The Guild’s next Canadian cult classic is “dark but beautiful”
On the snowiest day of March, I arrive at the Guild Hall to meet part of the talented team staging the Guild’s next production, Ride the Cyclone: The Musical. The theatre smells like freshly-sawn plywood, evidence of the work Calvin Laveck is putting in as the play’s set builder.
“Annie’s telling me what to do, and I’m doing it,” he said, referring to set designer Annie Johnsgaard. “And it’s going really well.”
Ride the Cyclone is a dark comedy written by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell. Originally staged in Victoria, B.C., at Atomic Vaudeville, in 2008, it’s a Canadian cult classic that is enjoying an upsurge in popularity, thanks to Generation Z making it viral on TikTok.
The Guild version is directed by Allyn Walton, who is also the choreographer. Walton’s involvement with the production owes a lot to the Guild’s artistic director, Brian Fidler.
“Brian asked if I would [direct] this year’s musical,” she explained “and I always say yes to Brian Fidler.”
Similarly, it didn’t take much arm-twisting to convince Laveck to build the play’s set or to audition for the role of Noel Gruber, a character who the actor describes as “the most romantic boy in town.”
“Allyn actually approached me a while ago to build the set for the show, so I’ve been on board long before auditions were talked about. And then Allyn said, ‘Are you going to audition?’ And much like Allyn doesn’t say no to Brian, I don’t say no to Allyn.”
Walton and Laveck are no strangers to the Guild. Many folks will remember their work on Young Frankenstein, last year—as choreographer and title character, respectively.
Ellie Pond, on the other hand, is a newcomer to both musical theatre and to the Guild. She slayed the Ride the Cyclone audition with no previous performance experience other than a grade 9 school production and several years of self-directed singing practice. Pond landed the role of Jane Doe when musical director Scott Maynard realized that she had the chops to sing the soprano vocals the part required.
“Even before we got into auditions, Scott and I were, like, ‘Who is going to be able to pull this one off?’” said Walton.
“And then he tested Ellie’s range, and Scott is amazing at hearing somebody and knowing what they will be able to do and what they will be able to learn in a short amount of time, and he just knew that Ellie could do it.”
Pond’s character is one of six teenagers who die in a horrific roller-coaster accident. They wake up in “limbo” where a mechanical fortune teller named Karnak gives a chance for one of them to be brought back to life, but they have to compete against one another by telling a story and voting on a winner (check out wikipedia.org/wiki/Ride_the_Cyclone).
Each of the characters sings a song, each with a different style. One of the challenges for Maynard and the cast is the music itself, which involves intricate harmonies.
“I was surprised by how difficult the music is,” Walton said. “You listen to it and you’re like, That’s good, sounds great. Then you see it written out, and you see Scott doing his work—it’s not nothing. This show is not nothing. Throughout, it’s at least three-part harmonies the whole show. At least. It’s a lot of work.”
Undaunted, Laveck is drawn to the musical intricacies of the play.
“It jumped out at me because, as Allyn said, there are harmonies throughout the whole show. And like, beautiful harmonies, it’s written so well. So, having worked with Scott before I was very excited about working with him on this. He’s very precise and he’s very good at getting the best sound out of everybody.”
Like Laveck, Pond is seemingly undeterred by the complex musical aspects of the play: “Once we started stacking the harmonies,” she said, “it sounded amazing.”
Walton was immediately impressed with what Pond and the other cast members—including Breagha Fraser, Greg Murdoch, Josh Schroeder, Brenna Symanski and Michael Gwynne-Thompson—bring to the production.
“During the first read-through, I just cried through the whole thing,” Walton confessed. “It was the first time everyone was together and the first time we heard people sing their song and heard their voices do the script, and it was just so good. So good.
“It’s just so brave. I just can’t imagine. They’re just such talented humans. I can’t get over it.”
As always, the cast is backed up by an equally amazing crew.
“We have a really, really great production and design team,” said Walton. “I always feel so lucky at the Guild, as well. Brian just brings together talented humans who want to build a thing together. So, I feel like the show is in such good hands with all our designers.”
When I asked who the audience for the play is, Walton said it’s for “anybody.” Every character sings in a different genre of music, so there’s something for everyone. “It’s packed,” she said.
“It’s a really smart script; it’s really thoughtful,” she explained. “The writers really chose every line carefully. It’s so smart and the music is equally as smart. It’s a dark comedy but it’s really beautiful. It will get you, I think.”
Ride the Cyclone runs from April 17 to May 4. For tickets, visit yukontickets.ca.
