Months before it was on CHT’s official list of coming attractions, potential cast members started adjusting their schedules and preparing to audition for Ride the Cyclone. This amazing musical has achieved cult-like status on social media and has played to sold-out houses around the world. Local audiences will soon have the opportunity to see what all the buzz is about.
Director Kat Melton has assembled a stellar cast to portray the doomed members of the St. Cassian Chamber Choir, off on a school trip from their high school in Uranium City, Saskatchewan. After a horrific accident on a fair midway, The Amazing Karnak, a fortune-telling automaton, offers the teens a chance to sing for a second chance at life. They outdo each other in truly glorious music that is sometimes sad, sometimes comic, and always memorable.
In the Church Hill Theatre revival, a live orchestra (positioned in the balcony) will be led by music director Michael Casey, a featured member of the Chester River Chorale who recently led the orchestra at the Garfield’s production of The Adams Family. The essential, but non-singing, role of Karnak will be played by Howard Mesick, one of CHT’s most versatile actors. The teen-aged choir members are portrayed by experienced actors (a few of them even teens themselves) with the outstanding singing chops the score demands.
The first contestant, the overachiever Ocean O’Connell Rosenberg, will be played by Saige Wilson, a junior at the Glasgow Christian Academy who will be making her debut at CHT. Saige’s favorite previous roles include Moana in Moana, Jr. the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz and Sonja Aquino in Mean Girls. Natalie Stinchcomb plays her side-kick Constance Blackwood, a girl with serious self-esteem and anger issues. You may have seen Natalie in the Green Room Gang productions of Honk, Jr. and High School Musical, Jr. Connor Christopher portrays Noel Gruber, who fancies himself a reincarnation of a Marlene Dietrich type chanteuse. Connor, recently seen in Sense and Sensibility, has been active in CHT productions since early childhood. He is a senior at North Caroline High School. Mischa Bachinski, born in Ukraine, was adopted by a Canadian family but never fully fit in. In compensation, he projects a gangster persona through rap music. Mischa is played by the multi-talented J.W. Ruth, who recently directed Happy Birthday, Wanda June at the Garfield Center and was last seen at CHT in My Fair Lady. Ian Stotts, outstanding in CHT’s Charley’s Aunt and My Fair Lady, takes on the role of Ricky Potts. While Ricky is mute and has a degenerative condition, his imagination soars to “infinity and beyond.” The last teen, an enigma known as Jane Doe, is played by Reanna Sherman, who wowed us all as Eliza in My Fair Lady earlier this summer. Reanna graduated from Washington College with a degree in Vocal Performance and is the Choral Director at Kent Island High School. Although not a contestant, Mischa’s lost love Talia makes a poignant appearance. Chloe Bennett, another newcomer to CHT, who recently performed in Descendants: the Musical at the Children’s Theatre of Annapolis, takes on this smaller crucial part.
While this is Kat Melton’s directorial debut at Church Hill Theatre, she all but grew up on its stage, first helping her dad, CHT’s master lighting designer Doug Kaufmann. Kat works in DC as a theatrical electrician. When not in a theatre, she can be found working with her horses or at home with her family.
Ride the Cyclone will open on Friday, November 8, and run through Sunday, November 24, with performances at 7:30 pm on Fridays and Saturdays and at 2 pm on Sundays. More information and tickets on the website: churchhilltheatre.org.
