I adore how the only one who has the carnival music in their song, is Jane Doe, because we (and Karnak) don't know anything about her, so Karnak fills it in with the only music he knows - carnival music. That, and the sound of haunting sad version of a place usually full of joy and happiness add an extra layer of melancholy and yearning to it
Plot explanation: All the kids died on the Cyclone around the age of 17 so Karnak brings them all to this afterlife place I think (I don’t really know it’s never explained, but it looks kind of like a carnival stage with curtains and stuff) and he lets them express their biggest wishes in life and just the things they could never say in life. He says at the end of the night one person will be revived Ocean: Her song is trying to prove she deserves to be revived because she’s “better than everyone, statistically speaking” after this song Karnak reveals that one of them will be brought back through a unanimous vote among the entire choir. Ocean tries to take back what she said by saying “that was an example of what you shouldn’t do” and tries to sing a song called “I love you guys” but Noel interrupts her because he’s tired of her sh*t. Noel: You basically got it down, Noel was constantly bored in this tiny town, as the only gay man in his highschool he never had any relationships which kind of sucks when you’re the most romantic kid in town. So he basically romanticizes the life of someone who sells their body. Obviously this isn’t a life you’d want but he’s a kid so I think it makes sense? -Noel’s boyfriend- Mischa: In Mischa’s introduction he says “Ukrainian men only have two feelings, rage and passion” so his first song is meaningless rage, while his second song is passion. Also the choreography for Talia is amazing. I honestly think it’s so sad that Mischa died before ever getting to see Talia (Talia is his fiancé from Ukraine, they met online and Mischa was planning to move back to Ukraine to finally marry her) Karnak does hint that Mischa and Talia wouldn’t end well though, he says “would it help if I told you what would have happened if you had met her” Ricky: So, Ricky is mute and his legs gave out at age 6 I think, so he lived his whole life with crutches and not being able to talk. Because of this he only ever felt indifferent about everything, he was never able to participate in anything so he never cared about it. Because he wasn’t able to do much of anything he would just create worlds in his head, “the most imaginative boy in town”. Ocean was the one who got him into the choir, Ricky seems kind of salty about that because it led to his death, but he doesn’t even seem super upset that he’s dead, in fact after his song he says he resigns, that he won’t be brought back to life. Jane Doe/Penny: Jane was decapitated so she doesn’t remember anything about life, she has her dolls head now and moves like a doll as well. She’s pretty much emotionless until her song. Her parents never came when she died so they were never able to identify who she was, in fact, no one in the choir knew who she was. I think her song basically sums up her entire character and her emotions, and I’m not even going to try and explain them because I can’t really find words for it at the moment. Constance: Constance had gotten the award “kindest girl” 4 years in a row in homeroom. She was really upset about it, all anyone knew about her was that she was nice. She would throw the award in the dump. In her year book all that was written were things like “I never knew you, you seemed kind” she tore those pages out and threw those away too. Her family ran a store in Uranium and were “the only family in all of Uranium who thought it was ok to do your living, working, and dying there” and over time she found herself getting really angry at everything. She thought her family were all losers, and she has a lot of guilt over thinking that. After everyone sings the songs Karnak says that Ocean will be the only one voting for who gets brought back. Ocean thinks really hard about it and decides she can’t vote for herself, “if I vote for myself the moral is humans suck”, so instead she votes for Jane Doe, “we all lived lives, she didn’t” and so they revive Jane, her name in real life was Penny. They watch Penny live out her entire life and after, they relive the roller coaster incident over and over, they go through it twice in “it’s not a game/it’s just a ride”. I should also mention; at the beginning of the show Karnak explains that there’s a rat chewing on the wire that powers him, and by the time the show ends, they’ll both die. He dies after his final sight during “it’s not a game/it’s just a ride” he dies. Edit: someone mentioned that I had not addressed Virgil by name and simply called him “a rat”. I understand that this is extremely disrespectful as Virgil is so much more than a rat and means so much to so many people. I know that this was an unforgettable mistake and it will never happen again. I apologize to anyone I offended and most of all Virgil himself. I sincerely apologize again.
I’m pretty sure that all the others high notes were also there screams when they rode the cyclone, (Constance not singing high notes as she explained that she did not scream ^^)
"The new birthday song" is something the choir makes up because the traditional birthday song leads to an awkward moment - you know, "Happy birthday, dear... [pause]". And if you're impressed by the vocals in the Ballad of Jane Doe, wait until you see what she does while singing it!
Karnak's last message is also incredibly ominous if you think about it. Your lucky number is seven: The six members of the choir were the ones who died, a seventh person would have just barely avoided death. You will soar to great heights: Those who ride the cyclone were flying high above the rest of the carnival due to the cyclone ride breaking Be sure to ride the cyclone: He TOLD the children to ride the cyclone, which did (in a way) lead to their deaths. And can also be a bit of a message to them (and us) to enjoy our lives while they last.
13:18 ive heard a lot of theories that not only is he talking about wanting to live as a 'f*cked up girl', but hes also saying he would rather live that horrible lifestyle than be dead.
Noel is a poet and he died before any thing tragical poetic could happen to him. He hates that he died before he could write or live a life of fantastical tragedy. He grew up watching black and white films from France. After his dad left, it barely effected him and he hated that causing him to fantasize about a life he will never live in his small town. There are a bunch of TikTok’s that explain it better then I could here
Also, surprised no one mentioned this yet: Of all the cast members on this recording, Noel's had actually been with the production since its first workshops in 2008! He essentially played the same character for a span of about 10 years by the time this recording was made. In addition, three of the cast members had been in multiple productions of the show since the 2015 U.S. Premiere (Jane Doe, Constance, and Ocean). Taylor Louderman, who played Regina in Mean Girls, was actually cast as Ocean for the 2016 Off-Broadway production, but stepped down before opening and was replaced by Tiffany Tatreau for the rest of the run.
My favorite theory is that Jane doe WAS in the choir but didn't get on the cyclone, rather she gets hit by it when it derails. "From the ground beneath my feet i hear the anguish of the street" she's down on the ground and witnesses everyone being scared about the derailing. And " a choir never complete" could be 1, they don't know her name which si the obvious one and 2 that the kids didn't die together, she died separately. I think it's super neat
that makes a lot of sense, especially with the theory that she died last on the rollercoaster because her notes in all the group numbers lasted longer, meaning her screams probably lasted longer
In the musical Jane Doe has a headless doll. The idea being she took the doll's head for her own. Hence the blond curls and black glass eyes. Most of the kids' backstories are presented in flashback by Karnak before their songs. Also there is a whole other play about Jane (sort of), its called Legoland.
to make this musical more creepy, jane’s high notes represent her screaming while being beheaded 😘 also, the lovely emily rohm sings the end half of tbjd while FLYING and being upside down. if that isn’t talent i don’t know what is
Funny you mention Space Age Bachelor Man reminds you of Davie Bowie because the performance was actually inspired by him! Ricky even changes during the song into an outfit that’s very reminiscent of Bowie’s iconic outfits
I’ve heard that in ride the cyclone the characters represent the 5 stages of grief Bargaining: Ocean trying to convince everyone that she should be the one to be revived. Depression: Noel’s ideal life being what you would think as depressing. Anger: Mischa having anger issues and the stereotype of angry Ukrainian men. Acceptance: Ricky accepting and embracing his disability. Denial: Constance’s denial of her life(?). (Idk this one well) And Jane Doe has been said to represent death and dying in some cases.
this is one of those shows where the cast album doesn’t fully explain the plot. the biggest thing that the album doesn’t include is the fact that karnak is going to bring back one teen, but the choir has to vote unanimously on who gets to love again. so each song is basically the teens saying why they should live again. we (and the teens) only learn that they have to vote together on who wins after ocean sings her song, which is why she puts everyone else down in her song. each teen also has an introduction before their song, that gives a back story about who they are, their birthday/ zodiac (‘leo, sign of aggression’ for example), and a superlative for each teen (the most imaginative, the nicest, etc) in mischa’s introduction, he explains that he has an online girlfriend/fiancée back in ukraine who he never got to meet in person, hence his song ‘talia’ ricky’s introduction explains that he was born with a are degenerative disease and lost the ability to talk, and as a result of being ignored by everyone around him, he started using his imaginary world he created to cope at the end of the show SPOILERS karnak reveals that ocean alone will choose gets to come back, and she chooses jane doe, since the rest of them at least have their memories to remember. karnak also reveals jane’s identity, penny lamb (aries, the lucky nature). penny is the character in another musical, legoland. the bootleg of the show also has a few changes to the musical, mainly the change from the uranium suite on the album to the fall faire suite in the show.
im sorry, this is super pedantic but legoland is actually a play and although there is a penny lamb in it, she is not the same as penny lamb who died in the cyclone incident
@@spacesugar no worries! thanks for the clarification, i’ll admit that i never read up on legoland, i’m just repeating what i’ve seen others say, but i guess that’s on me for just parroting what others have said instead of looking up things on my own haha
Small correction: Fall Fair Suite was technically in RtC before The Uranium Suite. Uranium was the original opening, then was replaced with Fall Fair, then Uranium was updated and brought back for the 2019 Atlanta production, cast album, and onwards.
@@spacesugar Except she is the same. Written by the same people and using the same name, goes to the same school, etc. She is 100% the same character. The reason her parents don't show up to identify her is because they're in jail for drugs. Legoland takes place a year before the Cyclone incident. The only thing we don't know for sure is if she was sent back to her old life before dying and allowed to live or if she's reincarnated as a new person, but she was absolutely Penny before dying. Please research things before stating incorrect information.
btw, there is a slime tutorial of this show that was re-uploaded recently. i know bootleg recordings are controversial, but ones of this show in particular have been given the seal of approval by the majority of the cast because they spread the word about it and they acknowledge that a LOT of its popularity came from them. i seriously recommend watching it because both the acting, and the choreography is INSANE
In the less patronizing way I can word this…. Your reactions and genuine interest to learn more about musicals (I mean, you did listen to this one before watching it!) are really endearing, heartwarming, really, I don’t know, it’s nice to see someone appreciating something you love so earnestly ^^ great vid
25:00 This is literally true. The song didn't originally have that extra higher bit that you just heard there but Emily Rohm went up there anyway and the creators liked it so much that they kept it in. She also did a few extra things as well but I can't remember what they were
As the leader of the Ocean O'Connell Rosenberg Redemption Club, her song is not who she is, as we learn from watching the whole show, the end of the show reveals that Karnak knew her better than what the show displays her to be😭
Oh, and Also Kholby (Noel) has been with the show from the start, and has even helped with writing changes and such. He's confirmed to us that Legoland isn't necessarily a Sequel or Prequel. He's answered a lot of your questions on his tiktok account (Also heyyy Kholby! If you see this)
i think her song was a desperate attempt for kanak to choose her because she’s spent her entire life to reach a goal she will have never achieve if she doesn’t come back but as the show moves she realizes how wrong she was
When you said that Mischa was weird, and that you wanted to know what was going on in his head. I just... Started cackling, because you had yet to hear Space Age Bachelor Man. And ooohhhhh boy.
RTC is the perfect example of a show that should never go to Broadway. It thrives on its intimacy. Putting it in a large house and trying to make it “mainstream” would kill its quirky appeal. I would love to see it tour more or have an Off-Broadway run though.
Jane doe’s real name is Penny lamb!!! They all vote to bring her back to life at the end. At the start, ocean think that she deserves to be brought back to life but at the end she realizes that her and all her friends have amazing memories of their life while Jane doesn’t remember any of it, so she decides to vote for her instead of herself. Just to give u some closure haha
This video is partially subtitled so if it's hard to hear what I'm saying sometimes, just turn subtitles on. I had to use an old mic and we don't get along super well hahaha xx
Hey! Amazing video! Just wanted to explain the plot point the soundtrack misses. Essentially, after Karnak brings them back, he tells them that whoever is deemed the most worthy to be brought back to life will be, but only one person. Ocean (the girl who sings What The World Needs) misunderstands who the judge is and sings about how amazing she is and how terrible her competition is, and only after she finishes does Karnak inform her that he is not the judge in this contest, the people she just insulted are. Also, all the characters are 16-18, and right before every song Karnak shows us their entire backstory. Hope that helps!
So they do have a musical on Jane doe’s character. It’s a separate musical about her actual person… like her with her memories and alive and she has a brother! This makes this so much sadder because it means his brother never found out what happened to his sister.
Your reaction to Emily Rohm's voice in Karnak's Dream of Life is pretty much exactly the same reaction I had when I first heard her singing The Ballad of Jane Doe XD I came to know this musical from a cover of Jane's song done by Annapantsu (which is beautiful by the way) and I'm now obsessed. Emily Rohm is so damn talented! Such a beautiful and supported voice, _mm_ 👌 There are a couple of roller coaster safety slime tutorials floating around on TH-cam and many a compilation, so I encourage you to check those out too to see more of the show ^-^ Edit: I love your analysis of this show through its cast album alone and how you've interpreted not just the lyrics of the songs but the feelings and the music too. This is what I love about 'reactionists' - when they connect with the material and go off down a rabbit hole deep dive of "wait, it could mean this or this, or this one! I like this one!" Amazing, I absolutely need to go back and look at some more of your reactions to musicals you know nothing about - I might find something new to obsess over XD Love the theories, I approve! And yes, Noel's Lament chorus is very appealing to listen too, very smooth and sonically aesthetic imo. All the songs are great though, but I have my favourite moments. Edit 2: Oh, by the way, the slime tutorials are the Off-Broadway (2016) versions of slime making and the cast album is, I believe, the 2019 cast from the Atlanta shows. Just in case anyone wants to make the slime and gets confused by the differing instructions ^-^ *VERY MINIMAL SPOILERS AHEAD BUT STILL SPOILERS* Edit 3: Ok, well, you asked and so shall receive (in the least spoiler-y way possible): Ride the Cyclone is about a group of six kids who all went on a rollercoaster ride and died because it was faulty. Five of them had their fortunes read by Karnak, so he knows about their lives, but the one who didn't ended up getting decapitated and so nobody remembers her. Karnak tells them he can bring one back to life, but they have to vote for who it is - essentially it's a competition; a game. That's the reasoning behind the songs iirc; they're all talking about their hopes, dreams and fantasies (hence 'Noel's Lament' and Ricky's song 'Space Age Bachelor Man'). Watching the full slime tutorials will make more sense tbh, I don't want to get called out for laying out all the instructions without the visuals to go with. Oh, and Karnak also dies at the end of the show before he can really give anyone a solid answer, so this show is very much about personal interpretation imo. That's why he says "Your lucky number is 7, you will soar to great heights. Be sure to ride the Cyclone." - lucky numbers are a very common 'fortune telling machine' thing, and telling everyone to 'ride the Cyclone' was the fairground's advertising that he was programmed to say.
AAAA I’M SO EXCITED FOR YOUR REACTION After watching to the end, I can say: RTC is a bit like Six or Cats in that it’s a contest. In this case they are all trying to make a case for why they should be the one brought back to life! Karnak doesn’t decide however… the winning person needs an unanimous vote from the choir. (This is revealed right after Ocean’s song)
The kids are all 17, and the whole musical is a game where the winning prize is to be brought back to life, and the winner has to be voted unanimously by the rest of the contenders. Before It's Not A Game/It's Just A Ride, Jane Doe is chosen and her name is revealed to be Penny Lamb, and at the end of the song, the rest of the kids go to heaven.
YESSSS IVE BEEN WAITING After the video: Okay let me help explain. Basically as Karnak had said the children died on the roller coaster aka the Cyclone. On stage when they die they're in this sort of abandoned space and Karnak tells the kids that they're dead and only one may live, put to a vote. After Oceans song Karnak reveals that the voting is done by the group of kids not himself. The kids go one by one singing their songs. After Constances song Sugar Cloud it's decided by Ocean that they all vote for Jane Doe to be revived. There's also a special Cyclone Slime Tutorial on TH-cam to explain this all as well. Anyways I really love your videos and hope this helps 💗 much love ^-^
the reason that there’s so little backstory in the songs is because there is a spoken portion before each song that’s not on the soundtrack that gives their entire story
"It has a very... solid personality so far!" HA that won't last long! (altough it all comes together really really well, but it is amazingly all over the place)
This is my favorite musical. So much so that I dragged my family too see it live with me about 2 weeks ago. Ride the cyclone is love. Ride the cyclone is life.
i don't think i totally realized how little information is in the cast recording until i watched this video! i can try to explain. so they're all 17, in the choir together (whether jane doe is in the choir too is unclear, and subject to debate), and they compete in a singing competition (which i think is part of the fall fair?), which is what the first part of the uranium suite is. then they all ride the cyclone, and die. karnak is one of those fortune telling machines, and he can predict people's deaths, but can't ever tell them. he brings all six of them somewhere, and reveals that he can bring one of them back to life, but only one, so they're going to have to compete for it. he also reveals that his power cord is being chewed on by a rat, which he has named virgil, and that virgil will chew through the cord in the amount of time it takes the show to finish (i don't remember exactly how long), to give them a time limit. jane doe does, in fact, look creepy. they did the actress's makeup to look like a china doll and gave her contacts that make her whole eye black, and she carries around the headless doll she got the head from. ocean goes first, and karnak does actually say stuff about her, it just didn't end up in the cast recording, idk why. she starts making a whole speech about how unethical the whole situation is, and accidentally concedes, though as soon as karnak tells her that, she takes it back and starts singing. she sings what the world needs to try to convince him that she's the best choice to bring back, because she thinks that she will make an impact on the world and the others won't. i have a lot of thoughts about ocean, and this song, but i won't go into them here because that would take to long. but she is actually a really complex character, and it's important to note that unlike the other songs, this one isn't really about her, or what she wants, its about what she thinks karnak will be impressed by. as soon as she's finished the song, karnak says that the person who will come back to life will be determined by the unanimous vote of the whole choir. he only reveals this after she spends a whole song insulting all of them. she realizes that she just screwed herself over, and tries to sing another song, but noel interrupts her, and then it's his turn. you got noel mostly right, only gay kid in a small rural catholic high school, works at taco bell, from his monologue before his song, it's pretty clear that he's been somewhat treated as an outcast, and doesn't really have any friends, or much of a life. he romanticizes like old tragic movies? the specific one he mentions is the blue angel, with marlene dietrich. im not sure it's so much accepting a bad life instead of a good life since at least it's better than no life as it is not really being aware a good life is an option available to him? this is another situation where im not going to say all the thoughts i have about him, as there really is too much. ocean gets upset because she thinks that noel's song didn't really say anything, or have a moral of any kind, and then they have a whole thing about whether or not you can have stories that don't have morals, and it's very funny. mischa is up next and hoo boy! we actually do have a lot of backstory for him, it's just not in either of his songs. so he's from ukraine, his mother was involved in cleaning up chernobyl, but was dying from the radiation. becasue she was dying, she forged his birth certificate to make it seem like he was a toddler, and sent him to america to get adopted by someone else. his adoptive family doesn't really like him (to be fair they were expecting a toddler) and he also seems to be treated as an outcast. he has a youtube channel, which he uploads his songs on. he met talia, his fiancee, through his youtube channel, and she may or may not be a real person, and may or may not be catfishing him, it's deliberately left ambiguous. his first song is kind of i guess a representation of who he wishes he was? cool, with a lot of money, and a lot of friends, and able to go back home. his second song, talia, is about talia, and his feelings for her. karnak asks mischa if he wants to know what would have happened if he and talia ever met, and he says yes, but noel stops him before he can actually find out, because it's better to leave the hope, the ideal, as an unknown. mischa doesn't quite understand, but ocean says that noel means 'love conquers all' and that, for whatever reason, gets through to him. ricky potts. where do i even begin with him. ok so. he has a degenerative disease that caused him to not be able to talk, and so people just kind of started ignoring him. he coped with this by imaging stories and made up worlds. space age bachelor man has two different ways its presented. the more recent one is as a weird dream from food poisoning, but the earlier version, and in my opinion the better one, is that he's presenting it as a thing that actually happened, and that he's really the prophet to the zolarians (the cat people aliens). i think that version ends up being a lot more meaningful, though that's just my interpretation. when it's jane doe's turn, karnak doesn't know anything about her, because he never read her fortune, and she doesn't know anything about herself. if you ever find a video recording of the ballad of jane doe, watch it. it's so cool. the do so much stuff with her flying, and with the lighting, it's just really good. the new birthday song comes right after this one, because they all try to throw her a birthday party to make her feel better, but then realize that the happy birthday song requires a name, which she does not have, and so ocean makes up a new song on the spot. there's several conversations between the characters after that. noel and mischa talk, mostly about their lives. ricky and jane doe talk for a bit, and he ends up offering her the name savannah, which he was saving up, but doesn't need anymore on account of being dead. ocean and constance talk, and they have a fight. about who to vote for, about ocean blaming constance for things, about the whole nature of their friendship. and so it's constance's turn. her monologue before sugar cloud is longer than it is in jawbreaker. there's... a lot. she had a lot of resentment for everyone for only seeing her as 'nice' and never more than that. she used to like her town when she was younger, but she started hating it once it became clear that loving it wasn't cool to other kids. there's a lot more, but that's the gist of it. sugar cloud is the least choreographed, and the most genuine of all the songs, and i love it for that. she plays a solo on a recorder in the middle of it. it's really just about being true to yourself, and not caring about what other people think, and enjoying life. at the end, karnak decides that the final vote will actually be ocean's decision rather than unanimous, because she has the highest grade point average. she actually gets really upset about that, and tries to make it a vote instead, but their running out of time. she picks jane doe. her reasoning is that they all had lives, and she didn't. "i would gladly take my 17 years over nothing." it's a really good speech, and she has a lot of character development over the course of the show, so it makes sense. jane doe gets sent back, and the find out who she is, and see a montage of her whole life, from what's already happened, to what will happen. from birth, to death at a very old age. her name is penny lamb. and there is in fact another play about her. i personally haven't watched or read it, so i don't know what happens. they sing the first part of it's not a game/it's just a ride, and then as soon as karnak offers them his final insight, he dies. in the show the 'your luck number is seven, you will soar to great heights, be sure to ride the cyclone" is said like he's malfunctioning. there's lights and electrical noises and stuff. and then the other five members of the choir are left alone, and the sing the last part of the song. they reform the roller coaster shape the had during the uranium suite, and go into the swirling light behind the curtain. And that's it! that's the show! btw, they put the trunk songs in the cast recording and they are also very good, and you should listen to them
Yeah I really need to watch this show somehow. I felt like Noel's song was a reference to movies but didn't know it was a specific one, that's cool. And the birthday thing is so sweet. Thanks for this! And yes I'm aware of the trunk songs, might react to them for Patreon
I always love finding Canadian musicals but this one was something special. It's a common hypothetical in theater schools to ask "if you could choose any voice to have, who's would you choose?" I never knew how to answer before this musical. I heard The Ballad Of Jane Doe and fell in love lol Edit: I almost forgot! We do learn Jane Doe's name and she's actually the main character in the prequel play to this show, entitled "Legoland." It's a whole different ride
I have my own head cannon for the story of the show. I believe that Karnak has brought these kids to this point so many times, but it wasn't until this time that Ocean could understand that it had to be Jane that was chosen. Like, if Karnak had the ability to control the kids and bring them into the "purgatory" they all share, why couldn't he do it again and again and again, each time the kids subconsciously bringing with them the lessons they learned last time. Ultimately, this is Ocean learning a lesson and understanding that her life wasn't more important than anyone else. I feel like that's why Karnak fucks with Ocean the most, he's been through this over and over again and it's only this time, when he’s about to die, that she gets it right and Jane Doe gets reborn as Penny Lamb and the rest of the kids can finally go to their after lives in peace.
If you can, you should listen to the song "Fall Fair Suite" too! It's not on the official album but an alternative opening song instead of The Uranium Suite and it's even better in my opinion
I listened to this musical’s album not knowing anything about it and I was hooked. Glad you enjoyed it! If you want another musical where the narrator introduces each character before their number (in a more meta sense) I’d recommend The Drowsy Chaperone.
Fun fact! When you asked if Jane looks creepy, she does in fact look very creepy!! Since she’s headless, she wears her doll’s head. She’s written to move like a broken marionette doll/puppet and it’s CHILLING. 😅
As a person who saw the play live many times and experienced its progression from an incredible local phenomena (Victoria BC Canada) to a phenomenal off-Broadway hit, with productions across North America, I can say that for all the joy you can experience listening to these songs, you cannot get the full benefit until you watch it. The music is matched with incredible choreography. The fact that multiple casts have made this a treat for attendees in a variety of venues is a tribute to the talent that has been gathered for each iteration, but also to the overall creation itself. Kudos to Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell for giving us tis masterpiece! Special mention to Kholby Wardell who appeared in all the early versions of the play, bringing the character of Noel Gruber to life.
The actor who plays Mischa in this recording went to my university on the same double major track I’m on and they just announced that we’re doing it next year as our spring musical! The school may shut it down, but I’m crossing my fingers it doesn’t.
I’d love to see you react to some of the stage performances for these songs especially Fall Fair Suite, What the world needs, Talia, and The Ballad Of Jane Doe (especially Talia as it’s my favourite visually). The imagery and dancing along with the projector used to show certain images really add to the performances :D
I definitely put this musical into the same category as Cats or six. Not much of a plot but a bunch of people singing songs about themselves and their motivations. Its also the opposite of cats in that in Cyclone all the characters are dead vying for a chance to be revived where in Cats every cat is alive and trying to get killed. Also, they do learn who Jane Doe actually is right before her resurrection. All the characters agreed that she deserved it because she had nothing to take with her to the afterlife while everyone else took their 17 years of memories with them.
i just realized this but talia is described as having the same hairstyle as you and i have NO idea whether or not this was intentional or not but its incredibly cool
22:48 Oddly enough there is apparently prequel to this called Legoland. That follows 'Jan Doe' (real name: Penny Lamb) in an adventure prior to the cyclone incident. It's not a musical but it dose have one song and I'm unfortunately unable to find anything about it on TH-cam except for that one song as of now. You should also watch the recording of jane doe's song bc she's flying around and spinning while singing perfectly its awsome!
I just spent 3 weeks playing keys for rehearsals for the Kansas City premiere of RtC - I didn't know anything about it, but I fell deeply in love with this show
The best thing i learnt about this musical is that noels lament is actually a ballad and that the ballad of jane doe is actually a lament it really blew my mind
It occurs to me, if the lucky number is 7... counting the choir director, that's 7 people dead, with 6 of them being truly doomed (presumably with the crash still happening, the choir director was always going to have that heart attack in the hours after the crash), and the one other, the 7th, being able to live... Not sure it was intentional symbolism (especially since Karnak explicitly says that he *never read* Jane Doe's fortune), but I think it's interesting
quick explanation: 6 teens die and are greeted by karnak, they are told one of them will come back to life by a unanimous vote. in the end, karnak changes his mind, saying that ocean (the narcissistic girl from one of the earlier songs) will get to decide who comes back to life, she chooses jane doe, revealed to actually be called penny lamb, because she was the only one who didn't get to have a life. each song is about each teenager telling the others why they should come back to life the 6 teens are: ocean : the narcissistic girl who sings "what the world needs" Ricky: the formerly disabled imaginative guy in "space age bachelor man" jane doe: the anonymous beheaded girl in "the ballad of jane doe" misha: the ukranian guy who sings "this song is awesome" and "talia" noel: a gay guy who sings "noel's lament" constance: oceans best friend, who sings "sugar cloud" and "jawbreaker"
watching you go through the five stages of grief listening to the weirdest, but surprisingly most profound musical i've seen was hilarious!! i can't wait for your reaction to the recording, and knowing you liked jane doe so much, her song's choreography (it's absolutely incredible). actually, everything about the recording is perfect so... and i have to say, i'm incredibly jealous of how you got the meaning of so many of the songs 1)the first time listening to them, and 2)missing half the context and story, when it took me days of hearing them to truly understand them.
Noel’s Lament is about a gay man who never got to really explore his queerness due to being in a small town. The song is a longing to be able to express himself
Mischas songs make a lot more lesson in context with his little monologue of ‘Ukrainian men have two emotion RAGE…and passion’ and he expresses his rage through auto tune
25:55 i have this theory maybe constance is the one who sounds the most like her age because she was indeed the nicest girl in town, the one who actually enjoyed living in their small town, and their songs represent their ambitions kinda, while everyone else wanted to grow up quickly so they could leave town, ocean wanted to leave town so she could become a politician of some sorts and escape her parent's lifestyle, noel wanted to leave bc he wanted a tragic love and he was the only gay kid in town, Misha wanted to go grow up so he could go back to Ukraine to marry Talia, Jane well she has no identity so no matter what age she sounded it still wasn't her, and Ricky lived most of his life imagining he was far away (yeah space may be a bit too far away tho but 🤷🏽♀️)
Aaaah RtC content! It's been in my head now for a couple of months. I do recommend seeing it live or finding a "slime tutorial" of it. "It's not a game/It's just a ride" makes me bawl my eyes out every time i hear it
My daughters just introduced me to this. At the moment the musical that's shocking me is spongebob the musical. When I heard my daughters age range 12 to 17 where doing this I thought too young. I was wrong. The songs are amazing. My daughter got the part of plankton, his rap is either the same speed or quicker then Hamiltons guns and ships.
And I'd be remiss if I didn't let you know that the common "Slime Tutorial" is from the Alliance Theater, and they've commented that they don't really care that people watch and share it. ⭐
OMG I literally just listened to RTC for the first time two days ago. At first I only did it because my friends couldn't stop talking about it but I found myself falling in love with it!
Just starting this and realizing that if she's just lostening to the album, she doesnt get to see the Talia performance. Its speculated that rap/autotune symbolizes his rage, and so his wail is followed by his anger that he can never be with this girl because of his death. It's heartbreaking, and for me was the turning point of a wacky comedy to a beautiful, if silly, drama.
...bro i think this is the most i've been so interested in a video ??? like i was on the edge of this video, probably because i really love the ride of cyclone LOL and was so happy you reacted to it but honestly it kinda felt like i was watching it for the first time again so thank you for that !! highly recommend a slime tutorial!! i might actually watch one again cause the first time i watched it it was really impulsive tbh and i was also sick and delirious so.. but yea it's a lovely show and i'm glad you enjoyed the recording despite the 0 closure in the album rip !!
Its so cool seeing this! I have a fact that Jane Does high notes are her screams as she plummets to her death, its also cool how she uses a dolls head for a replacement.
I love Noel’s lament because it is about how he longed for tragedy and drama when he had to pretend to be apathetic to blend in. It is also inspired by the fact that earlier it says he liked French cinema
I've been obsessed with this musical lately, so seeing this video in my feed felt predestined! I just love Ride the Cyclone so much, particularly the characters! Every single one of them inspires such gushy feelings within me, like they're all kids who are ridiculous and bright and don't know who they are, and it's just sgvsgbgfgbffhh. If you loved the cast recording of Jane Doe, then it would be the greatest sorrow if you didn't get to see the recorded performance of it. It's up on YT and it's genuinely one of the most stunning pieces of theater I've ever seen. Your analyses and understanding of the work's themes are mind blowing as always. I gotta know, do you have a background in theater or something, or are you just that clever?
I'm extremely curious about the staging of it now, everyone is saying it's amazing. And that's very sweet of you to say that. I just read and write a lot tbh. I love reading about fictional writing and am very passionate about the stories I love. But that's it :)
This was fun, so thank you! I was lucky enough to see one of the original productions of this, maybe at a Fringe? I can't remember, but I was smitten, and have been a huge fan since. I saw it again a year or so later when it was picked up by the Arts Club Theatre in Vancouver, with slightly more production and some changes to the script, and I loved it still, but missed the pared down intimacy of that first time seeing it when it made me a cheerleader for everyone involved. I am a costumer, and know a lot of theatre people, but knew no one involved in any way with the show, and yet I felt as invested emotionally as if my own kids were in the cast. It was an amazing show live. It holds together and is wonderful.
I think the gist of the show was that they played a "talent show" of sorts so that Karnak brought the winner back? In the end, the choice is one of the girls', and she chooses Jane. Since she really has no past, she gets reborn into a character from another show from the creators I think??
there was a song that was meant to be in place of it’s not a game/it’s just a ride called be safe be good (for rachel) the reason it said for rachel is because it’s dedicated to rachel who was the director/choreographer who passed away in 2018, it’s even sadder knowing the song talks about things not going to plan and enjoying your life while you have one since she died of cancer. RIP Rachel Rockwell
You can find a full recording of the performance! You just gotta be quick cause TH-cam takes them down in mere days. Look up "roller coaster safety slime tutorial" if one doesn't pop up check back often cause there's always ppl reuploading them
I would LOVE for you to react to The Hunchback of Notre Dame musical someday! I feel like you would really like the tone of the story. They do a good mix of the Disney movie and the original book. Best of all, Frolo is played by Hades in Hadestown. Can’t get a better villain than that!
Karnaks theme is in each and every monolog of each character in a different style of music. I recommend watching the slime tutorial on your own or a live reaction as it'll give more detail.
Yh, same on the backstory front I feel like this is more of a Cats than a Chorus Line or Spelling Bee where isn’t more about personalities and variety of fantasies that don’t match the lives we have. The competition is to force reflection. Whilst in Chorus line and Spelling bee we focus more on emotions and backstory to highlight the effects of the competition itself and get empathy from the audience.
After i discovered this musical I sent it to my singing coach, now we're studying the ballad of jane doe and im gonna record a video singing it at the end of the year
Your comment about needing another musical about Jane Doe: her real name is shared with a character from the writer’s other musical, “Legoland”. So it technically exists, but it’s older and generally not as well loved as Cyclone
13:00 that's just perfect actually, I never got it even though Karnak himself says the kids were robbed of individuality after the accident. God I need to power up my brain a bit :'D
Karnak is a fortune teller machine that legit has powers. However, the carnies that run him found people didn’t like it when they learned the exact time and manner of their deaths; so they made it so Karnak couldn’t tell anyone their fortune, even though he had the knowledge. So he couldn’t tell the choir not to get on the Cyclone, and was in fact programmed to recommend it to them. Years after the incident, Karnak is in a warehouse or storage unit and is about to be shut down forever by a rat that’s chewing through his power cable. So in his last moments of consciousness, he brings back the souls of each child that died on the cyclone and gives them another shot at life. He says one of them will be brought back, and the songs they sing are their kind of plea to be the one chosen to try again. Usually by the end of the song, the audience or the character themselves have realized that they shouldn’t be the one picked.
![ร้อยพ่อพันแม่ - WanMai [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XY2pNYASEbg/mqdefault.jpg)
You (talking about Mischa): “This boys mind is one of a kind”
Me (cackling): “…Just you wait for space age bachelor man”
I love how Ricky was self aware enough to recognize it got weird but not more self aware to notice it’s been weird the whole time💀
I adore how the only one who has the carnival music in their song, is Jane Doe, because we (and Karnak) don't know anything about her, so Karnak fills it in with the only music he knows - carnival music. That, and the sound of haunting sad version of a place usually full of joy and happiness add an extra layer of melancholy and yearning to it
That's such an interesting thought. Love it!
Plot explanation:
All the kids died on the Cyclone around the age of 17 so Karnak brings them all to this afterlife place I think (I don’t really know it’s never explained, but it looks kind of like a carnival stage with curtains and stuff) and he lets them express their biggest wishes in life and just the things they could never say in life. He says at the end of the night one person will be revived
Ocean:
Her song is trying to prove she deserves to be revived because she’s “better than everyone, statistically speaking” after this song Karnak reveals that one of them will be brought back through a unanimous vote among the entire choir. Ocean tries to take back what she said by saying “that was an example of what you shouldn’t do” and tries to sing a song called “I love you guys” but Noel interrupts her because he’s tired of her sh*t.
Noel:
You basically got it down, Noel was constantly bored in this tiny town, as the only gay man in his highschool he never had any relationships which kind of sucks when you’re the most romantic kid in town. So he basically romanticizes the life of someone who sells their body. Obviously this isn’t a life you’d want but he’s a kid so I think it makes sense?
-Noel’s boyfriend- Mischa:
In Mischa’s introduction he says “Ukrainian men only have two feelings, rage and passion” so his first song is meaningless rage, while his second song is passion. Also the choreography for Talia is amazing. I honestly think it’s so sad that Mischa died before ever getting to see Talia (Talia is his fiancé from Ukraine, they met online and Mischa was planning to move back to Ukraine to finally marry her) Karnak does hint that Mischa and Talia wouldn’t end well though, he says “would it help if I told you what would have happened if you had met her”
Ricky:
So, Ricky is mute and his legs gave out at age 6 I think, so he lived his whole life with crutches and not being able to talk. Because of this he only ever felt indifferent about everything, he was never able to participate in anything so he never cared about it. Because he wasn’t able to do much of anything he would just create worlds in his head, “the most imaginative boy in town”. Ocean was the one who got him into the choir, Ricky seems kind of salty about that because it led to his death, but he doesn’t even seem super upset that he’s dead, in fact after his song he says he resigns, that he won’t be brought back to life.
Jane Doe/Penny:
Jane was decapitated so she doesn’t remember anything about life, she has her dolls head now and moves like a doll as well. She’s pretty much emotionless until her song. Her parents never came when she died so they were never able to identify who she was, in fact, no one in the choir knew who she was. I think her song basically sums up her entire character and her emotions, and I’m not even going to try and explain them because I can’t really find words for it at the moment.
Constance:
Constance had gotten the award “kindest girl” 4 years in a row in homeroom. She was really upset about it, all anyone knew about her was that she was nice. She would throw the award in the dump. In her year book all that was written were things like “I never knew you, you seemed kind” she tore those pages out and threw those away too. Her family ran a store in Uranium and were “the only family in all of Uranium who thought it was ok to do your living, working, and dying there” and over time she found herself getting really angry at everything. She thought her family were all losers, and she has a lot of guilt over thinking that.
After everyone sings the songs Karnak says that Ocean will be the only one voting for who gets brought back. Ocean thinks really hard about it and decides she can’t vote for herself, “if I vote for myself the moral is humans suck”, so instead she votes for Jane Doe, “we all lived lives, she didn’t” and so they revive Jane, her name in real life was Penny. They watch Penny live out her entire life and after, they relive the roller coaster incident over and over, they go through it twice in “it’s not a game/it’s just a ride”.
I should also mention; at the beginning of the show Karnak explains that there’s a rat chewing on the wire that powers him, and by the time the show ends, they’ll both die. He dies after his final sight during “it’s not a game/it’s just a ride” he dies.
Edit: someone mentioned that I had not addressed Virgil by name and simply called him “a rat”. I understand that this is extremely disrespectful as Virgil is so much more than a rat and means so much to so many people. I know that this was an unforgettable mistake and it will never happen again. I apologize to anyone I offended and most of all Virgil himself. I sincerely apologize again.
Wow thank you so much for this!
now why did u cross out “noel’s boyfriend”? u were right the first time 🙄
NOEL’S BOYFRIEND SISKANAUAOMAJSUS
Not to nitpick but we don’t actually know how it would have ended with talia
@@axsolotle3784
Yeah that’s why I said he just hints at it, I should’ve made that more clear though sorry
Fun Fact: Jane's high notes are meant to represent her screams when she rode the Cyclone
People keep saying this but what’s the source?
@@DeathnoteBB i believe its a highly believed fan theory, but it does make a lot of sense
I’m pretty sure that all the others high notes were also there screams when they rode the cyclone, (Constance not singing high notes as she explained that she did not scream ^^)
It's said by the cast
"The new birthday song" is something the choir makes up because the traditional birthday song leads to an awkward moment - you know, "Happy birthday, dear... [pause]".
And if you're impressed by the vocals in the Ballad of Jane Doe, wait until you see what she does while singing it!
NAH FR JANE BE SINGING IN MID AIR AND *UPSIDE DOWN*
Karnak's last message is also incredibly ominous if you think about it.
Your lucky number is seven: The six members of the choir were the ones who died, a seventh person would have just barely avoided death.
You will soar to great heights: Those who ride the cyclone were flying high above the rest of the carnival due to the cyclone ride breaking
Be sure to ride the cyclone: He TOLD the children to ride the cyclone, which did (in a way) lead to their deaths. And can also be a bit of a message to them (and us) to enjoy our lives while they last.
Also with the 7 bit, Jane Doe's birthday is April 7th! That combined with being the "Lucky Nature", she the lucky member to get a second chance.
I don’t think a 7th rider would have “avoided death”, but aside from that, I got roughly the same interpretation.
I like to think that Father Markus is the 7th person even though he didn’t board the ride
@@cjsidk719 i like to think it was Ezra
Who?
13:18 ive heard a lot of theories that not only is he talking about wanting to live as a 'f*cked up girl', but hes also saying he would rather live that horrible lifestyle than be dead.
I’ve been eating, sleeping, and breathing this musical for like 3 or 4 months now. Welcome to the cult😭
Happy to be here tbh
SAAAAAAME
I’m on my fifth month now
I'm almost on the end of my first month
I've been in the fandom since October!
Yes! In the musical Jane Doe actually has the head of the doll she carries, when they revive her she has long ginger hair
Oh my God, out of all the creepy things I was imagining, that was definitely not one of them hahaha Amazing!
Noel is a poet and he died before any thing tragical poetic could happen to him. He hates that he died before he could write or live a life of fantastical tragedy. He grew up watching black and white films from France. After his dad left, it barely effected him and he hated that causing him to fantasize about a life he will never live in his small town. There are a bunch of TikTok’s that explain it better then I could here
“probably your organs?” BAHAHAHAA I CANT STOP LAUGHING
Also, surprised no one mentioned this yet: Of all the cast members on this recording, Noel's had actually been with the production since its first workshops in 2008! He essentially played the same character for a span of about 10 years by the time this recording was made. In addition, three of the cast members had been in multiple productions of the show since the 2015 U.S. Premiere (Jane Doe, Constance, and Ocean). Taylor Louderman, who played Regina in Mean Girls, was actually cast as Ocean for the 2016 Off-Broadway production, but stepped down before opening and was replaced by Tiffany Tatreau for the rest of the run.
My favorite theory is that Jane doe WAS in the choir but didn't get on the cyclone, rather she gets hit by it when it derails. "From the ground beneath my feet i hear the anguish of the street" she's down on the ground and witnesses everyone being scared about the derailing. And " a choir never complete" could be 1, they don't know her name which si the obvious one and 2 that the kids didn't die together, she died separately. I think it's super neat
that makes a lot of sense, especially with the theory that she died last on the rollercoaster because her notes in all the group numbers lasted longer, meaning her screams probably lasted longer
In the musical Jane Doe has a headless doll. The idea being she took the doll's head for her own. Hence the blond curls and black glass eyes.
Most of the kids' backstories are presented in flashback by Karnak before their songs.
Also there is a whole other play about Jane (sort of), its called Legoland.
Do you know where to find Legoland, I couldn't find it anywhere. 🥲
@@dangtuandung2423 Thank you so much ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
@@dangtuandung2423 Life Saver
to make this musical more creepy, jane’s high notes represent her screaming while being beheaded 😘
also, the lovely emily rohm sings the end half of tbjd while FLYING and being upside down. if that isn’t talent i don’t know what is
Ok, the more I learn about this show, the creepier it gets and the more I love it
Funny you mention Space Age Bachelor Man reminds you of Davie Bowie because the performance was actually inspired by him! Ricky even changes during the song into an outfit that’s very reminiscent of Bowie’s iconic outfits
You HAVE to find the bootleg. Watching it fully has everything making more sense and it’s stunning.
I have found it and there may be a new video coming... hehehe
“Talia” is based off Ukrainian folk music! Also people say that the beginning of “Talia” when he was speaking were his wedding vows but im not sure :)
I really enjoyed the folk music tbh. Nice discovery :)
They're not. he's just saying I love you
@@fashionablechangeling1988 the song is "i love you" , they mean the start of the song
@@fashionablechangeling1988 ok thanks!
I’ve heard that in ride the cyclone the characters represent the 5 stages of grief
Bargaining: Ocean trying to convince everyone that she should be the one to be revived.
Depression: Noel’s ideal life being what you would think as depressing.
Anger: Mischa having anger issues and the stereotype of angry Ukrainian men.
Acceptance: Ricky accepting and embracing his disability.
Denial: Constance’s denial of her life(?). (Idk this one well)
And Jane Doe has been said to represent death and dying in some cases.
Tbh I think constance and noel should be switched
this is one of those shows where the cast album doesn’t fully explain the plot. the biggest thing that the album doesn’t include is the fact that karnak is going to bring back one teen, but the choir has to vote unanimously on who gets to love again. so each song is basically the teens saying why they should live again. we (and the teens) only learn that they have to vote together on who wins after ocean sings her song, which is why she puts everyone else down in her song.
each teen also has an introduction before their song, that gives a back story about who they are, their birthday/ zodiac (‘leo, sign of aggression’ for example), and a superlative for each teen (the most imaginative, the nicest, etc)
in mischa’s introduction, he explains that he has an online girlfriend/fiancée back in ukraine who he never got to meet in person, hence his song ‘talia’
ricky’s introduction explains that he was born with a are degenerative disease and lost the ability to talk, and as a result of being ignored by everyone around him, he started using his imaginary world he created to cope
at the end of the show SPOILERS karnak reveals that ocean alone will choose gets to come back, and she chooses jane doe, since the rest of them at least have their memories to remember. karnak also reveals jane’s identity, penny lamb (aries, the lucky nature). penny is the character in another musical, legoland.
the bootleg of the show also has a few changes to the musical, mainly the change from the uranium suite on the album to the fall faire suite in the show.
im sorry, this is super pedantic but legoland is actually a play and although there is a penny lamb in it, she is not the same as penny lamb who died in the cyclone incident
@@spacesugar no worries! thanks for the clarification, i’ll admit that i never read up on legoland, i’m just repeating what i’ve seen others say, but i guess that’s on me for just parroting what others have said instead of looking up things on my own haha
Small correction: Fall Fair Suite was technically in RtC before The Uranium Suite. Uranium was the original opening, then was replaced with Fall Fair, then Uranium was updated and brought back for the 2019 Atlanta production, cast album, and onwards.
@@spacesugar Except she is the same. Written by the same people and using the same name, goes to the same school, etc. She is 100% the same character. The reason her parents don't show up to identify her is because they're in jail for drugs. Legoland takes place a year before the Cyclone incident. The only thing we don't know for sure is if she was sent back to her old life before dying and allowed to live or if she's reincarnated as a new person, but she was absolutely Penny before dying. Please research things before stating incorrect information.
@@sentimentalworm This person is actually wrong. Penny and Jane are the same.
btw, there is a slime tutorial of this show that was re-uploaded recently. i know bootleg recordings are controversial, but ones of this show in particular have been given the seal of approval by the majority of the cast because they spread the word about it and they acknowledge that a LOT of its popularity came from them. i seriously recommend watching it because both the acting, and the choreography is INSANE
In the less patronizing way I can word this…. Your reactions and genuine interest to learn more about musicals (I mean, you did listen to this one before watching it!) are really endearing, heartwarming, really, I don’t know, it’s nice to see someone appreciating something you love so earnestly ^^ great vid
That's too kind, thank you!!
25:00 This is literally true. The song didn't originally have that extra higher bit that you just heard there but Emily Rohm went up there anyway and the creators liked it so much that they kept it in. She also did a few extra things as well but I can't remember what they were
i heard that was originally the pianists part but she sang it and they added it
I honestly hate that note. It's super grating on the ears.
As the leader of the Ocean O'Connell Rosenberg Redemption Club, her song is not who she is, as we learn from watching the whole show, the end of the show reveals that Karnak knew her better than what the show displays her to be😭
Oh, and Also Kholby (Noel) has been with the show from the start, and has even helped with writing changes and such. He's confirmed to us that Legoland isn't necessarily a Sequel or Prequel. He's answered a lot of your questions on his tiktok account (Also heyyy Kholby! If you see this)
Can I join this club?
i think her song was a desperate attempt for kanak to choose her because she’s spent her entire life to reach a goal she will have never achieve if she doesn’t come back
but as the show moves she realizes how wrong she was
When you said that Mischa was weird, and that you wanted to know what was going on in his head.
I just... Started cackling, because you had yet to hear Space Age Bachelor Man.
And ooohhhhh boy.
RTC is the perfect example of a show that should never go to Broadway. It thrives on its intimacy. Putting it in a large house and trying to make it “mainstream” would kill its quirky appeal. I would love to see it tour more or have an Off-Broadway run though.
I find it hilarious how you went “this boys mind is one of a kind” right before you got to Ricky Potts
Tell me about it! Hahahaha I was not ready
Jane doe’s real name is Penny lamb!!! They all vote to bring her back to life at the end. At the start, ocean think that she deserves to be brought back to life but at the end she realizes that her and all her friends have amazing memories of their life while Jane doesn’t remember any of it, so she decides to vote for her instead of herself. Just to give u some closure haha
This video is partially subtitled so if it's hard to hear what I'm saying sometimes, just turn subtitles on. I had to use an old mic and we don't get along super well hahaha xx
Hey! Amazing video! Just wanted to explain the plot point the soundtrack misses. Essentially, after Karnak brings them back, he tells them that whoever is deemed the most worthy to be brought back to life will be, but only one person. Ocean (the girl who sings What The World Needs) misunderstands who the judge is and sings about how amazing she is and how terrible her competition is, and only after she finishes does Karnak inform her that he is not the judge in this contest, the people she just insulted are. Also, all the characters are 16-18, and right before every song Karnak shows us their entire backstory. Hope that helps!
Definitely helps! I knew I was missing something big. Thank you!
i recommend also checking out the slime tutorial, there's SO MUCH MORE about the choir, and sadly there's no current live perfomance
So they do have a musical on Jane doe’s character. It’s a separate musical about her actual person… like her with her memories and alive and she has a brother! This makes this so much sadder because it means his brother never found out what happened to his sister.
@@r00mmate47 could you... say what it's called?
Your reaction to Emily Rohm's voice in Karnak's Dream of Life is pretty much exactly the same reaction I had when I first heard her singing The Ballad of Jane Doe XD I came to know this musical from a cover of Jane's song done by Annapantsu (which is beautiful by the way) and I'm now obsessed. Emily Rohm is so damn talented! Such a beautiful and supported voice, _mm_ 👌
There are a couple of roller coaster safety slime tutorials floating around on TH-cam and many a compilation, so I encourage you to check those out too to see more of the show ^-^
Edit: I love your analysis of this show through its cast album alone and how you've interpreted not just the lyrics of the songs but the feelings and the music too. This is what I love about 'reactionists' - when they connect with the material and go off down a rabbit hole deep dive of "wait, it could mean this or this, or this one! I like this one!" Amazing, I absolutely need to go back and look at some more of your reactions to musicals you know nothing about - I might find something new to obsess over XD Love the theories, I approve!
And yes, Noel's Lament chorus is very appealing to listen too, very smooth and sonically aesthetic imo. All the songs are great though, but I have my favourite moments.
Edit 2: Oh, by the way, the slime tutorials are the Off-Broadway (2016) versions of slime making and the cast album is, I believe, the 2019 cast from the Atlanta shows. Just in case anyone wants to make the slime and gets confused by the differing instructions ^-^
*VERY MINIMAL SPOILERS AHEAD BUT STILL SPOILERS*
Edit 3: Ok, well, you asked and so shall receive (in the least spoiler-y way possible): Ride the Cyclone is about a group of six kids who all went on a rollercoaster ride and died because it was faulty. Five of them had their fortunes read by Karnak, so he knows about their lives, but the one who didn't ended up getting decapitated and so nobody remembers her. Karnak tells them he can bring one back to life, but they have to vote for who it is - essentially it's a competition; a game. That's the reasoning behind the songs iirc; they're all talking about their hopes, dreams and fantasies (hence 'Noel's Lament' and Ricky's song 'Space Age Bachelor Man'). Watching the full slime tutorials will make more sense tbh, I don't want to get called out for laying out all the instructions without the visuals to go with. Oh, and Karnak also dies at the end of the show before he can really give anyone a solid answer, so this show is very much about personal interpretation imo. That's why he says "Your lucky number is 7, you will soar to great heights. Be sure to ride the Cyclone." - lucky numbers are a very common 'fortune telling machine' thing, and telling everyone to 'ride the Cyclone' was the fairground's advertising that he was programmed to say.
Thank you for your kind words and all that amazing info!!
OMG SAME! I found out about this musical through Annapantsu.
AAAA I’M SO EXCITED FOR YOUR REACTION
After watching to the end, I can say: RTC is a bit like Six or Cats in that it’s a contest. In this case they are all trying to make a case for why they should be the one brought back to life! Karnak doesn’t decide however… the winning person needs an unanimous vote from the choir. (This is revealed right after Ocean’s song)
The fact that your hair is just like Talias hair
The kids are all 17, and the whole musical is a game where the winning prize is to be brought back to life, and the winner has to be voted unanimously by the rest of the contenders. Before It's Not A Game/It's Just A Ride, Jane Doe is chosen and her name is revealed to be Penny Lamb, and at the end of the song, the rest of the kids go to heaven.
YESSSS IVE BEEN WAITING
After the video: Okay let me help explain. Basically as Karnak had said the children died on the roller coaster aka the Cyclone. On stage when they die they're in this sort of abandoned space and Karnak tells the kids that they're dead and only one may live, put to a vote. After Oceans song Karnak reveals that the voting is done by the group of kids not himself. The kids go one by one singing their songs. After Constances song Sugar Cloud it's decided by Ocean that they all vote for Jane Doe to be revived. There's also a special Cyclone Slime Tutorial on TH-cam to explain this all as well. Anyways I really love your videos and hope this helps 💗 much love ^-^
Definitely helped, thank you so much! And really appreciate your kind words
@@Barbara2.0 no prob bob!
9:06 it's even meaner at the fact that Ocean(the girl singing) was talking about her best friend
the reason that there’s so little backstory in the songs is because there is a spoken portion before each song that’s not on the soundtrack that gives their entire story
"It has a very... solid personality so far!"
HA that won't last long! (altough it all comes together really really well, but it is amazingly all over the place)
And that's the beauty of it!
This is my favorite musical. So much so that I dragged my family too see it live with me about 2 weeks ago. Ride the cyclone is love. Ride the cyclone is life.
Every RTC video I watch٫ you are here Percy_Potter.... You're everywhere!
i don't think i totally realized how little information is in the cast recording until i watched this video! i can try to explain.
so they're all 17, in the choir together (whether jane doe is in the choir too is unclear, and subject to debate), and they compete in a singing competition (which i think is part of the fall fair?), which is what the first part of the uranium suite is. then they all ride the cyclone, and die. karnak is one of those fortune telling machines, and he can predict people's deaths, but can't ever tell them. he brings all six of them somewhere, and reveals that he can bring one of them back to life, but only one, so they're going to have to compete for it. he also reveals that his power cord is being chewed on by a rat, which he has named virgil, and that virgil will chew through the cord in the amount of time it takes the show to finish (i don't remember exactly how long), to give them a time limit.
jane doe does, in fact, look creepy. they did the actress's makeup to look like a china doll and gave her contacts that make her whole eye black, and she carries around the headless doll she got the head from.
ocean goes first, and karnak does actually say stuff about her, it just didn't end up in the cast recording, idk why. she starts making a whole speech about how unethical the whole situation is, and accidentally concedes, though as soon as karnak tells her that, she takes it back and starts singing. she sings what the world needs to try to convince him that she's the best choice to bring back, because she thinks that she will make an impact on the world and the others won't. i have a lot of thoughts about ocean, and this song, but i won't go into them here because that would take to long. but she is actually a really complex character, and it's important to note that unlike the other songs, this one isn't really about her, or what she wants, its about what she thinks karnak will be impressed by.
as soon as she's finished the song, karnak says that the person who will come back to life will be determined by the unanimous vote of the whole choir. he only reveals this after she spends a whole song insulting all of them. she realizes that she just screwed herself over, and tries to sing another song, but noel interrupts her, and then it's his turn.
you got noel mostly right, only gay kid in a small rural catholic high school, works at taco bell, from his monologue before his song, it's pretty clear that he's been somewhat treated as an outcast, and doesn't really have any friends, or much of a life. he romanticizes like old tragic movies? the specific one he mentions is the blue angel, with marlene dietrich. im not sure it's so much accepting a bad life instead of a good life since at least it's better than no life as it is not really being aware a good life is an option available to him? this is another situation where im not going to say all the thoughts i have about him, as there really is too much.
ocean gets upset because she thinks that noel's song didn't really say anything, or have a moral of any kind, and then they have a whole thing about whether or not you can have stories that don't have morals, and it's very funny.
mischa is up next and hoo boy! we actually do have a lot of backstory for him, it's just not in either of his songs. so he's from ukraine, his mother was involved in cleaning up chernobyl, but was dying from the radiation. becasue she was dying, she forged his birth certificate to make it seem like he was a toddler, and sent him to america to get adopted by someone else. his adoptive family doesn't really like him (to be fair they were expecting a toddler) and he also seems to be treated as an outcast. he has a youtube channel, which he uploads his songs on. he met talia, his fiancee, through his youtube channel, and she may or may not be a real person, and may or may not be catfishing him, it's deliberately left ambiguous. his first song is kind of i guess a representation of who he wishes he was? cool, with a lot of money, and a lot of friends, and able to go back home. his second song, talia, is about talia, and his feelings for her.
karnak asks mischa if he wants to know what would have happened if he and talia ever met, and he says yes, but noel stops him before he can actually find out, because it's better to leave the hope, the ideal, as an unknown. mischa doesn't quite understand, but ocean says that noel means 'love conquers all' and that, for whatever reason, gets through to him.
ricky potts. where do i even begin with him. ok so. he has a degenerative disease that caused him to not be able to talk, and so people just kind of started ignoring him. he coped with this by imaging stories and made up worlds. space age bachelor man has two different ways its presented. the more recent one is as a weird dream from food poisoning, but the earlier version, and in my opinion the better one, is that he's presenting it as a thing that actually happened, and that he's really the prophet to the zolarians (the cat people aliens). i think that version ends up being a lot more meaningful, though that's just my interpretation.
when it's jane doe's turn, karnak doesn't know anything about her, because he never read her fortune, and she doesn't know anything about herself. if you ever find a video recording of the ballad of jane doe, watch it. it's so cool. the do so much stuff with her flying, and with the lighting, it's just really good.
the new birthday song comes right after this one, because they all try to throw her a birthday party to make her feel better, but then realize that the happy birthday song requires a name, which she does not have, and so ocean makes up a new song on the spot.
there's several conversations between the characters after that. noel and mischa talk, mostly about their lives. ricky and jane doe talk for a bit, and he ends up offering her the name savannah, which he was saving up, but doesn't need anymore on account of being dead. ocean and constance talk, and they have a fight. about who to vote for, about ocean blaming constance for things, about the whole nature of their friendship.
and so it's constance's turn. her monologue before sugar cloud is longer than it is in jawbreaker. there's... a lot. she had a lot of resentment for everyone for only seeing her as 'nice' and never more than that. she used to like her town when she was younger, but she started hating it once it became clear that loving it wasn't cool to other kids. there's a lot more, but that's the gist of it. sugar cloud is the least choreographed, and the most genuine of all the songs, and i love it for that. she plays a solo on a recorder in the middle of it. it's really just about being true to yourself, and not caring about what other people think, and enjoying life.
at the end, karnak decides that the final vote will actually be ocean's decision rather than unanimous, because she has the highest grade point average. she actually gets really upset about that, and tries to make it a vote instead, but their running out of time. she picks jane doe. her reasoning is that they all had lives, and she didn't. "i would gladly take my 17 years over nothing." it's a really good speech, and she has a lot of character development over the course of the show, so it makes sense. jane doe gets sent back, and the find out who she is, and see a montage of her whole life, from what's already happened, to what will happen. from birth, to death at a very old age. her name is penny lamb. and there is in fact another play about her. i personally haven't watched or read it, so i don't know what happens.
they sing the first part of it's not a game/it's just a ride, and then as soon as karnak offers them his final insight, he dies. in the show the 'your luck number is seven, you will soar to great heights, be sure to ride the cyclone" is said like he's malfunctioning. there's lights and electrical noises and stuff. and then the other five members of the choir are left alone, and the sing the last part of the song. they reform the roller coaster shape the had during the uranium suite, and go into the swirling light behind the curtain.
And that's it! that's the show!
btw, they put the trunk songs in the cast recording and they are also very good, and you should listen to them
Yeah I really need to watch this show somehow. I felt like Noel's song was a reference to movies but didn't know it was a specific one, that's cool. And the birthday thing is so sweet. Thanks for this! And yes I'm aware of the trunk songs, might react to them for Patreon
@@Barbara2.0it’s on TH-cam!
I always love finding Canadian musicals but this one was something special. It's a common hypothetical in theater schools to ask "if you could choose any voice to have, who's would you choose?" I never knew how to answer before this musical. I heard The Ballad Of Jane Doe and fell in love lol
Edit: I almost forgot! We do learn Jane Doe's name and she's actually the main character in the prequel play to this show, entitled "Legoland." It's a whole different ride
I have my own head cannon for the story of the show. I believe that Karnak has brought these kids to this point so many times, but it wasn't until this time that Ocean could understand that it had to be Jane that was chosen. Like, if Karnak had the ability to control the kids and bring them into the "purgatory" they all share, why couldn't he do it again and again and again, each time the kids subconsciously bringing with them the lessons they learned last time. Ultimately, this is Ocean learning a lesson and understanding that her life wasn't more important than anyone else. I feel like that's why Karnak fucks with Ocean the most, he's been through this over and over again and it's only this time, when he’s about to die, that she gets it right and Jane Doe gets reborn as Penny Lamb and the rest of the kids can finally go to their after lives in peace.
If you can, you should listen to the song "Fall Fair Suite" too! It's not on the official album but an alternative opening song instead of The Uranium Suite and it's even better in my opinion
I listened to this musical’s album not knowing anything about it and I was hooked. Glad you enjoyed it! If you want another musical where the narrator introduces each character before their number (in a more meta sense) I’d recommend The Drowsy Chaperone.
Fun fact! When you asked if Jane looks creepy, she does in fact look very creepy!! Since she’s headless, she wears her doll’s head. She’s written to move like a broken marionette doll/puppet and it’s CHILLING. 😅
As a person who saw the play live many times and experienced its progression from an incredible local phenomena (Victoria BC Canada) to a phenomenal off-Broadway hit, with productions across North America, I can say that for all the joy you can experience listening to these songs, you cannot get the full benefit until you watch it. The music is matched with incredible choreography. The fact that multiple casts have made this a treat for attendees in a variety of venues is a tribute to the talent that has been gathered for each iteration, but also to the overall creation itself. Kudos to Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell for giving us tis masterpiece! Special mention to Kholby Wardell who appeared in all the early versions of the play, bringing the character of Noel Gruber to life.
The actor who plays Mischa in this recording went to my university on the same double major track I’m on and they just announced that we’re doing it next year as our spring musical! The school may shut it down, but I’m crossing my fingers it doesn’t.
man I love this musical! it's so funny and such a cool plot, the ending makes me cry every time!
Ngl I was at the edge of tears during Jawbreaker
@@Barbara2.0 me too! That monologue gets me in ways that I didn't know we're possible!
I’d love to see you react to some of the stage performances for these songs especially Fall Fair Suite, What the world needs, Talia, and The Ballad Of Jane Doe (especially Talia as it’s my favourite visually). The imagery and dancing along with the projector used to show certain images really add to the performances :D
Bro the song Talia made me almost cry
Jane has a headless doll and it's heavily implied she's using its head as her own.
That's the creepiest thing but also absolutely amazing
This show has been on my radar since an episode of Drawfee but it has seriously had a resurfacing in the past year!
I definitely put this musical into the same category as Cats or six. Not much of a plot but a bunch of people singing songs about themselves and their motivations. Its also the opposite of cats in that in Cyclone all the characters are dead vying for a chance to be revived where in Cats every cat is alive and trying to get killed. Also, they do learn who Jane Doe actually is right before her resurrection. All the characters agreed that she deserved it because she had nothing to take with her to the afterlife while everyone else took their 17 years of memories with them.
i just realized this but talia is described as having the same hairstyle as you and i have NO idea whether or not this was intentional or not but its incredibly cool
It was not intentional but I LOVE THAT
22:48
Oddly enough there is apparently prequel to this called Legoland. That follows 'Jan Doe' (real name: Penny Lamb) in an adventure prior to the cyclone incident. It's not a musical but it dose have one song and I'm unfortunately unable to find anything about it on TH-cam except for that one song as of now.
You should also watch the recording of jane doe's song bc she's flying around and spinning while singing perfectly its awsome!
I just spent 3 weeks playing keys for rehearsals for the Kansas City premiere of RtC - I didn't know anything about it, but I fell deeply in love with this show
The “Now?!” Is so genuine- also my reaction every time 😂
If you're looking for stories set in a carnival, Tuck Everlasting has a good chunk set there (in addition to being so beautiful)!
19:31 when you said, "I am ready!!!" I said back "no you are not!!!"😭
The world cast recording does this musical so dirty, it’s a lot better in bootlegs
I’ve heard the basic plot of this from my sister but I’m glad I’m finally gonna listen to it
The best thing i learnt about this musical is that noels lament is actually a ballad and that the ballad of jane doe is actually a lament it really blew my mind
I HIGHLY suggest watching performances of these songs. They're so good (and Space Age Bachelor Man is a damn treat)
It occurs to me, if the lucky number is 7... counting the choir director, that's 7 people dead, with 6 of them being truly doomed (presumably with the crash still happening, the choir director was always going to have that heart attack in the hours after the crash), and the one other, the 7th, being able to live...
Not sure it was intentional symbolism (especially since Karnak explicitly says that he *never read* Jane Doe's fortune), but I think it's interesting
quick explanation:
6 teens die and are greeted by karnak, they are told one of them will come back to life by a unanimous vote.
in the end, karnak changes his mind, saying that ocean (the narcissistic girl from one of the earlier songs) will get to decide who comes back to life, she chooses jane doe, revealed to actually be called penny lamb, because she was the only one who didn't get to have a life.
each song is about each teenager telling the others why they should come back to life
the 6 teens are:
ocean : the narcissistic girl who sings "what the world needs"
Ricky: the formerly disabled imaginative guy in "space age bachelor man"
jane doe: the anonymous beheaded girl in "the ballad of jane doe"
misha: the ukranian guy who sings "this song is awesome" and "talia"
noel: a gay guy who sings "noel's lament"
constance: oceans best friend, who sings "sugar cloud" and "jawbreaker"
watching you go through the five stages of grief listening to the weirdest, but surprisingly most profound musical i've seen was hilarious!! i can't wait for your reaction to the recording, and knowing you liked jane doe so much, her song's choreography (it's absolutely incredible). actually, everything about the recording is perfect so...
and i have to say, i'm incredibly jealous of how you got the meaning of so many of the songs 1)the first time listening to them, and 2)missing half the context and story, when it took me days of hearing them to truly understand them.
Love this show 😍 „and i‘m asking why lord“ is just magnificent
Noel’s Lament is about a gay man who never got to really explore his queerness due to being in a small town. The song is a longing to be able to express himself
Mischas songs make a lot more lesson in context with his little monologue of ‘Ukrainian men have two emotion RAGE…and passion’ and he expresses his rage through auto tune
That... was... DOPE!
Love this musical, so glad you finally got to listen to it!
25:55 i have this theory maybe constance is the one who sounds the most like her age because she was indeed the nicest girl in town, the one who actually enjoyed living in their small town, and their songs represent their ambitions kinda, while everyone else wanted to grow up quickly so they could leave town, ocean wanted to leave town so she could become a politician of some sorts and escape her parent's lifestyle, noel wanted to leave bc he wanted a tragic love and he was the only gay kid in town, Misha wanted to go grow up so he could go back to Ukraine to marry Talia, Jane well she has no identity so no matter what age she sounded it still wasn't her, and Ricky lived most of his life imagining he was far away (yeah space may be a bit too far away tho but 🤷🏽♀️)
Im so mad actually I wish my analysis could be this on point with literally 0 plot context
Hehehe thank you!
Aaaah RtC content! It's been in my head now for a couple of months. I do recommend seeing it live or finding a "slime tutorial" of it. "It's not a game/It's just a ride" makes me bawl my eyes out every time i hear it
That song :,)
My daughters just introduced me to this. At the moment the musical that's shocking me is spongebob the musical. When I heard my daughters age range 12 to 17 where doing this I thought too young. I was wrong. The songs are amazing. My daughter got the part of plankton, his rap is either the same speed or quicker then Hamiltons guns and ships.
And I'd be remiss if I didn't let you know that the common "Slime Tutorial" is from the Alliance Theater, and they've commented that they don't really care that people watch and share it. ⭐
Do you have it?
the ballad of Jane Doe is such amazing song including the fact on stage she is spinning upside down while hitting those notes
OMG I literally just listened to RTC for the first time two days ago. At first I only did it because my friends couldn't stop talking about it but I found myself falling in love with it!
Just starting this and realizing that if she's just lostening to the album, she doesnt get to see the Talia performance. Its speculated that rap/autotune symbolizes his rage, and so his wail is followed by his anger that he can never be with this girl because of his death. It's heartbreaking, and for me was the turning point of a wacky comedy to a beautiful, if silly, drama.
You are so good at picking up the themes of every show you listen to.
...bro i think this is the most i've been so interested in a video ??? like i was on the edge of this video, probably because i really love the ride of cyclone LOL and was so happy you reacted to it but honestly it kinda felt like i was watching it for the first time again so thank you for that !! highly recommend a slime tutorial!! i might actually watch one again cause the first time i watched it it was really impulsive tbh and i was also sick and delirious so.. but yea it's a lovely show and i'm glad you enjoyed the recording despite the 0 closure in the album rip !!
Its so cool seeing this! I have a fact that Jane Does high notes are her screams as she plummets to her death, its also cool how she uses a dolls head for a replacement.
I BEG of you to do a seperate reaction for even just Jane Doe’s stage performance. It’s on TH-cam and I love it.
I love Noel’s lament because it is about how he longed for tragedy and drama when he had to pretend to be apathetic to blend in. It is also inspired by the fact that earlier it says he liked French cinema
I've been obsessed with this musical lately, so seeing this video in my feed felt predestined! I just love Ride the Cyclone so much, particularly the characters! Every single one of them inspires such gushy feelings within me, like they're all kids who are ridiculous and bright and don't know who they are, and it's just sgvsgbgfgbffhh. If you loved the cast recording of Jane Doe, then it would be the greatest sorrow if you didn't get to see the recorded performance of it. It's up on YT and it's genuinely one of the most stunning pieces of theater I've ever seen. Your analyses and understanding of the work's themes are mind blowing as always. I gotta know, do you have a background in theater or something, or are you just that clever?
I'm extremely curious about the staging of it now, everyone is saying it's amazing.
And that's very sweet of you to say that. I just read and write a lot tbh. I love reading about fictional writing and am very passionate about the stories I love. But that's it :)
I literally watched the musical a week ago... thanks for contributing to my current hyperfixation
Always a pleasure hahaha ;)
Where can you find the musical at?
@@yttriumm There´s some clips on youtube. I don´t know where to find the full thing tho.
@@moonchildofthestars thanks
This was fun, so thank you! I was lucky enough to see one of the original productions of this, maybe at a Fringe? I can't remember, but I was smitten, and have been a huge fan since. I saw it again a year or so later when it was picked up by the Arts Club Theatre in Vancouver, with slightly more production and some changes to the script, and I loved it still, but missed the pared down intimacy of that first time seeing it when it made me a cheerleader for everyone involved. I am a costumer, and know a lot of theatre people, but knew no one involved in any way with the show, and yet I felt as invested emotionally as if my own kids were in the cast. It was an amazing show live. It holds together and is wonderful.
I think the gist of the show was that they played a "talent show" of sorts so that Karnak brought the winner back? In the end, the choice is one of the girls', and she chooses Jane. Since she really has no past, she gets reborn into a character from another show from the creators I think??
That's such a cool idea, to have the character reborn in another show
there was a song that was meant to be in place of it’s not a game/it’s just a ride called be safe be good (for rachel) the reason it said for rachel is because it’s dedicated to rachel who was the director/choreographer who passed away in 2018, it’s even sadder knowing the song talks about things not going to plan and enjoying your life while you have one since she died of cancer. RIP Rachel Rockwell
You can find a full recording of the performance! You just gotta be quick cause TH-cam takes them down in mere days. Look up "roller coaster safety slime tutorial" if one doesn't pop up check back often cause there's always ppl reuploading them
“i need a whole other show about jane doe” i have some incredible news for you
I would LOVE for you to react to The Hunchback of Notre Dame musical someday! I feel like you would really like the tone of the story. They do a good mix of the Disney movie and the original book. Best of all, Frolo is played by Hades in Hadestown. Can’t get a better villain than that!
It's one of my favourite Disney movies so I'll definitely do a video for it ;)
Karnaks theme is in each and every monolog of each character in a different style of music. I recommend watching the slime tutorial on your own or a live reaction as it'll give more detail.
"Crystal clear-o" :)
Yh, same on the backstory front I feel like this is more of a Cats than a Chorus Line or Spelling Bee where isn’t more about personalities and variety of fantasies that don’t match the lives we have. The competition is to force reflection. Whilst in Chorus line and Spelling bee we focus more on emotions and backstory to highlight the effects of the competition itself and get empathy from the audience.
what the world needs sang by ocean she was never the popular queen bee but she's just a hardworker straightforward straight a student
After i discovered this musical I sent it to my singing coach, now we're studying the ballad of jane doe and im gonna record a video singing it at the end of the year
That's awesome!
Your comment about needing another musical about Jane Doe: her real name is shared with a character from the writer’s other musical, “Legoland”. So it technically exists, but it’s older and generally not as well loved as Cyclone
13:00 that's just perfect actually, I never got it even though Karnak himself says the kids were robbed of individuality after the accident. God I need to power up my brain a bit :'D
Nobody is ever ready for Space Age Bachelor Man
Karnak is a fortune teller machine that legit has powers. However, the carnies that run him found people didn’t like it when they learned the exact time and manner of their deaths; so they made it so Karnak couldn’t tell anyone their fortune, even though he had the knowledge.
So he couldn’t tell the choir not to get on the Cyclone, and was in fact programmed to recommend it to them.
Years after the incident, Karnak is in a warehouse or storage unit and is about to be shut down forever by a rat that’s chewing through his power cable.
So in his last moments of consciousness, he brings back the souls of each child that died on the cyclone and gives them another shot at life.
He says one of them will be brought back, and the songs they sing are their kind of plea to be the one chosen to try again.
Usually by the end of the song, the audience or the character themselves have realized that they shouldn’t be the one picked.
I think you got the theme beautifully