by Cari Lynn Pace

Ride the Cyclone: The Musical is a dazzling theatrical event directed by Sarah Wintermeyer. The Santa Rosa Junior College Theatre Arts program impresses with this professional quality show.

Enter the lobby and be surrounded with clowns, sequined dancers, tarot readers, costumed dancers, and hanging streamers. Take a cushy seat in the cavernous Burbank Auditorium, fresh from a multi-million-dollar renovation, and marvel at the roller coaster tracks and neon sign hanging from the ceiling. On the oversize stage, there’s a mechanical fortune telling machine with a seer (Aliya Webb) named Karnak. She welcomes all and relates the story of the Cyclone rollercoaster’s tragic accident.

Five talented youth in choir uniforms enter, singing as they explore an unfamiliar world. Scarlett Sanders as the bossy Ocean takes the lead with a confidence well beyond her young age. She’s swiftly joined by Chase Thompson, Jaden “Moose” Frank, Addison Brown, and Maya Tuchband. All five of these lead actors astonished with voices to fill the hall. Choreographer Jolene Johnson gave them dance steps executed with spot-on precision. They mix it up with the carnival characters who cavort above them.

When Reilly Trainor as the character Jane Doe joins the group, her soprano voice is so powerful she could challenge any opera diva. Her “doll face” makeup is so good it’s spooky. 

The students now realize they are no longer among the living. They are free to explore who they have always yearned to be. Their individual journeys to discover their true paths lead each one on a kaleidoscope of colorful possibilities. 

An extraordinary amount of production and technical talent make this production so outstanding. Ride the Cyclone explodes with costumes designed by Reynalda Cruz and a five-person costume crew led by Jay Soto. Hair and Makeup Designer Matilda Meas has a six-person makeup crew led by Leslie Vargas-Tellez. Band and Vocal Director Nate Riebli guided a six-piece band in the orchestra pit below. 

Buy a ticket, it’s a fantastic ride.

Ride the Cyclone: The Musical plays in the Burbank Theatre on the campus of Santa Rosa Junior College, 1501 Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa, through November 23.

Click HERE for more info and tickets.

Photos by Thomas Chown

Cari Lynn Pace is a long-time Bay Area theatre critic whose reviews were regularly featured in the Marinscope Community Newspapers.