Ride the Cyclone is a Canadian musical made by Brooke Maxwell and Jacob Richmond in 2008, the musical follows 6 teenagers from Uranium City, Saskatchewan who are part of a chamber choir. The choir’s lives are unfortunately cut short by the Cyclone roller-coaster, and after death they wake up in limbo, where a fortune-telling machine named Karnak gives them the chance to live again. You can find ticket information here, and you can find general information on the musical here.

3. Talia

“Talia” is the 4th major song in Ride the Cyclone, and is sung by Mischa about his undying love for his online fiance Talia. The song starts with Mischa lamenting about how he was saving up money to move back to Ukraine, and then transitions into song.

Talia in this song not only symbolized Mischa’s longing for love and acceptance, she can be interpreted as Mischa’s longing to go back to his hometown Ukraine.
Jane Doe also has a prominent role in this song, where during the finale a picture of Talia is projected onto her skirt while the 3 girls of the choir perform a traditional Ukrainian dance. This really emphasizes the point of Jane Doe being a blank slate, as she could’ve been anyone, the name Jane Doe is only a placeholder. When Mischa comes to take the spotlight again, the projection of Talia is instead put onto his chest, symbolizing how Talia is in his heart.

The song is also beautifully emotional, most of Mischa’s lyrics are “Я тебе кохаю, кохаю,” which is ukrainian for “I love you, I love,” and this only amplifies the intensity of Mischa’s love for Talia; He even says what are presumed to be his wedding vows before the song fully begins. “Talia” ends with the song changing tone drastically to a disco/techno theme, and this symbolizes Mischa’s emotional switch from passion to rage from not being able to ever meet Talia in person.

Gus Halper might not have many vocal parts in this song, but even then his performance gives it his all. The belt he holds is magnificent, and holds so much emotion behind it despite being simple. His Mischa is one of my favorites, Gus does a very convincing Ukrainian accent.

2. What the World Needs

“What the World Needs” is the 2nd major song in Ride the Cyclone, and is sung primarily by Ocean who is presenting all her reasons to be brought back to life.

Ocean begins the song by immediately disregarding all her peers, she claims they’ll all end up with minimal success and stuck in dead-end jobs in the dead-end town of Uranium City. The song immediately shows how little Ocean actually knows about her peers, for example, she paints Ricky as a person who wouldn’t live long, has little to no attention span, and will only solve rubik’s cubes in life. This is a completely wrong perception of Ricky, who was very attentive due to his degenerative disorder, and had potential despite what Ocean believes.
Ocean acts this way, minimizing her peers, because she is neglected in her home life. She feels the need to be perfect, to go out of her way to do grand extracurriculars to try and get some attention from her parents, who are described as druggie hippies.

“What the World Needs” also has a contrast with “It’s Not A Game It’s Just a Ride,” since they define Ocean’s change of heart. In WtWN, Ocean says, “Isn’t someone keeping score?”  But in “It’s Not a Game”, she changes and says, “No-one keeps score of how hard we tried,” which contrasts her earlier views that somebody was keeping track of her achievements, and now she reflects on that by wishing she wasn’t as fixated on impressing an imaginary judge.

Tiffany Tatreau does amazing as Ocean, and her vocals only get better throughout the years. She manages to do a very impressive technique of getting a more nasally voice to give Ocean a more bratty vibe, which only amplifies the experience.

1.  The Ballad of Jane Doe

“The Ballad of Jane Doe” is the 7th major song in Ride the Cyclone, and is centered around Jane Doe. In this song she laments about wanting to remember and be remembered, her longing to know who she was.

A key thing to note is that at the beginning of the musical, Karnak says, “I wish to give them the chance to express not what they were perceived to be, but what they dreamt they were.”  And this quote becomes important during this song, which is referred to as a ballad. A ballad tells a story, but Jane Doe has no story, she dreamt she had a story, she was perceived without one.

Jane Doe also flies during this song, and while flying through the air the choir uses umbrellas and lights to mimic carnival rides, which is reenacting Jane’s death. People even theorize that her high notes are meant to mimic her screams as the ride broke down.

Emily Rohm’s performance is unique, she’s able to hit bone-chilling notes while being suspended 15 feet in the air. The contrast of the higher and lower notes is truly one of a kind, and the backing vocals are at a peak. Her airy voice and stiff rigid movements heavily compliment her performance.

Overall, my favorite song has to be “The Ballad of Jane Doe,” but that doesn’t mean the other songs are bad. I’d actually say that Ride the Cyclone doesn’t have any bad songs, they all are meaningful and vocally impressive in their own way.