First Stage’s Ride The Cyclone Just Left Me In Awe

The First Stage Young Company consists of advanced high school aged actors. They generally stage three shows per season and tackle adult plays and themes as seen in their recent productions of Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Ibsen’s Enemy of the People. And unlike the bigger First Stage musical productions at the Marcus that use adults and younger actors, Young Company seldom features adults in their offerings.

Young Company is currently offering a full blown musical in Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell’s Ride The Cyclone, The Musical [High School Edition]. Please pay attention to that last bit as this play does deal with mature themes and is recommended for young people 13 to 17 and adults.

Hazel Dye (center) and cast. Photo courtesy of First Stage. Photographer: Paul Ruffolo.

Richmond and Maxwell have written a wondrous and dramatic musical here and Director Michelle LoRicco and the eight actors do just a marvelous job of bringing it all to life. This is certainly the most engaging play that I have seen at First Stage. The musical part of the musical borrows from the great history and genre of American musicals…moving through pop and contemporary sounds to West Side Story to Cabaret and to rap…with maybe a bit of The Three Penny Opera thrown in. The Young Company cast has mastered the nuances and styles here in a very commanding manner.

(left to right) Lio Landis, Hazel Dye, Thomas Alberto Bastardo, Evie Maassen,
and Max Larson. Photo courtesy of First Stage. Photographer: Paul Ruffolo.

The story of course is ideal fodder for a teen age play. Starting with the excitement and light of youth as the youth choir performs at a carnival and swiftly blends into the macabre as they ride the cyclone roller-coaster and all perish when their car comes loose. And now we get to see them interact on ‘the other side’.

Edward Owczarski. Photo courtesy of First Stage. Photographer: Paul Ruffolo.

And once our choir members reconnect and become apprised of their situation, they meet an automaton named Karnak who is employed as a sideshow act predicting people’s futures and deaths for a few coins in the slot. But here he takes on a more sinister persona and promises to bring one of the deceased back to life after they each testify to their worthiness of such a boon and win a unanimous vote from the others. Without going into much more detail, Karnak seems to easily change the rules as we go or keep some of them to himself until they have had an effect on the choir. Edward Owczarski is Karnak and he is Karnak for every single minute of the 90 minute run time of the play. Beyond his pronouncements and gibes, he has to maintain his robotic presence and movements and gesturings even when the focus of the action is on other cast members. Owczarski maintains his persona throughout and believe me, he is more than the requisite creepy here!

Ocean is the self-assured young woman who assumes that she will be the one selected to return to life and makes her case fervently…and Evelyn Maassen makes her very very real for us. And her best friend, Constance, is equally appealing via the acting of Hazel Dye. And although Ocean disses her friends including Constance at times, Dye and Maassen never let us lose site of the fact that Ocean and Constance are besties.

Now before I forget, the action here is located in a small rural town in the middle of nowhere Canada. So as each character relates their lives and their stories and their goals…a lot of personal traits and experiences come out that would have been kept personal…given the nature of small towns. So beyond the overall story board, we see and feel a lot of other emotions. And the play takes on how we perceive our selves, how we never ever really know everything about even our closest friends, and how community affects our lives and our goals.

And we also have Mischa, an adopted Ukrainian boy aptly played by Max Larson, big and bold and present. And Thomas Bastardo is Ricky, who never spoke before the accident so was relegated to play tambourine in the choir…so his sudden ability to speak provides a bit of wonder for the group. And Lio Landis is Noel, with a few secrets of his own and now I am going to have to finally watch Marlene Dietrich in the Blue Angel. So that covers the five members of the choir, but:

Mackenzie Wooten and cast. Photo courtesy of First Stage. Photographer: Paul Ruffolo.

A sixth child was found in the wreckage and she was without a head and was never identified, despite having a choir outfit. And none of the others recognize her either…so we meet Jane Doe. Now, Mackenzie Wooten plays Jane with a head but with makeup, hair, and a gait that is more zombie that teen age girl. And Wooten is the epitome of teen age macabre here…and she certainly has a chilling effect on Constance. You need to see that first hand for yourself.

Now this isn’t all chilling horror movie fodder. The songs are expressive and capture the nature of each character. AND there is a fair amount of laugh out loud humor here both in context and jokes and a few aside comments. It’s a delight.

For me, this is a five star, two thumbs up event. Ride The Cyclone runs from now through April 13, 2025 at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center in Milwaukee. It runs for 90 minutes without intermission. MYAC is an intimate theater in the round with general admission seating.

For more information and ticket info, click here!!

Recommended for families with young people ages 13-17 and theater lovers of all ages

Note: Contains mature content, language and themes including discussion of untimely death and mature situations including references to sex, drugs, and violence.

Max Larson (right) and cast. Photo courtesy of First Stage. Photographer: Paul Ruffolo.

Every Brilliant Thing Enthralls With Insights, Hope, And Sharing

This is a very intimate play…featuring one actor as storyteller who engages the audience in the telling. And the Goodman Mainstage at the Milwaukee Youth Art Center is the ideal intimate venue for the telling of this tale. We all become family here.

Yes, we only have one actor/character on stage. The character does not have a name and begins their story with a monologue that explains what the term Every Brilliant Thing means and where it originated. And at this point it is important to mention that this is a play about mental illness and suicide. And our actor is a youngster when we first meet and we get to share their growth and awareness and thoughts through a decade or better. And at first Every Brilliant Thing is a list to help their mother heal…a simple list of Brilliant Things! But eventually it becomes a coping mechanism as our actor struggles through their life as well…and obviously suffers from a reluctantly acknowledged mental health issue of their own.

Elyse Edelman. Photographer: Ross Zentner. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.

Director Molly Rhode as taken a risk here…and instead of casting a single actor for entire run…Rhode has cast Milwaukee favorites James Carrington and Elyse Edelman on alternating evenings. Which opens up a new question that I hadn’t considered before…what effect on the story will gender have? Will a female character seem more sympathetic? Will a male character be perceived as weak? ??? Edelman held the floor when I attended on Sunday March 2 and just mesmerized the audience. She is a grand story teller!

James Carrington. Photographer Ross Zentner. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.

But even without the dual casting this story will evolve differently at each performance. There are roles for the audience to play, as the actor selects audience members to play a vet, school counselor, and father. So bring your best actor voice and face when you attend. Depending on the actor and the audience member selected, the story will deviate from performance to performance and there will be a fair amount of ad lib activity on everyone’s part.

Elyse Edelman. Photographer: Ross Zentner.. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.

But there’s more: There’s the actual Every Brilliant Thing List! When a new audience member found her seat next to me, I exclaimed, what great seats! And she replied, yes they are as long as I don’t have to be in the play…at which point Edelman came over and recruited my neighbor to participate…simply reading a line when her number was called: “Really Good Oranges!” There is some fun when a volunteer has forgotten their number and fails to respond on the first cue.

James Carrington and audience member. Photographer: Ross Zentner.. Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.

Yes, the topic is mental health and some sad life events. So there are moments of feeling choked up with tight throats and teary eyes. But there is an incredible amount of hope and happiness here and laughter that make this play feel full circle and complete…despite the unusual format.

I’d appreciate hearing from any of you who experienced James Carrington in this role. I have seen him in a number of other plays and I am sure he nails this!

Every Brilliant Thing continues at the Goodman Mainstage Hall at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center (just north of the Deer District in the old Schlitz Brewery area) through March 16, 2025. Run time: approximately 75 minutes, no intermission​

Additional information and tickets available here. If you have druthers on whether you see Elyse Edelman or James Carrington, the dates of their performances are listed.

PSA: Next At Milwaukee Chamber Theatre: Every Brilliant Thing

Editor’s note: Every Brilliant Thing is a brilliant and intimate play and the Goodman Mainstage at the MYAC is the ideal location.

MILWAUKEE CHAMBER THEATRE’S WARM-HEARTED COMEDY EVERY BRILLIANT THING SPOTLIGHTS MENTAL HEALTH, COMMUNITY, AND LIFE’S SIMPLE PLEASURES

Directed by Northern Sky Theater Artistic Director Molly Rhode
Features beloved Milwaukee actors James Carrington and Elyse Edelman

MILWAUKEE, WI – February 19, 2025 – Milwaukee Chamber Theatre (MCT) continues its landmark 50th Anniversary 2024/25 Season with warm-hearted comedy favorite EVERY BRILLIANT THING by Duncan McMillan and Jonny Donahoe. Directed by Northern Sky Theater Artistic Director and Milwaukee native Molly Rhode, the production will run from February 28 to March 16, 2025, in Goodman Mainstage Hall at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center. Tickets are available online at www.milwaukeechambertheatre.org or by calling the Broadway Theatre Center box office at 414-291-7800.


1: Ice cream. 2: Kung Fu movies. 3: Staying up past your bedtime to watch TV. Those are just the start of a list of every brilliant thing that makes life worth living, created in this luminous mix of theater and stand-up and delivered in alternate performances by two of Milwaukee’s best-loved actors in James Carrington (First Stage, Northern Sky, Next Act, others), and Elyse Edelman (MCT, Next Act, First Stage, Forward, others). Described by The Guardian as “one of the funniest plays you’ll ever see about depression—and possibly one of the funniest plays you’ll ever see, full stop,” this beloved coming-of-age story celebrates each of our capacities to delight in the little things and our resilience in going further than we think we can for those we love.

“I couldn’t be more excited to share EVERY BRILLIANT THING with our community. It carries on MCT’s long tradition of exceptional solo performance plays featuring some of Milwaukee’s finest artists while ideally exemplifying how theater can bring our community closer together,” said MCT Artistic Director Brent Hazelton. “By starting from the awareness that everyone has at some point felt less than their best or lived through mental and behavioral health challenges with family or friends, the play reminds us that none of us can go through our lives alone—and that that’s actually perfectly natural.”

ALL-LOCAL CREATIVE TEAM LEADS EVERY BRILLIANT THING
Director Molly Rhode returns to Milwaukee Chamber Theatre after leading a well-loved production of GREAT EXPECTATIONS in 2017, about which On Milwaukee.com proclaimed, “Chamber’s masterful GREAT EXPECTATIONS exceeds every single [expectation]…an
inventiveness I have rarely seen on a stage.” John Jahn for Shepherd Express called it “something to cherish and celebrate…well-acted, amusing, touching, sprightly paced, and superbly staged…a truly enjoyable evening at the theater,” while Urban Milwaukee’s Dominique Noth said, “Rhode has set a high bar.”


While written and performed as a solo-actor play, MCT’s production of EVERY BRILLIANT THING has been double-cast, offering audiences a chance to see both Edelman (INDECENT, THE NOT-SO-ACCIDENTAL CONVICTION OF ELEVEN MILWAUKEE “ANARCHISTS”) and Carrington (MCT Debut) in alternating performances. Milwaukee native Edelman was last seen at MCT in …”ANARCHISTS”, for which critics lauded her as “impressive, skillful” (Ryan Jay Reviews) and “start-to-finish fabulous” (Milwaukee Magazine). “I think this is a beautiful play. It’s a dream project, really. Milwaukee Chamber Theatre is honestly one of my artistic homes,” said Edelman. “It’s a communal and celebratory activity to be able to tell this story together.” Edelman will perform on Feb 28, March 2, 6, 8 (8pm), 12, 14, 15 (4pm), and 16.


Longtime Milwaukee artist Carrington makes his MCT debut in EVERY BRILLIANT THING. “I love this play,” said Carrington. “I love the message, the theme. I think it’s so funny; it’s so warm. It disarms you a little bit with how funny and touching it is. When the world is difficult and feels relentless, this show reminds you that things can be okay. It invites you in—regardless of where you come from, regardless of who you are. Theatre is for everybody; this show is for everybody. I think in Milwaukee in 2025 we need to remind ourselves of the joy in life, of the simple things in life, but also that we are in this together.” Carrington will perform on March 1, 5, 7, 8 (4pm), 9, 13, and 15 (8pm).


The production will be designed and created by Jim Guy (Properties Designer), Martilia Marechal (Sound Designer), Ellie Rabinowitz (Lighting Designer), Beck Trumbull (Assistant Stage Manager), and Emily Marie Wilke (Stage Manager), rounding out the all-local team.


MCT RETURNS TO “PERFECT” GOODMAN MAINSTAGE HALL

EVERY BRILLIANT THING will be performed at Goodman Mainstage Hall in the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, the same venue where MCT opened the season with its critically acclaimed production of AN ILIAD. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Jim Higgins noted upon seeing AN ILIAD, “Goodman Mainstage Hall is the perfect venue for this storytelling approach… one of the best small venues in Milwaukee; I hope more companies discover it.” Built in 2005 and renovated in 2021, MYAC provides exceptional facilities with state-of-the-art features, including the warm and welcoming Burke Commons, where patrons can gather in comfort before performances and the recently renovated 142-seat Goodman Mainstage Hall, offering audiences an intimate and immersive experience through its arena-style seating. “We’re thrilled to return to MYAC, and to drop this inherently communal play in the Goodman’s in-the-round orientation. It’s such a comfortable, accessible venue and as we saw with ILIAD ideally suited to this sort of solo performance where the actor is in direct conversation with the audience,” said Hazelton.


The Milwaukee Youth Arts Center is located at 325 W Walnut St, at the corner of Walnut and Dr Martin Luther King Jr Dr. It is across the street from Milwaukee Public School’s Golda Meir School, with a parking lot that faces the Golda Meir Upper Campus. Additional parking is available in the Golda Meir School lots outside of school hours. More information is available at www.milwaukeechambertheatre.org/every-brilliant-thing


KEY DATES + EVENTS


EVERY BRILLIANT THING by Duncan McMillan and Jonny Donahoe, will run from February 28 toMarch 16, 2025 at Goodman Mainstage Hall in the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, 325 W Walnut St, Milwaukee, WI 53212.

  • Preview: Friday, February 28 at 7:30 PM
  • Opening Night: Saturday, March 1 at 8:00 PM
  • Pay-What-You-Choose: Monday, March 3 at 7:30 PM (walk-up tickets available starting one hour before the show)
  • Talkbacks: Thursdays, March 6 and 13, following the 7:30 PM performances
  • SipStudio: Saturday, March 8 (complimentary drinks and exclusive experiences for matinee and evening attendees)
  • ASL Interpretation: Friday, March 14 at 7:30 PM