One day, I said, “Do you want to join me in writing a musical?” And he said, “Well, what’s it about?” And I said, “Well, all I really got is that it’s about six kids who die in a roller coaster.” And he said, “That sounds really depressing.” And I said, “No, it’s supposed to be life-affirming, I promise!” And then we just started riffing on it. Any weird combo I gave him, he’d amalgamate them together. I’d throw him something crazy, like “Can this song sound kind of country-ish meets reggae meets jazz?” And he goes, “Sure got it!” He was a style beast. Jacob: I did a cabaret series in Victoria and Brooke started writing songs for the cabaret. Kat: How did you first decide to create Ride the Cyclone together?
Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell, the show’s creators, about Ride the Cyclone and what it’s been like to see it go viral on social media platforms like TikTok and Tumblr.
The show has been around for over a decade but has gone viral over the past few months, reviving interest in a show that not many people were aware of. The show tells the story of 6 students from Uranium City in Saskatchewan, Canada, who have just been killed in a roller coaster accident. If you’ve been on theatre TikTok (or even other sides of TikTok like cosplaying and/or lip-syncing), you’ve probably seen some videos about Ride the Cyclone. “I know this dream of life is neverending / It goes around and round and round again / You know the sun is rising while descending / It goes on and on and never ends” – “Karnak’s Dream of Life,” Ride the Cyclone