreckage and she was without a head and was never identified, despite having a choir outfit. And none of the others recognize her either…so we meet Jane Doe. Now, Mackenzie Wooten plays Jane with a head but with makeup, hair, and a gait that is more zombie that teen age girl. And Wooten is the epitome of teen age macabre here…and she certainly has a chilling effect on Constance. You need to see that first hand for yourself.

Now this isn’t all chilling horror movie fodder. The songs are expressive and capture the nature of each character. AND there is a fair amount of laugh out loud humor here both in context and jokes and a few aside comments. It’s a delight.

For me, this is a five star, two thumbs up event. Ride The Cyclone runs from now through April 13, 2025 at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center in Milwaukee. It runs for 90 minutes without intermission. MYAC is an intimate theater in the round with general admission seating.

For more information and ticket info, click here!!

Recommended for families with young people ages 13-17 and theater lovers of all ages

Note: Contains mature content, language and themes including discussion of untimely death and mature situations including references to sex, drugs, and violence.