Ride The Cyclone
When an entire teen choir is suddenly killed in a tragic roller coaster accident, they awaken to find themselves in a strange carnie limbo. Greeted by an ominous robotic fortune teller, these misfits are invited to compete for the chance to return to the land of the living. This is the premise of Ride The Cyclone – the exciting, modern, TikTok-viral Canadian musical that is now playing its Aussie premiere season at Sydney’s intimate Hayes Theatre. Dark yet camp, nihilistic yet strangely life affirming, this show is full of surprises and just as brilliantly bonkers as it sounds. Corralled and narrated by the legendary Pamela Rabe as the (studio-recorded) voice of The Amazing Karnak, a fresh young cast has been assembled to take on some of the most compelling characters in modern musical theatre, and there’s not a weak link among them (if only the same could be said for the fateful carnival ride on which their characters meet their untimely demise). Melding with the production’s other-worldly audio-visual elements, Rabe’s inimitable voice is the perfect pick for the mysterious fortune-telling automaton, lending a certain gravitas with a vaguely threatening, strangely alluring mythical quality – like a Matrix villain procreated with a wise wizard matriarch. In Ride The Cyclone, modern, relevant and youthful references fit comfortably and casually within the musical theatre form, and this accomplishment is certainly key to the show’s popularity with Gen Z. The characters dreamt