Thank you to everyone who helped us piece together this HUGE history. Illustrations by Cesario Tirado-Ortiz Interview Coordinator Delaney Heil Script Editor Julianna Henderson Featuring Original songs composed by Carolee Beck You can stream the fully mastered title song "Panicked" by Carolee Beck on Spotify: open.spotify.com/track/5VZRMB9o0rRi9mbeFAZwzX?si=1a4612d7b18c4169 Disability dramaturg Sydney Zarlengo You can follow Sydney for all of their fantastic accessibility reviews and deep dives here: www.youtube.com/@disabled.autistic.lesbian/videos Read a newly released blog from Yannick-Robin Mirko (11/24/2024): www.yannickmirko.com/post/ride-the-cyclone-a-final-bow In regards to our language on disability in this film, we consulted with community members and scholars in the disability community and made the decision to use identity first language, both because this is the activist community standard, and because our discussions in this film pertain more to disability as an identity marker. If you enjoyed the film and want to help us keep telling these stories, please join our community on Patreon. We can't make these without you: www.patreon.com/waitinthewings
Many people cannot imagine at all. Both the snarky way of low empathy people unable to imagine anything beyond themselves and aphantasia acknowledgment
please god never let these people find out about Heathers. the movie or the musical. they would probably petition the government to get them both banned.
@@chronicallykat4920 in my experience studying in a college filled with... "artsy" people. When they say "I don't get it" what they really mean is "I don't want to get it". 😂Some people just refuse to understand things when it's making them not look as smart as they think they are.
I’m a Brit and so many of our Comedies surround death. I’ve just finished watching The Cleaner, a comedy series about a crime scene cleaner. Before that I watched Ludwig, a comedy drama about a puzzle maker who falls into solving murders. And that’s just two very recent series’s on the BBC.
Considering how elitist and exclusionary Broadway is, I’m almost glad that it stayed off Broadway. Sometimes shows maintain their quirkiness and uniqueness in small niche spaces.
@@cmaden78 I feel like that one holds it's grandeur with the plot and setting being so well done, same with Great Comet but RTC isn't that kind of show, it would feel wrong if it had that kind of budget Also Great Comet and Hades Town has a large ensemble in it's cast, while RTC has a tiny one in comparison
I have been to this mythical land. I first had to travel across the cornfields of Ohio (escaping the maze of Corn and outrunning Harambe's ghost). Next you go through the ruins of the once great city of Detroit where you see the old factories of the ancient ones. Once you get past the ghosts of unemployed auto workers still seeking jobs from beyond the grave, you must pay a troll the price of a decent meal and answer several riddles and then go over a giant bridge. Then you will enter Canada. From there things only get stranger.
As someone who is from Chicago, Chicago theater goers are VERY analytical. So for me to hear the audience was dead quiet during the show just means they were hyper focused.
Wait how is Six like Cats..? Ones about historical royal women and one is about cats ascending to cat heaven or something 😭 Sorry if I’m missing something here and sound dumb-
Oooh looking forward to this one! TH-cam decided that I needed to watch a slime tutorial about rollercoaster safety a couple of months ago, and for once, it was right. This show is awesome.
Thats exactly how I found it too. Just started autoplaying after a completely different type of video and I'd never heard about it before, but was so quickly pulled in I watched the whole thing and loved it!
I think I saw a proshot (?) and skipped through some of the slower parts. Fell out of love with it when I heard about that one Canadian production who fired the disabled actor for..being disabled? It was so jarring
She did a interview earlier this year exclaiming that before starting drag she was a set designer and costume designer. She helped create the Air Bud costumes and this amazing piece of set work. I believe that someone who she had worked with on ride the cyclone helped her for her worldwide show “Jimbos Drag circus”. The name escapes me though.
It’s heartbreaking and infuriating when we try to share our experiences, only for our characters to be erased or completely rewritten. These characters with disabilities mean something-they reflect real struggles, real triumphs, and real lives. Changing them takes away their purpose, as if their stories don’t matter. And the excuses? “It makes them more relatable,” or “it’s for the audience.” Those just feel like a slap in the face. What they’re really saying is that disability isn’t worth representing, that our voices are too much, or too different, to be seen as valuable. It’s exhausting to fight for authenticity, only to see it stripped away again and again. We’re not asking for much-just to be respected, to have our stories told the way they deserve to be told. But nope for them it's just to hard 😔
Yea in the middle of this video I clicked off and watched the slime tutorial and I'm so glad I did bc I know I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much hearinf about all that :(
@@DottyMcInk damned if they do, damned if they don’t. they had good intentions with casting an actor with a disability at first and that person was a nightmare. missing rehearsals, insisting on rewrites, and hiding in bathrooms to avoid performing? then after being told they weren’t meeting expectations they left the show and dragged the production for being ableist, and lied saying they were fired for being disabled. which from an industry standpoint only adds more stigma towards casting actors with disabilities. so much that they retconned the disability in the show (which was initially a lowbrow physical gag anyway) to avoid offending anyone else but at that point they were already a straw man and too far gone. which, cancelling a tiny off-broadway production is kind of aiming at low hanging fruit but go off, i guess.
My only critique is trying to paint over the ocean line felt like a step in the wrong direction of trying to be to "progressive"? Like kids can be MEAN and ocean died a kid so for her to say such awful things in her song shows how childish she is and even towards the ending of the song you understand "shes being a bad person" and thats why her final act of choosing gives a glimpse to the good ocean could do and its bittersweet Tldr: let bad characters say bad things lol
I think its the "always sunny in Philadelphia" rule of comedy. An actor can say terrible things if bad things happen to them as a result of those things. Its so early in the show that Ocean's song is just hard to watch. Her character is in this uncanny valley of not quite a mean girl so its really jarring for her say those things in the first song
It’s similar to the removing of Regina George in the new mean girls movie saying gay slurs. She was MEAN. It’s called MEAN GIRLS. Let her show how mean she can be. It’s not an endorsement of that behavior but rather to show a really shitty side of someone and possibly lead to growth!
Couldn't agree more. I'm glad the recording of RTC that's going around online these days is the old version of the show, before they made all those changes to Ricky and the script.
I agree. Are we not supposed to have bigoted characters, ever? And it's just a little pearl-clutchy to me to be cool with a musical about teens dying brutally but drawing the line at a character who is painted as being in the wrong being ableist
I feel for mirko and the experience they went through. The lack of accessibility, disrespect, and straight up assault are unacceptable and I hope they're living their best life. But I have really mixed feelings about wanting to write out all of the ableism - remove some of it for sure, but Ocean is supposed to be a bad person and it highlights her hypocrisy. The rest of the cast already call her out for being mean and two-faced, so it feels like they're pretending ableism doesn't exist by just removing the lines (at least to me). Workshopping the narrative with a disabled cowriter (or at least a sensitivity reader), maybe giving Ricky a few lines about how HE feels about his condition, and giving him some times to shine would have been a better move by the creative team. Having a monologue about having mixed feelings about returning to a world that is inaccessible to him or how his feelings about death and his illness are constantly policed by a world unwilling to accommodate him would both humanize his character and allow them to keep the same plot elements. It would also mirror a lot more lived experiences for disabled people, myself included. That's not to say that dying is better than living with a disability, but you can portray the choice as neutral while giving Ricky the agency to think one way or the other.
As a physically disabled person who has a dynamic disability I agree. Leave Ocean to be an ableist, but give Ricky a space to explore his feelings about his disability. It would be really cool to see a character talking about what it's like to be disabled on stage! Give able bodied theater goers something else to think about after the curtain call.
@@HeSheXie this has been the best worded version of the complaint so far. To be fair, this kind of input from a disabled actor was unprecedented and production practically baited the actor into suggesting those changes. Creating scenarios that make actors look like divas to get them blacklisted is so flipping common in the industry, I'm surprises there's not already a term for it.
Situations like this highlight a fine line between whether the material portrays an unlikable character properly and whether the material (whether intentional or not) reflects implicit bias among the creative team. I think there are ways to find that balance that clearly wasn’t found during Mirko’s time in the show. I think there can be a great way for Ricky Potts to explore purgatory and the freedom it gives him without playing into disability erasure (something I had noticed before Mirko’s interview). And to best combat ableism and toxic work environments, there has to be more disability representation. Not just among actors but the creative teams as well.
my biggest flex is that I saw this show for free during its Atlanta run. they were giving away tickets to students. my friends and I had NO idea what we were getting into but we had the time of our lives. we sat in the balcony and were the loudest in the theatre. ecstatic to see it getting all of the love that it deserves!
I actually just wrapped up a production of Cyclone. The script rewrites are more extensive than I think most people realize. There are adjustments to Mischa's dialogue---mainly anything spoken in Ukrainian---that I can't really comment on, but do stand out even in contrast to the 2023 license. He makes a drag race reference in the most recent version of the script, and there's a joke where he unintentionally says he's hard after Noel's Lament. Ricky also doesn't really get any other instruments (minus the accordion); every reference to his disability is replaced with the tambourine bit. Additionally, he does not have a monologue between his bumper and SABM, which makes him the only kid (aside from Jane Doe) who does not get to talk about their own life. And though he doesn't concede, there are no rewrites to his aside with Jane after New Birthday Song, so he still has lines like "It's a fire sale in my brain, and everything must go" which imply he expects not to come back. I don't think you can call the version of Ricky that exists now any more developed than the version from the 2016 production; they just cut one aspect of his character and replaced it with nothing. Honestly, I think the far simpler solution to the somewhat contentious portrayal of his disability is to let him talk about it in the show. The new version even kind of leans in that direction---he tells Ocean off for infantilizing him at one point---but it falls short because there's nothing there. But even with the rewrites, I'd still say it's a favorite show of mine. We had a really great cast, an amazing director, an awesome crew, and only two knee injuries!
@@simin7140 I think it's still Richmond? I'm not entirely sure, but I don't remember seeing any indication to the contrary. Oh and a minor one: there's a small lyric change on Noel's Lament. Instead of "Chinese dive" it now says "slattern dive."
i just saw this version recently (not knowing anything about the show lol) and i didn't realize there were such significant changes from the original, it didn't seem like anything was missing tbh although of course, not being familiar with the show, it's unlikely i would be clued in to all of that. i do wonder if i saw the production that you just wrapped up though because i only saw it last month 👀 probably not but that would be cool
I recently saw a community production (last year I think) where Ricky still had crutches and a degenerative disease. Wonder if they got the original script or did an illegal show 🫢
@@kchrules775 Depends! In ours Ricky still couldn't walk until after the accident; we didn't have to change the script to make that happen, it was just a matter of staging. Which was ultimately kinda helpful for the actor because he injured his knee in tech.
The problem with the whole drama with mirko is that Ride The Cyclone isn’t responsible for the these problems. There are some problematic lines, and there’s no sugarcoating that. But they were meant to be portrayed as part of a character’s misguided views of herself, not an attack on disabled people. And I mean no ill will towards mirko or the people expressing their concerns. They understand that the problem isn’t with the show, but rather with the industry. And the industry, not the show, is where changes need to be made. I am all for supporting the disabled, but removing Ricky’s disability is far from a viable way to go about it.
I don’t know if you saw it, but in the comments Brendon recommends a post on Y-R’s site that addresses some of your points with more information that is not covered in the doc. I also recommend the read!
"I am all for supporting the disabled, but removing Ricky's disability is far from a viable way to go about it." What is that "but" about?At no point in this doc does mirko or any other member of the disabled community say they want Ricky's disability removed. On the contrary, they were arguing with the people who downplayed or removed the character's disability.
As a Saskatchewanian, I'm just glad there's a musical that mentions us that isn't rubbish and picked an *actual* small town in the middle of nowhere (shoutout to U-City) instead of trying to pretend Moose Jaw is that.
just wanted to add two cents as someone whos independently reasearched & archived ~100 rtc productions, there have been productions that had disabled actors playing other roles while still using the version with rickys disability ! (most notably, spinning tree theatre) which has always made me a little bit dissapointed in jacob richmonds claim that the removal of rickys disability was opening more oppurtunities for actors
Unless you literally force them, a lot of theatres just won't hire disabled actors at all, especially if it would make them change part of the production to accommodate them.
i will forever be against changing ocean's line in her number, it feels like an attempt at being "progressive" when really, they're missing the point of her character. ocean is MEANT to have harmful views, and that only accentuates it - she's being ableist, yes, but that's the POINT. it's meant to make us understand that she's not the good person she believes she is. having it changed is counterproductive, imo.
Yeah, and I think it’s pretty easy to understand it’s supposed to be bad and ableist of her to say it - it comes right after the “organ donor” line! It’s not like it was thrown into an otherwise fully morally good song
Her saying stuff about someone's disability fits right on in with the rest of the song. Every person there is completely insulted to the point where they couldn't defend her. "You are a waste of space and an organ donor", "I don't like you and i'm a lil homphobic so screw you", "i think you're a criminal and you’ll end up in jail". Saying "haha you have a poor attention span lol" doesn't really have that punch that "i am going to treat you like a child because i don't see you as a real person due to your disability" has.
I don't think that was the main problem. Obviously I'm not part of the teams that wrote & updated the script, so this is mostly speculation on my part, as well as some opinions from my own experiences and the less inclusive tropes for disabled characters that I'm aware of. It seems like the problem was mainly that there's nothing in the show to refute that ableist and offensive character's dialogue. Ocean says all these terrible things that are incredibly targeted to Ricky's disability, not his character, on top of Ricky "magically losing his disability for the convenience of performing" (being able to talk & literally throwing away the arm crutches), his disability being intentionally vague (because physical disabilities are often represented as a monolith which couldn't be further from the truth, which tends to be a reccuring issue for all underrepresented communities,) and being the only one to concede the chance to come back to life (as euthanizing disabled people becomes more and more available). All together, that paints a picture that this show does not think highly of disabled people. Of course, people who have seen this documentary or have followed the show from the beginning might know why Ricky was written, partially as an omage to a friend of the writer. But most people, especially folks who are going into the show blind, don't have that context and logically don't assume all of that is written with progressive intentions. Coupled with the lack of actually disabled people being cast as Ricky, as well as the bad experience that the one disabled actor in a professional regional production of the show had, it's clear that the structure of Ricky's existence within the story was flawed. In another world, where Ricky was kept mostly nonverbal and expressing himself through the piano until SABM, him being disabled might have come across better because there would have been at least some true representation of its existence within the show. But due to the way his character evolved through producer opinions, we've lost the genuineness of him being disabled as a core part of his character, without it just being used for jokes. I still think it would be best practice for new productions to cast disabled actors for Ricky, and to incorporate any appropriate mobility aids into the blocking and choreography. But I'm also personally relieved that new productions shouldn't feel inclined to keep having able bodied actors using forearm crutches (and then disregarding them) since the script has been updated. Okay that was less my two cents and more my whole dollar on the whole ordeal, but it is a very nuanced topic.
Okay that got long winded and I lost track of the point I was making. Up there I talk about why I think they changed it. But I don't necessarily agree. The writing/representation of Ricky's disability was flawed from the beginning because by the time they started actually developing his character, a lot of the load bearing structural beams of the show were already in place. There was only so much room for them to adjust where he was without up heaving way more of the show than they wanted to rework all at once. There was definitely a lot of potential for Ricky's character, and I would love to see Ricky be actually disabled (including Ocean's ableist comment! I think it does a good job immediately introducing us to her character, and gives a lot of space for growth in her arc throughout the show). But ultimately, the writer/producers seem to have felt it was safer to remove the bad representation altogether and now he's just. Not referred to as disabled. And that's the official libretto being licensed out. Changing the rights to scripts can be a whole ordeal. After 10 years, I wouldn't be surprised if the writer is feeling pretty done with the show, and doesn't want to dedicate the time to rewriting an entire character (again) when he had already struggled with this character throughout the entire process. I can definitely see where he's coming from, but as someone with a dynamic disability, it's definitely a let down. But also, please don't come for any community productions of the show for not including that, because this has now become a licensing issue which means that changing anything would be incredibly difficult. Also sorry for forgetting the writer's name and if I'm wrong about it being 10 years, I am extremely sleep deprived 👍 feel free to ask for clarification if it turns out none of what I said was coherent
While I don't consider myself an expert on the topic of Disability representation in theater, I think a great step forward was the casting of Marissa Bode in the Wicked films, as she is the first wheelchair-using actress to portray Nessa.
That does make me curious about how they're gonna handle the plot point in the second act where the silver shoes get enchanted to allow her to walk. Surely they could fake it with cgi and movie magic, but I'm unsure if that's the right to do.
It’s amazing how RTC manages to hurt so deeply in your soul in such a beautiful way. I disagree that it “finally found its people” in Gen Z. It finally found its people because of TikTok, age and generation have nothing to do with it. Theater in the real world is so inaccessible for so many reasons, so lots of people don’t get to learn about a lot of stuff until it goes viral online. I’m sure I’ll never get the chance to see this in real life, so I’m thrilled that the video was leaked and we can all experience it. It would be nice if they could officially release it and the cast/crew could get paid for it.
I think it just especially resonates with gen z because of the reasons stated in the video. We came of age in a fucked up world and more readily accept fucked up stories that make light of things like death while still having hope and heart and not denying the gravity of the situation. We’re a generation that craves catharsis in our media.
THIS! First of all Americans don’t like dark comedy and second, most people who can afford to pay a broadway show and have the time to attend are rich old people or just rich white people who wouldn’t resonate with the plot of an edgy dark comedy full of archetypes they can’t understand or relate to. The real audience of this show were the weird theater kids that couldn’t even imagine stepping into broadway and got a slice of heaven finding this on the internet. I would kill to see this show live ❤
@43:19 I KNEW IT! Ever since I heard Ballad with the the staging with the umbrellas, I was certain it was pulling inspiration from New Orleans funerals.
im so grateful for the coverage on not only a show i do love, but the reality of being disabled and loving theatre, I lost my ability to stand for long periods of time or walk unassisted for long periods of time a few years ago, and its so true, every production you go to, even amerture, they actively don't make space for you. I'm one of the 'lucky' people whos symptoms aren't horrible, who can dance without a stick sometimes, but just me needing my walker to get home after an audition was enough for anyone who saw me audition's face to drop and for me to get an instant rejection because they didn't think i could 'handle' it despite knowing no details of my disability and me already being fully aware of their schedules and physical demands before i even came to audition. I want things to change but i know in my heart ill never get to go up on a stage again in my life and it breaks my heart more than anything
don't give up, there are directors who will cast you, i promise. i'm so sorry that people behave ignorantly and have made assumptions about you. if i were casting a show, i would not allow ableism to cloud my judgment, i would give you a chance♥️
As a somewhat TikTok-averse disability advocate with chronic illnesses, respect for how well you handled this story!! The reality is that disability is... not a monolith. Like, I have mobility limitations + a cluster of symptoms that affect my ability to work and move through the world, but that kind of disability wouldn't make me any more able to portray the experience of someone in the HoH/Deaf community (for example) than an abled person could - and so while representation really matters, many rare illnesses and disabilities will rarely be portrayed ALL if we require it to be by someone with that lived experience. Or worse, actors who DO have lived experience but want to maintain medical privacy will be forced to out themselves if they want to work in roles they're perfect fits for. I, for one, think it's FAR more important that these stories be portrayed in entertainment, perhaps involving *consultants* who have those experiences at a certain point. But if we create an environment where inclusion imposes identity-casting limitations, writers will simply not risk it and/or will write us out like this instead, and that's so so harmful to us all. Instead of contributing to tokenization, let's normalize a world where we can play ANY character, like Ali Stroker's amazing Ado Annie in Oklahoma, and maybe one day there'll be enough of us that the Tony Awards won't force performers like her to wait in the wings (lol) when our categories are announced. So interesting to see some of the emails that were sent too! Thanks for including them. It sounds like the theater believes they have receipts as far as why the actor was fired? Whew, *somebody* here has a law$uit... Good on them for NOT burying someone living with disability in 2024 America with the defamation suit that they could, if they really do have those receipts. And yannick, if you are reading this and know that the receipts they have would be in YOUR favor, you go get your millions for wrongful termination, bb. The truth is an absolute defense! Anyway, thanks Brendon + team for another great doc. Y'all do fab work finding really interesting, important stories. I only wish we knew more about the Taylor Louderman creative differences... Sounds spicy!!
Wow it’s so cool to hear this perspective on the unintended consequences of casting only disabled people in disabled roles. I’m gay and feel the same way about gay roles - I am not about to bring up who I sleep with at a job interview (audition), because a) it’s nobody’s business and b) trying to win a part by out-diverse-ing fellow actors would be just plain bad sportsmanship. Bad character. Wildly unprofessional. The people who benefit from that kind of casting aren’t gays across the board, but a subsection of gays. I think the whole thing is kinda beneath our dignity. Same goes for disabled actors, now that I’m reading your comment. Also, to say we’re the only people who can play us indicates the opposite of the ideal that we’re all just people sharing in the human experience, and positions us as a different breed. Doesn’t feel so progressive. There is so much talent out there - let actors do their jobs and play different kinds of people. The power of theater is to bring people together, on a number of different levels. It’s a kind of sin to fail to embrace it.
I am so appreciative, as a disabled person in the theatre industry, of all of the talk about accessibility. Our industry is leaps and bounds behind others in terms of accessibility, working conditions, and the treatment of lower level non-unionized contract workers. Things need to change, and starting a conversation about it is where it all starts. Thank you so much for all of the care you so clearly gave to this topic.
I don’t know if you saw it, but in the comments Brendon recommends a post on Y-R’s site that addresses some of your points with more information that is not covered in the doc. I also recommend the read!
I just want to say thank you. This is one of my favourite musicals, but as a disabled person I always felt conflicted about Ricky's character. On one hand, I love him and as someone who's disabled and into fandom stuff, he feels really close to me. But on the other hand, I hate the whole throwing the crutches away and being willing to die. That feels too close to eugenics, which something the show seems to say is bad with Ocean's song (I personally like the ableist lyrics, I think they make sense for her character and showcase how almost innocuous or reasonable ableism can sound like), but actually embraces through its representation of Ricky. I don't use crutches that much (still do every once in a while), but I did more when I was younger and it'd just mean a lot to see a character do that and be okay, or even happy about it onstage. All the work you put into this documentary is incredible. I really appreciate you not only talking to Ricky's actor about this, but also finding another disabled person to really insist on the systemic aspect of this issue. My master's dissertation is gonna be about disability and talking about that is really complicated. No one seems to care or at least not in a non-patronising way, so once again thanks for giving them a space to talk about this. Also the animation and the puppets look amazing. I hope you can do other big projects like that in the future. This is definitely one of my favourite documentaries now.
I never interpreted Ricky being willing to die is necessarily a die as a disabled thing. He is just a selfless guy who lived a good life. Ocean pretends to do the same thing at the start but backs out because she is actually selfish.
I think part of the issue is how diverse disability can be. Even just crutches users, someone who’s used them for their whole life and it helps them significantly probably has a very different perspective than someone who’s losing muscle function and the crutches are one step in that process. It makes way more sense to me that someone who has a degenerative disease and is already looking towards a slow painful death, may be more “willing to die” (not that people with those disabilities should be more willing to die, but it’s a choice someone can make), whereas for someone who is just living their life and using mobility aids, choosing death seems more like it’s just cuz they don’t need mobility aids, which is a terrible reason and carries the issues you stated. That’s part of the reason why I think altering the character to suit the disability exactly is a bad idea, bc even within disability, it really only works in very specific situations. Edit: I do have disabilities but very different ones so lmk if there’s something I’m missing here.
This is the content I pay for! No AI ….No ADS . It is BRILLIANT in content and execution. . I had no idea what this was about but was hooked from the first frame. It told the story beautifully with just the right injection of talk over- video- interviews- etc the viewer is engaged the entire time. Very very very well done! None of the AI garbage this video should set the standard of what premium members pay for!
TH-cam decided to recommend the 'slime tutorial' alongside this video, so I went and watched it. I laughed, I cried... mostly cried (lol), and I think I'm gonna watch it again later. It's almost 4am and I should be asleep
TH-cam is the entire reasons I even know about this show. Years ago, I was on a slime tutorial binge, and it popped up. Devoured the entire thing without even knowing what the show was called (the video was something like "rollercoaster goes wrong" or something), I had to google it afterwards with the help of lyrics and character names!
1:10:15 oh wow. Between this, and that HALF joking but tear filled upset insta post when she didn't get cast in the Wicked movie, I'm beginning to think Taylor Louderman has a bit of an issue with not getting her way.....and needing everyone to know it.
This video is so randomly beautiful. There was so much effort and emotion put into this and it shows, and it happens do be about one of my favourite musicals, which is a bonus. I hope this makes the show reach a wider audience! As for Ricky, I hope that if Ride the Cyclone ever makes it to Broadway the team behind it open it up to be worked on again. I genuinely feel like his character in the current version is so stripped down, on the disability front and also his personality - like in the proshot he shows his nerdiness and awkwardness and comedy. It's disappointing seeing newer version of the show that have him so empty in comparison.
As an autistic amateur performer, I hope one day to be able to perform in a professional show. But it's a struggle for many reasons. Hopefully, when the time comes, the industry will have gotten its act together and be ready for myself and so many other disabled performers who have something to give to the world of musical theatre. ^-^
@@thebeebz9511 Especially since so many non disabled actors genuinely ARE difficult to work with! Not because of disability, but because of their own bad attitude and diva behaviour. For a prime example, Lea Michele is allegedly one of the most annoying drama queens behind the scenes, but do you think any producer or director is out there denying her from their shows because of it? No, because the girls can belt like no tomorrow. Meanwhile a neurodivergent actress who can sing and act just as well will get denied access to that world because they're slapped with the "difficult" label just for having additional considerations outside their control.
Wow, this felt like three documentaries in one! Thank you for releasing it as a single video. I was engaged the entire way through. Such a big fan of this channel. Much respect!
I love Ride The Cyclone and while I don’t think any one choice in theatre makes or breaks a show I do think Ricky being physically disabled or explicitly stated to be disabled is important to the character and to the show. The themes of dealing with your own mortality in life and other forms of grief that come with different disabilities add so much to the show and changing the part from someone who has a disability through development over time or from birth to someone who became selectively mute because of trauma (I don’t know any of the other changes not mentioned in this doc) is antithetical to what he represents in the show. I think it’s important that the character and anyone playing the character is explicitly stated to be disabled in some way. The script can lean towards not having it be explicitly a physical disability as long as it’s clear that it’s a disability that impacts connection to the other kids while alive. I also think YR’s story is complicated. It can be incredibly hard as a disabled person in general to hold a job because of the unpredictability of the disability you may have. YR said that they were incredibly upfront about how their disability could manifest during the show. Which includes stress induced by the environment of the backstage and off stage communication. I do also believe that AEA was consulted on YR being released from the rest of the shows/fired and they acted according to what the union rules are. The rules are probably not super disability friendly which created a loophole where they could do what was best for their bottom line and not for the company of the show they were producing. There should have been a conversation after closing with YR and the rest of the cast to discuss what happened and how everyone feels about the process and what could have been smoother. I know YR was on edge bc of that choreographer thing and that probably made everything so much more intense and difficult to maintain control over. Having a meeting to discuss best practices after a series of unexpected and offensive situations during your production is the responsible thing to do regardless of if you think an actor is overreacting or ungrateful or lying. To my knowledge they didn’t have any discussions after YR was released from the show early. The ambiguous script change stuff that YR was working on with the team is almost irrelevant when it comes to how they allegedly treated YR during the run of the show. To me it sounds like YR wanted to have more conversations about the script than production could allow time for. And I do think bringing up Oceans ableism is a conversation that should be had even though the conclusion should be that she stays ableist bc she’s a morally bad person. We have to name the offensive things in the works of art we take part in so we know how to approach them better as artists and as collaborators. It sounds hokey but it can be a big part of setting a boundary so someone feels safe in a space.
I don’t know if you saw it, but in the comments Brendon recommends a post on Y-R’s site that addresses some of your points with more information that is not covered in the doc. I also recommend the read!
Honestly you should receive a grant from Playbill or any of the stage unions to make more of these investigative pieces. This is great journalism/documentary work. Much love from Argentina!
This video takes me back to a big part of my life. A year ago now I would have been halfway through a run with a local theater, Selma Arts Center, as Ricky. It’s sad hearing that the show had caused unpleasant experiences for some, but for our production it was one of the most welcoming families of a cast I’ve ever had. I’m happy to believe that everyone I met through this show will have lived a life worth living. A year later, our production has won best musical at the theater’s biannual awards (the SACAs lol) where many of us were reunited, and I’ve just been cast in Alice by Heart under the same direction, alongside friends from all over! Thank you for making this video, be sure to ride The Cyclone!
My niece has recently gotten into musical theater and is OBSESSED with the Ride the Cyclone musical. She was here this weekend and we decided to watch it together. I couldn't believe that you had posted a 2 hour video about it that same day so we watched the musical together. We IMMEDIATELY put this on after because I told her how much I love and respect the research you do for the channel. Loved this!
My university did RTC my sophomore year, and it was a sold out run that’s still talked about amongst me and my classmates. There’s something about it that keeps us coming back.
Hearing the story behind the creation of it was inspiring as someone who’s been trying to figure out how to be a consistent creator while also grieving.
The story is great, yes, but I'm also super impressed by all the little production flares, the Lego coaster, the creepy doll poems, how the sound lines up, very well done!!
I worked at Chicago Shakespeare Theater when it was in Chicago! I would make sure I was in the house during my favorite songs. The Ballad of Jane Doe still makes me weep. Thank you for this! I never knew the full story. ❤❤❤
I might have only been in one frame, but I was in this documentary! I have to say it was simply incredible, the production work, the Lego build, everything about it.
I hope this documentary continues the much needed dialogue about disability and theatre. Two days ago I saw a college performance of the show without having much knowledge about it. That version portrayed Ricky as merely being mute. as far as I could tell, he didn’t seem to have any physical disability. I’m not sure if this stage in choice was the right move or not I’d be curious to hear other peoples opinions on the character. I think the inclusion of the McCarter Theatre Center production was definitely needed and talking about the history of the show. I’d love for the disabled community to weigh in on the results or how it could’ve been handled better.
I saw this at Chicago Shakes in 2015 - specifically, on Saturday, October 17, 2015 - and the audience weren’t silent at all: as I recall, we were quite enthusiastic throughout, and also immediately sprang to our feet applauding at the end. If other nights’ audiences were quieter during the show itself, I can’t personally apologize for them, but I am surprised.
I have a lot of thoughts about the controversy surrounding this show, but all I’ll say here is thank you. It was well worth the wait - a gorgeous piece of filmmaking, well researched and well presented. I think it’s a shame that well-intentioned people are attacking the creators of the show , and that something so obviously crafted with love and care has caused some people to respond with intolerance and anger. My teenager and I bonded over loving this show, and I dearly hope its future isn’t irreparably tarnished with the scandal. Bravo, Brendon! I’m so proud of how far you’ve come in the time I’ve been following you. This was a triumph! 🥰
Earlier this year TH-cam suggested me a recording of ride the cyclone and I decided to watch it. It was absolutely amazing and I searched the internet for the history of this musical and could barely find anything. This is amazing and I’m in awe of all of the research done for this.
My boyfriend is a huge coaster enthusiast (from NY- so very close and familiar with the history of Cyclone) and I am a huge musical enthusiast. I've never heard of this channel and this popped up in my feed. I thought it'd be fun. Wow wow wow. Never seen something so well produced on this platform. Absolutely insane. Immensely grateful for your creation and for sharing this with the world. Amazing, amazing, amazing.
What a wonderful documentary. I had the honor of playing Ricky Potts in a production around this same time last year. One of the most creatively fulfilling experiences of my life.
We just wrapped our production of RTC at my university yesterday. It was such an awesome experience and I genuinely cannot express how fun this show is to put on. I feel so lucky to have been a part of it ❤️
Having read C.S Lewis's Last Battle with the knowledge of the Pevensie Siblings having died in a train crash the whole premise of Ride the Cyclone reminds me of that
EDIT: uhh hello??? after watching this im feeling VERY emotional. this musical means so much to me and its MORE than just a musical in which kids die and sing silly songs. no, ride the cyclone is an amazing story with a truly meaningful message. ride the cyclone is based off of the everlasting feeling of greif and i feel aspects of rtc express greif. me and countless other people, whether my age, younger, or older, can agree that ride the cyclone is a truly amazing piece. i connect so deeply with rtc and i know so many other people do. because rtc is not only a musical; but also a comfort for so many people for so many reasons. so many people can look deeply into the musical, into the characters, into the songs, into the TRUE and REAL story, and understand it. i understand it, and it understands me. rtc is so deeply rooted in my soul and i cannot express enough that it is and will always be, at least in my eyes (and many others) SO much more than a musical! there is true meanings behind everything, whether intended by the writers or not, and that is why so many people connect with and relate to this musical so much like they do. people, including myself, watch ride the cyclone and look past the silliness and can feel true validation and recognition. im sure this seems dumb to some people, but i know many agree with me. this documentary explains and proves all that i have said and more. its really got me in my feels. as someone who has been very much hyperfixated on rtc and has dedicated the last 5 months of my life to researching and learning more about it, ooooh boy i am BEYOND ecstatic for this. i've dedicated so much time to this musical and thought i had seen and learned everything there was to see so i am extremely overjoyed to watch this and i cannot wait.
As a disabled person myself, who is disabled by a terminal disease, this musical means so much to me. I was so upset that Ricky's Disabilty was just.... Erased. We have so little representation, my heart just sank knowing there's one less good example of representation
Saw RTC at a highschool production once, and I had already seen the slime tutorial, but I was just so in love i didn’t care. I love ride the cyclone. I cried when I saw it, and again.
I am a disabled person who has never had that luxury of avoiding death though I am much older than the folks you cited. We always have existed. Its just now not isolated to disability. So that acknowledgement and the effort you made to highlight what they did wrong with conversation by and about disabled folks is important. I have been a fan of yours for several years. I found you when you highlighted Aly Stroker's Oklahoma. I do not remember which social media that was on but it lead to my enjoying your work. I also have been a fan of ride the cyclone. I am disappointed with the changes. I hadn't heard of the revival going on or these changes and I cannot pretend that trauma induced mutism is somehow able. Its not. Its an invisible disability. That does not fix this. I found this change to be a bit hokey. As a survivor of many traumatic things this musical has always spoken to me on a very deep level. Jane Doe is probably not who you want to most connect with but she is. It should have been Rickey. Except... Rickey could never actually connect to me because until today I had no idea there was an option for them to exist with their disabilities or any effort to be less ableist. It is exhausting to exist as other in this world and I wish the creatives would consider what they ask of people who are already working harder to achieve normal. I wish they would think about the fans who will see themselves or their loved ones and see that nonsense. So thank you for doing that where they utterly failed.
Absolutely stunning documentary, oh my goodness!! This was one of the most beautiful and well-put together videos I've ever seen, and it was worth every second of waiting for it!
I was fortunate to see the US premiere here in Chicago. I fell in love and traveled to see it in NY, Seattle, Atlanta, Minneapolis, DC, and several local productions now. Only a snowstorm kept me from the NJ production. Thanks for this history lesson!
I was wondering why Sarah Rasmussen seemed so familiar and then a blurb that was included mentioned that she was once a part of the Shakespeare Festival. Interesting that I could remember a name and face after so many years. Thank you for the great video!
I’ve never even heard of this and I watched the musical and it was fantastic and made me really think about life and death. Thanks for doing this documentary.
i’m so excited!!! i’ve loved ride the cyclone thoroughly and am interested to see your breakdown of the show and its many changes! it’s got a fascinating history. interested to see if you cover the disability erasure that’s been more common in productions from the last few years
So cool to see such a comprehensive video about the history of Ride the Cyclone. I had maybe vaguely heard about some of this but at least 90% of this video was news to me. Great job, y'all!
Although I have never seen this show, I am obsessed with the music. Since a few of the songs have become popular on the clock app, perhaps it might get a chance to go to Broadway[again] and then elsewhere. Brendon, I think you and Defunctlandare probaly the best documatarians on this site. You put so much thought and care into your videos. I always come away from them learning something new. I don't even mind that they are few and far between because I know they will be of super high quality. I can't wait for the next one .
Intersection of my two favorite things at 52:54 . So based on the footage used it looks like the coaster used was Shivering Timbers!!! Shivering Timbers was originally built by Custom Coasters International and is the 4th longest wooden coaster in the world. Among enthusiasts it’s considered a hidden gem at an out-of-the-way park. So if you ever want to “ride the Cyclone” that’s your ride!!
Love this! Saw the atomic vaudeville play as a kid when it came to Edmonton and I’ve never forgot it. I’m so glad it’s getting the recognition it deserves. For the longest time I felt like no one even knew this play existed and it’s fun to see all the variations through time
I am so happy you did this!!! I literally told my friend about this musical the day before I saw you put this out. It's everything we love about theater and learning the deep history just makes me appreciate it all the more.
I love on a dirt road in rural Texas. Almost nothing breaks. My heart more than the knowledge I'll never get to see the shows you open the window on. I really appreciate the glimpse though.
31:00 “They way they saw it, nobody wanted to see a musical comedy about death…” I wonder if the team felt any sort of vindication seeing the success of Beetlejuice.
1:41:31 Did the research into your documentary reveal anything about who/what/why the stage recording was posted online?? That’s honestly been my biggest mystery about the show since I first saw it.
It’s an interesting mystery. Earlier in the video he did note that the previous director Racheal had videotaped the run for her own records. I wonder if someone found it and decided to show her vision and love for this show to the rest of the world.
I clicked on this because I DO know about ride the cyclone but then I watched and realized the title isn't about knowing about the musical. It's about knowing the full story WHICH I DID N O T
After watching this doc I followed it up with the bootleg of the off Broadway production. You have gotten me a little obsessed with a musical I knew nothing about yesterday afternoon. This is some of your finest work and I teared up several times during this! Bravo!
I didn’t know much about RTC until I happened to go see a local production earlier this year because I had some friends in it. It also came at a really strange time in my life - I had just lost one of my parents (who was way too young) a few weeks prior, and I will never forget how the show’s themes about a life being cut short can still be a life worth living really hit close to home. I love this show so much.
RTC has been my favorite musical for about a year now and i’m so glad i discovered it. it’s a really stylistic musical that i don’t think a lot of people would be able to pull off.
Lived in Victoria when this was on its first run...the cast came out after and we hung out for drinks because it was such a small cast. I hated when the run was over but always prayed more people could see this.
I feel like I should preface that, I am not physically disabled (though I have Audhd and My partner is physically disabled, though largely dosent use mobility aids) I watched a slime tutorial of the New York production (or atleast I think it was the New York show) and I think Oceans less than nice way of speaking is part of her character, she presents as smart but is uneducated in these social matters, as wells as I think that the rewriting of Ricky is probably one of the worst ways to go about it, I always saw Ricky not as some “disabled people are less worthy” but as, disabilities don’t stop you from being able to live a fulfilling and happy life, and it can be harder naturally, there can be far more roadblocks but Ricky always felt like he stepped out because he was fulfilled, that he lived a life he was happy with. I think what happened and how society treats disabled people is abismal and we should all strive for a more accessible and accepting world
Thank you! Well done! I was surprised to learn about the Ricky issue(s) as it reminded me of how a recent production of a touring production of "Cats" was also altered to completely remove the "Growltiger's Last Stand" due to cultural sensitivity issues. The original scripts were not to diminish, nor to poke fun at, one's culture and/or disability, sexuality, etc.. They were built to tell a story. Yes, it is sad that professional B'way still has leaps and bounds to work this out, but you aren't going to please everyone! There is momentum, just not the speed that some wish it would be, but thanks to productions like "Hamilton", boundaries are being broken! Let's hope playwrights, producers, and the like are paying attention.
Regarding the last part of the video: thing is, musical theatre is physically demanding and you gotta be fit to properly perform most roles. Thats not ableism, thats just what this job is. I dont quite understand the point Mirko tried to make here.
@@wolfkitty42how exactly would they keep up during a dance number for example? if its just a school play it might be fine but I fail to see how someone who relies on mobility aids could be in a production of something like Cats or Robin Hood
I've really enjoyed the recorded off-broadway slime tutorial of this show since around its online release, and it's really interesting to see the history and development of the show, as well as in depth discussion over Ricky's character and disability in theatre. Your production quality for this is amazing thank you for this documentary it's so fascinating
I am so excited about this doc. I honestly had never heard of the show before this but I've been learning more and more throughout the production. I can't wait to see how it all comes together! I'm also excited to see a frank and honest discussion of accessibility in theater included.
Thank you to everyone who helped us piece together this HUGE history.
Illustrations by Cesario Tirado-Ortiz
Interview Coordinator Delaney Heil
Script Editor Julianna Henderson
Featuring Original songs composed by Carolee Beck
You can stream the fully mastered title song "Panicked" by Carolee Beck on Spotify: open.spotify.com/track/5VZRMB9o0rRi9mbeFAZwzX?si=1a4612d7b18c4169
Disability dramaturg Sydney Zarlengo
You can follow Sydney for all of their fantastic accessibility reviews and deep dives here: www.youtube.com/@disabled.autistic.lesbian/videos
Read a newly released blog from Yannick-Robin Mirko (11/24/2024): www.yannickmirko.com/post/ride-the-cyclone-a-final-bow
In regards to our language on disability in this film, we consulted with community members and scholars in the disability community and made the decision to use identity first language, both because this is the activist community standard, and because our discussions in this film pertain more to disability as an identity marker.
If you enjoyed the film and want to help us keep telling these stories, please join our community on Patreon. We can't make these without you: www.patreon.com/waitinthewings
I don’t know whose photo you used, but that is not Hank Pine
I don't get how so many people can't even begin to imagine a comedy that involves death. We've had centuries of them.
Many people cannot imagine at all. Both the snarky way of low empathy people unable to imagine anything beyond themselves and aphantasia acknowledgment
please god never let these people find out about Heathers. the movie or the musical. they would probably petition the government to get them both banned.
@@chronicallykat4920 in my experience studying in a college filled with... "artsy" people. When they say "I don't get it" what they really mean is "I don't want to get it". 😂Some people just refuse to understand things when it's making them not look as smart as they think they are.
@@manband20or Clue (movie/musical/boardgame)
I’m a Brit and so many of our Comedies surround death. I’ve just finished watching The Cleaner, a comedy series about a crime scene cleaner. Before that I watched Ludwig, a comedy drama about a puzzle maker who falls into solving murders. And that’s just two very recent series’s on the BBC.
Considering how elitist and exclusionary Broadway is, I’m almost glad that it stayed off Broadway. Sometimes shows maintain their quirkiness and uniqueness in small niche spaces.
Like Little Shop... great show, but it really wasn't fit for a big theater
Hades town? Not being sarcastic. Honestly asking
@@cmaden78 I feel like that one holds it's grandeur with the plot and setting being so well done, same with Great Comet but RTC isn't that kind of show, it would feel wrong if it had that kind of budget
Also Great Comet and Hades Town has a large ensemble in it's cast, while RTC has a tiny one in comparison
Ride the Cyclone is so cool I wish Canada was real.
You're cool
Excuse me? I'm LIVING PROOF that Canada is real. The little man in my wristwatch said so lol.
You're so real for that nanami
I have been to this mythical land. I first had to travel across the cornfields of Ohio (escaping the maze of Corn and outrunning Harambe's ghost).
Next you go through the ruins of the once great city of Detroit where you see the old factories of the ancient ones. Once you get past the ghosts of unemployed auto workers still seeking jobs from beyond the grave, you must pay a troll the price of a decent meal and answer several riddles and then go over a giant bridge. Then you will enter Canada.
From there things only get stranger.
As someone who is from Chicago, Chicago theater goers are VERY analytical. So for me to hear the audience was dead quiet during the show just means they were hyper focused.
I love that Six, RTC, and Cats all have basically the same plot
and A Chorus Line, i believe as well
Musicals comprised of nothing but 'I am' and 'I want' songs.
I was thinking the exact same thing lol
@@kaelang12 Competitions make really good concept musicals, I guess because the characters REALLY have to sell themselves
Wait how is Six like Cats..? Ones about historical royal women and one is about cats ascending to cat heaven or something 😭
Sorry if I’m missing something here and sound dumb-
Oooh looking forward to this one! TH-cam decided that I needed to watch a slime tutorial about rollercoaster safety a couple of months ago, and for once, it was right. This show is awesome.
Thats exactly how I found it too. Just started autoplaying after a completely different type of video and I'd never heard about it before, but was so quickly pulled in I watched the whole thing and loved it!
I remember been given Tap Dancing Eggs The Musical only to be delightfully surprised that was not clickbait.
I think I saw a proshot (?) and skipped through some of the slower parts. Fell out of love with it when I heard about that one Canadian production who fired the disabled actor for..being disabled? It was so jarring
That's exactly how I found it, only years ago!
@@thebeebz9511did you watch the video because there is like 20 minutes dedicated to that
jimbo having a hand in ride the cyclone history is a twist i never could have seen coming
I was so shocked when a picture of jimbo appeared😭
I didn’t know this but I can’t say I’m shocked as she’s a major clown in the Vancouver scene where atomic vaudeville is from but that’s iconic!
She did a interview earlier this year exclaiming that before starting drag she was a set designer and costume designer. She helped create the Air Bud costumes and this amazing piece of set work. I believe that someone who she had worked with on ride the cyclone helped her for her worldwide show “Jimbos Drag circus”. The name escapes me though.
@@sunnybloom7272Victoria, not Vancouver
@@EnVeignOfficialBritt Small, first appears here at 2:30
man, as a disabled fan i heard about the firing situation, but had NO idea they removed ricky’s disability. that’s so upsetting honestly
It’s heartbreaking and infuriating when we try to share our experiences, only for our characters to be erased or completely rewritten. These characters with disabilities mean something-they reflect real struggles, real triumphs, and real lives. Changing them takes away their purpose, as if their stories don’t matter.
And the excuses? “It makes them more relatable,” or “it’s for the audience.” Those just feel like a slap in the face. What they’re really saying is that disability isn’t worth representing, that our voices are too much, or too different, to be seen as valuable.
It’s exhausting to fight for authenticity, only to see it stripped away again and again. We’re not asking for much-just to be respected, to have our stories told the way they deserve to be told. But nope for them it's just to hard 😔
Yea in the middle of this video I clicked off and watched the slime tutorial and I'm so glad I did bc I know I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much hearinf about all that :(
@@DottyMcInk damned if they do, damned if they don’t. they had good intentions with casting an actor with a disability at first and that person was a nightmare. missing rehearsals, insisting on rewrites, and hiding in bathrooms to avoid performing? then after being told they weren’t meeting expectations they left the show and dragged the production for being ableist, and lied saying they were fired for being disabled. which from an industry standpoint only adds more stigma towards casting actors with disabilities. so much that they retconned the disability in the show (which was initially a lowbrow physical gag anyway) to avoid offending anyone else but at that point they were already a straw man and too far gone. which, cancelling a tiny off-broadway production is kind of aiming at low hanging fruit but go off, i guess.
My only critique is trying to paint over the ocean line felt like a step in the wrong direction of trying to be to "progressive"? Like kids can be MEAN and ocean died a kid so for her to say such awful things in her song shows how childish she is and even towards the ending of the song you understand "shes being a bad person" and thats why her final act of choosing gives a glimpse to the good ocean could do and its bittersweet
Tldr: let bad characters say bad things lol
I think its the "always sunny in Philadelphia" rule of comedy. An actor can say terrible things if bad things happen to them as a result of those things. Its so early in the show that Ocean's song is just hard to watch. Her character is in this uncanny valley of not quite a mean girl so its really jarring for her say those things in the first song
It’s similar to the removing of Regina George in the new mean girls movie saying gay slurs. She was MEAN. It’s called MEAN GIRLS. Let her show how mean she can be. It’s not an endorsement of that behavior but rather to show a really shitty side of someone and possibly lead to growth!
Couldn't agree more. I'm glad the recording of RTC that's going around online these days is the old version of the show, before they made all those changes to Ricky and the script.
EXACTLY, THAT PART OF THE DRAMA WAS SOOOOO UNNECESSARY 😭
I agree. Are we not supposed to have bigoted characters, ever? And it's just a little pearl-clutchy to me to be cool with a musical about teens dying brutally but drawing the line at a character who is painted as being in the wrong being ableist
I feel for mirko and the experience they went through. The lack of accessibility, disrespect, and straight up assault are unacceptable and I hope they're living their best life. But I have really mixed feelings about wanting to write out all of the ableism - remove some of it for sure, but Ocean is supposed to be a bad person and it highlights her hypocrisy. The rest of the cast already call her out for being mean and two-faced, so it feels like they're pretending ableism doesn't exist by just removing the lines (at least to me).
Workshopping the narrative with a disabled cowriter (or at least a sensitivity reader), maybe giving Ricky a few lines about how HE feels about his condition, and giving him some times to shine would have been a better move by the creative team. Having a monologue about having mixed feelings about returning to a world that is inaccessible to him or how his feelings about death and his illness are constantly policed by a world unwilling to accommodate him would both humanize his character and allow them to keep the same plot elements. It would also mirror a lot more lived experiences for disabled people, myself included. That's not to say that dying is better than living with a disability, but you can portray the choice as neutral while giving Ricky the agency to think one way or the other.
As a physically disabled person who has a dynamic disability I agree. Leave Ocean to be an ableist, but give Ricky a space to explore his feelings about his disability. It would be really cool to see a character talking about what it's like to be disabled on stage! Give able bodied theater goers something else to think about after the curtain call.
Yeah, see, I'm with you. Ocean's abilism had a point, to show she was a horrible person.
Taking that out, defeated the point they were making.
Completely agree with this comment
@@HeSheXie this has been the best worded version of the complaint so far. To be fair, this kind of input from a disabled actor was unprecedented and production practically baited the actor into suggesting those changes. Creating scenarios that make actors look like divas to get them blacklisted is so flipping common in the industry, I'm surprises there's not already a term for it.
Situations like this highlight a fine line between whether the material portrays an unlikable character properly and whether the material (whether intentional or not) reflects implicit bias among the creative team. I think there are ways to find that balance that clearly wasn’t found during Mirko’s time in the show. I think there can be a great way for Ricky Potts to explore purgatory and the freedom it gives him without playing into disability erasure (something I had noticed before Mirko’s interview). And to best combat ableism and toxic work environments, there has to be more disability representation. Not just among actors but the creative teams as well.
my biggest flex is that I saw this show for free during its Atlanta run. they were giving away tickets to students. my friends and I had NO idea what we were getting into but we had the time of our lives. we sat in the balcony and were the loudest in the theatre. ecstatic to see it getting all of the love that it deserves!
What was Scott like on Stage?
I actually just wrapped up a production of Cyclone. The script rewrites are more extensive than I think most people realize. There are adjustments to Mischa's dialogue---mainly anything spoken in Ukrainian---that I can't really comment on, but do stand out even in contrast to the 2023 license. He makes a drag race reference in the most recent version of the script, and there's a joke where he unintentionally says he's hard after Noel's Lament. Ricky also doesn't really get any other instruments (minus the accordion); every reference to his disability is replaced with the tambourine bit. Additionally, he does not have a monologue between his bumper and SABM, which makes him the only kid (aside from Jane Doe) who does not get to talk about their own life. And though he doesn't concede, there are no rewrites to his aside with Jane after New Birthday Song, so he still has lines like "It's a fire sale in my brain, and everything must go" which imply he expects not to come back. I don't think you can call the version of Ricky that exists now any more developed than the version from the 2016 production; they just cut one aspect of his character and replaced it with nothing. Honestly, I think the far simpler solution to the somewhat contentious portrayal of his disability is to let him talk about it in the show. The new version even kind of leans in that direction---he tells Ocean off for infantilizing him at one point---but it falls short because there's nothing there.
But even with the rewrites, I'd still say it's a favorite show of mine. We had a really great cast, an amazing director, an awesome crew, and only two knee injuries!
who is rewriting the script?! 😭😭
@@simin7140 I think it's still Richmond? I'm not entirely sure, but I don't remember seeing any indication to the contrary. Oh and a minor one: there's a small lyric change on Noel's Lament. Instead of "Chinese dive" it now says "slattern dive."
i just saw this version recently (not knowing anything about the show lol) and i didn't realize there were such significant changes from the original, it didn't seem like anything was missing tbh although of course, not being familiar with the show, it's unlikely i would be clued in to all of that. i do wonder if i saw the production that you just wrapped up though because i only saw it last month 👀 probably not but that would be cool
I recently saw a community production (last year I think) where Ricky still had crutches and a degenerative disease. Wonder if they got the original script or did an illegal show 🫢
@@kchrules775 Depends! In ours Ricky still couldn't walk until after the accident; we didn't have to change the script to make that happen, it was just a matter of staging. Which was ultimately kinda helpful for the actor because he injured his knee in tech.
So excited this is finally out! It was an honor to write music for this.
*cough* release all the tracks in an album *cough* just so I can listen to that Jane Doe section over and over *cough* *cough*
I’m legit down on my hands and knees please drop an album
gorgeous work! i hope you release them one day, so mesmerising.
One song is on Spotify!
And we❤ what u did👏🥰
The problem with the whole drama with mirko is that Ride The Cyclone isn’t responsible for the these problems. There are some problematic lines, and there’s no sugarcoating that. But they were meant to be portrayed as part of a character’s misguided views of herself, not an attack on disabled people. And I mean no ill will towards mirko or the people expressing their concerns. They understand that the problem isn’t with the show, but rather with the industry. And the industry, not the show, is where changes need to be made. I am all for supporting the disabled, but removing Ricky’s disability is far from a viable way to go about it.
I don’t know if you saw it, but in the comments Brendon recommends a post on Y-R’s site that addresses some of your points with more information that is not covered in the doc. I also recommend the read!
"I am all for supporting the disabled, but removing Ricky's disability is far from a viable way to go about it."
What is that "but" about?At no point in this doc does mirko or any other member of the disabled community say they want Ricky's disability removed. On the contrary, they were arguing with the people who downplayed or removed the character's disability.
@ I’m saying that the people who made the change made the wrong choice. Sorry, I wasn’t clear about that at all.
As a Saskatchewanian, I'm just glad there's a musical that mentions us that isn't rubbish and picked an *actual* small town in the middle of nowhere (shoutout to U-City) instead of trying to pretend Moose Jaw is that.
What musical is that
The one that mentions moose jaw
@@auramint The Apple is a 1980 movie musical that mentions Moose Jaw. It really, really sucks.
FELLOW SASKATCHEWAN PERSON HELLOOOOO 👋👋
Especially given our copious quantity of middle of nowhere hamlets
just wanted to add two cents as someone whos independently reasearched & archived ~100 rtc productions, there have been productions that had disabled actors playing other roles while still using the version with rickys disability ! (most notably, spinning tree theatre)
which has always made me a little bit dissapointed in jacob richmonds claim that the removal of rickys disability was opening more oppurtunities for actors
Unless you literally force them, a lot of theatres just won't hire disabled actors at all, especially if it would make them change part of the production to accommodate them.
Where can we see them? I need more disability theatre in my life
Wait is there a video out there for Spinning Tree Theatre?
Do you compile these archives anywhere? I'd love to see records on the production my local theater did, if there are any...
i will forever be against changing ocean's line in her number, it feels like an attempt at being "progressive" when really, they're missing the point of her character. ocean is MEANT to have harmful views, and that only accentuates it - she's being ableist, yes, but that's the POINT. it's meant to make us understand that she's not the good person she believes she is. having it changed is counterproductive, imo.
Yeah, and I think it’s pretty easy to understand it’s supposed to be bad and ableist of her to say it - it comes right after the “organ donor” line! It’s not like it was thrown into an otherwise fully morally good song
Her saying stuff about someone's disability fits right on in with the rest of the song. Every person there is completely insulted to the point where they couldn't defend her. "You are a waste of space and an organ donor", "I don't like you and i'm a lil homphobic so screw you", "i think you're a criminal and you’ll end up in jail". Saying "haha you have a poor attention span lol" doesn't really have that punch that "i am going to treat you like a child because i don't see you as a real person due to your disability" has.
Wait a minute, people found the ableist and offensive character’s dialog ableist and offensive?? That’s wild, almost like that’s the point.
I don't think that was the main problem. Obviously I'm not part of the teams that wrote & updated the script, so this is mostly speculation on my part, as well as some opinions from my own experiences and the less inclusive tropes for disabled characters that I'm aware of. It seems like the problem was mainly that there's nothing in the show to refute that ableist and offensive character's dialogue.
Ocean says all these terrible things that are incredibly targeted to Ricky's disability, not his character, on top of Ricky "magically losing his disability for the convenience of performing" (being able to talk & literally throwing away the arm crutches), his disability being intentionally vague (because physical disabilities are often represented as a monolith which couldn't be further from the truth, which tends to be a reccuring issue for all underrepresented communities,) and being the only one to concede the chance to come back to life (as euthanizing disabled people becomes more and more available). All together, that paints a picture that this show does not think highly of disabled people.
Of course, people who have seen this documentary or have followed the show from the beginning might know why Ricky was written, partially as an omage to a friend of the writer. But most people, especially folks who are going into the show blind, don't have that context and logically don't assume all of that is written with progressive intentions. Coupled with the lack of actually disabled people being cast as Ricky, as well as the bad experience that the one disabled actor in a professional regional production of the show had, it's clear that the structure of Ricky's existence within the story was flawed.
In another world, where Ricky was kept mostly nonverbal and expressing himself through the piano until SABM, him being disabled might have come across better because there would have been at least some true representation of its existence within the show. But due to the way his character evolved through producer opinions, we've lost the genuineness of him being disabled as a core part of his character, without it just being used for jokes.
I still think it would be best practice for new productions to cast disabled actors for Ricky, and to incorporate any appropriate mobility aids into the blocking and choreography. But I'm also personally relieved that new productions shouldn't feel inclined to keep having able bodied actors using forearm crutches (and then disregarding them) since the script has been updated.
Okay that was less my two cents and more my whole dollar on the whole ordeal, but it is a very nuanced topic.
Okay that got long winded and I lost track of the point I was making. Up there I talk about why I think they changed it. But I don't necessarily agree.
The writing/representation of Ricky's disability was flawed from the beginning because by the time they started actually developing his character, a lot of the load bearing structural beams of the show were already in place. There was only so much room for them to adjust where he was without up heaving way more of the show than they wanted to rework all at once.
There was definitely a lot of potential for Ricky's character, and I would love to see Ricky be actually disabled (including Ocean's ableist comment! I think it does a good job immediately introducing us to her character, and gives a lot of space for growth in her arc throughout the show). But ultimately, the writer/producers seem to have felt it was safer to remove the bad representation altogether and now he's just. Not referred to as disabled. And that's the official libretto being licensed out. Changing the rights to scripts can be a whole ordeal. After 10 years, I wouldn't be surprised if the writer is feeling pretty done with the show, and doesn't want to dedicate the time to rewriting an entire character (again) when he had already struggled with this character throughout the entire process.
I can definitely see where he's coming from, but as someone with a dynamic disability, it's definitely a let down. But also, please don't come for any community productions of the show for not including that, because this has now become a licensing issue which means that changing anything would be incredibly difficult.
Also sorry for forgetting the writer's name and if I'm wrong about it being 10 years, I am extremely sleep deprived 👍 feel free to ask for clarification if it turns out none of what I said was coherent
While I don't consider myself an expert on the topic of Disability representation in theater, I think a great step forward was the casting of Marissa Bode in the Wicked films, as she is the first wheelchair-using actress to portray Nessa.
YES
oh I don’t know her but I’m watching that movie tonight, I’ll look out for that
That does make me curious about how they're gonna handle the plot point in the second act where the silver shoes get enchanted to allow her to walk. Surely they could fake it with cgi and movie magic, but I'm unsure if that's the right to do.
@@WoynichI believe the casting call was for ambulatory wheelchair users, so she might be able to do the effect without CGI 😊
Still worlds different from casting an actor in a wheelchair for up to eight shows a week
It’s amazing how RTC manages to hurt so deeply in your soul in such a beautiful way. I disagree that it “finally found its people” in Gen Z. It finally found its people because of TikTok, age and generation have nothing to do with it. Theater in the real world is so inaccessible for so many reasons, so lots of people don’t get to learn about a lot of stuff until it goes viral online. I’m sure I’ll never get the chance to see this in real life, so I’m thrilled that the video was leaked and we can all experience it. It would be nice if they could officially release it and the cast/crew could get paid for it.
I think it just especially resonates with gen z because of the reasons stated in the video. We came of age in a fucked up world and more readily accept fucked up stories that make light of things like death while still having hope and heart and not denying the gravity of the situation. We’re a generation that craves catharsis in our media.
THIS! First of all Americans don’t like dark comedy and second, most people who can afford to pay a broadway show and have the time to attend are rich old people or just rich white people who wouldn’t resonate with the plot of an edgy dark comedy full of archetypes they can’t understand or relate to.
The real audience of this show were the weird theater kids that couldn’t even imagine stepping into broadway and got a slice of heaven finding this on the internet. I would kill to see this show live ❤
@@ufoesferico1050as a former weird theater kid, I get this.
@43:19 I KNEW IT! Ever since I heard Ballad with the the staging with the umbrellas, I was certain it was pulling inspiration from New Orleans funerals.
im so grateful for the coverage on not only a show i do love, but the reality of being disabled and loving theatre, I lost my ability to stand for long periods of time or walk unassisted for long periods of time a few years ago, and its so true, every production you go to, even amerture, they actively don't make space for you. I'm one of the 'lucky' people whos symptoms aren't horrible, who can dance without a stick sometimes, but just me needing my walker to get home after an audition was enough for anyone who saw me audition's face to drop and for me to get an instant rejection because they didn't think i could 'handle' it despite knowing no details of my disability and me already being fully aware of their schedules and physical demands before i even came to audition. I want things to change but i know in my heart ill never get to go up on a stage again in my life and it breaks my heart more than anything
❤
don't give up, there are directors who will cast you, i promise. i'm so sorry that people behave ignorantly and have made assumptions about you. if i were casting a show, i would not allow ableism to cloud my judgment, i would give you a chance♥️
As a somewhat TikTok-averse disability advocate with chronic illnesses, respect for how well you handled this story!! The reality is that disability is... not a monolith. Like, I have mobility limitations + a cluster of symptoms that affect my ability to work and move through the world, but that kind of disability wouldn't make me any more able to portray the experience of someone in the HoH/Deaf community (for example) than an abled person could - and so while representation really matters, many rare illnesses and disabilities will rarely be portrayed ALL if we require it to be by someone with that lived experience. Or worse, actors who DO have lived experience but want to maintain medical privacy will be forced to out themselves if they want to work in roles they're perfect fits for. I, for one, think it's FAR more important that these stories be portrayed in entertainment, perhaps involving *consultants* who have those experiences at a certain point. But if we create an environment where inclusion imposes identity-casting limitations, writers will simply not risk it and/or will write us out like this instead, and that's so so harmful to us all. Instead of contributing to tokenization, let's normalize a world where we can play ANY character, like Ali Stroker's amazing Ado Annie in Oklahoma, and maybe one day there'll be enough of us that the Tony Awards won't force performers like her to wait in the wings (lol) when our categories are announced.
So interesting to see some of the emails that were sent too! Thanks for including them. It sounds like the theater believes they have receipts as far as why the actor was fired? Whew, *somebody* here has a law$uit... Good on them for NOT burying someone living with disability in 2024 America with the defamation suit that they could, if they really do have those receipts. And yannick, if you are reading this and know that the receipts they have would be in YOUR favor, you go get your millions for wrongful termination, bb. The truth is an absolute defense!
Anyway, thanks Brendon + team for another great doc. Y'all do fab work finding really interesting, important stories. I only wish we knew more about the Taylor Louderman creative differences... Sounds spicy!!
Wow it’s so cool to hear this perspective on the unintended consequences of casting only disabled people in disabled roles.
I’m gay and feel the same way about gay roles - I am not about to bring up who I sleep with at a job interview (audition), because a) it’s nobody’s business and b) trying to win a part by out-diverse-ing fellow actors would be just plain bad sportsmanship. Bad character. Wildly unprofessional.
The people who benefit from that kind of casting aren’t gays across the board, but a subsection of gays. I think the whole thing is kinda beneath our dignity. Same goes for disabled actors, now that I’m reading your comment.
Also, to say we’re the only people who can play us indicates the opposite of the ideal that we’re all just people sharing in the human experience, and positions us as a different breed. Doesn’t feel so progressive.
There is so much talent out there - let actors do their jobs and play different kinds of people. The power of theater is to bring people together, on a number of different levels. It’s a kind of sin to fail to embrace it.
I am so appreciative, as a disabled person in the theatre industry, of all of the talk about accessibility. Our industry is leaps and bounds behind others in terms of accessibility, working conditions, and the treatment of lower level non-unionized contract workers.
Things need to change, and starting a conversation about it is where it all starts. Thank you so much for all of the care you so clearly gave to this topic.
I don’t know if you saw it, but in the comments Brendon recommends a post on Y-R’s site that addresses some of your points with more information that is not covered in the doc. I also recommend the read!
I just want to say thank you. This is one of my favourite musicals, but as a disabled person I always felt conflicted about Ricky's character. On one hand, I love him and as someone who's disabled and into fandom stuff, he feels really close to me. But on the other hand, I hate the whole throwing the crutches away and being willing to die. That feels too close to eugenics, which something the show seems to say is bad with Ocean's song (I personally like the ableist lyrics, I think they make sense for her character and showcase how almost innocuous or reasonable ableism can sound like), but actually embraces through its representation of Ricky. I don't use crutches that much (still do every once in a while), but I did more when I was younger and it'd just mean a lot to see a character do that and be okay, or even happy about it onstage. All the work you put into this documentary is incredible. I really appreciate you not only talking to Ricky's actor about this, but also finding another disabled person to really insist on the systemic aspect of this issue. My master's dissertation is gonna be about disability and talking about that is really complicated. No one seems to care or at least not in a non-patronising way, so once again thanks for giving them a space to talk about this. Also the animation and the puppets look amazing. I hope you can do other big projects like that in the future. This is definitely one of my favourite documentaries now.
I never interpreted Ricky being willing to die is necessarily a die as a disabled thing. He is just a selfless guy who lived a good life. Ocean pretends to do the same thing at the start but backs out because she is actually selfish.
I think part of the issue is how diverse disability can be. Even just crutches users, someone who’s used them for their whole life and it helps them significantly probably has a very different perspective than someone who’s losing muscle function and the crutches are one step in that process. It makes way more sense to me that someone who has a degenerative disease and is already looking towards a slow painful death, may be more “willing to die” (not that people with those disabilities should be more willing to die, but it’s a choice someone can make), whereas for someone who is just living their life and using mobility aids, choosing death seems more like it’s just cuz they don’t need mobility aids, which is a terrible reason and carries the issues you stated.
That’s part of the reason why I think altering the character to suit the disability exactly is a bad idea, bc even within disability, it really only works in very specific situations.
Edit: I do have disabilities but very different ones so lmk if there’s something I’m missing here.
This is the content I pay for! No AI ….No ADS . It is BRILLIANT in content and execution. . I had no idea what this was about but was hooked from the first frame. It told the story beautifully with just the right injection of talk over- video- interviews- etc the viewer is engaged the entire time. Very very very well done! None of the AI garbage this video should set the standard of what premium members pay for!
TH-cam decided to recommend the 'slime tutorial' alongside this video, so I went and watched it. I laughed, I cried... mostly cried (lol), and I think I'm gonna watch it again later. It's almost 4am and I should be asleep
I watched a local theater perform it and it was INCREDIBLE. Ride the Cyclone is such a beautiful thing
TH-cam is the entire reasons I even know about this show. Years ago, I was on a slime tutorial binge, and it popped up. Devoured the entire thing without even knowing what the show was called (the video was something like "rollercoaster goes wrong" or something), I had to google it afterwards with the help of lyrics and character names!
1:10:15 oh wow. Between this, and that HALF joking but tear filled upset insta post when she didn't get cast in the Wicked movie, I'm beginning to think Taylor Louderman has a bit of an issue with not getting her way.....and needing everyone to know it.
i was wondering why that name sounded familiar
This video is so randomly beautiful. There was so much effort and emotion put into this and it shows, and it happens do be about one of my favourite musicals, which is a bonus. I hope this makes the show reach a wider audience!
As for Ricky, I hope that if Ride the Cyclone ever makes it to Broadway the team behind it open it up to be worked on again. I genuinely feel like his character in the current version is so stripped down, on the disability front and also his personality - like in the proshot he shows his nerdiness and awkwardness and comedy. It's disappointing seeing newer version of the show that have him so empty in comparison.
As an autistic amateur performer, I hope one day to be able to perform in a professional show. But it's a struggle for many reasons. Hopefully, when the time comes, the industry will have gotten its act together and be ready for myself and so many other disabled performers who have something to give to the world of musical theatre. ^-^
It sucks that so many people are labelling disabled and neurodivergent actors "difficult to work with" instead of adjusting the status quo
@@thebeebz9511 Especially since so many non disabled actors genuinely ARE difficult to work with! Not because of disability, but because of their own bad attitude and diva behaviour. For a prime example, Lea Michele is allegedly one of the most annoying drama queens behind the scenes, but do you think any producer or director is out there denying her from their shows because of it? No, because the girls can belt like no tomorrow. Meanwhile a neurodivergent actress who can sing and act just as well will get denied access to that world because they're slapped with the "difficult" label just for having additional considerations outside their control.
❤
Wow, this felt like three documentaries in one! Thank you for releasing it as a single video. I was engaged the entire way through. Such a big fan of this channel. Much respect!
I love Ride The Cyclone and while I don’t think any one choice in theatre makes or breaks a show I do think Ricky being physically disabled or explicitly stated to be disabled is important to the character and to the show. The themes of dealing with your own mortality in life and other forms of grief that come with different disabilities add so much to the show and changing the part from someone who has a disability through development over time or from birth to someone who became selectively mute because of trauma (I don’t know any of the other changes not mentioned in this doc) is antithetical to what he represents in the show. I think it’s important that the character and anyone playing the character is explicitly stated to be disabled in some way. The script can lean towards not having it be explicitly a physical disability as long as it’s clear that it’s a disability that impacts connection to the other kids while alive.
I also think YR’s story is complicated. It can be incredibly hard as a disabled person in general to hold a job because of the unpredictability of the disability you may have. YR said that they were incredibly upfront about how their disability could manifest during the show. Which includes stress induced by the environment of the backstage and off stage communication. I do also believe that AEA was consulted on YR being released from the rest of the shows/fired and they acted according to what the union rules are. The rules are probably not super disability friendly which created a loophole where they could do what was best for their bottom line and not for the company of the show they were producing. There should have been a conversation after closing with YR and the rest of the cast to discuss what happened and how everyone feels about the process and what could have been smoother. I know YR was on edge bc of that choreographer thing and that probably made everything so much more intense and difficult to maintain control over. Having a meeting to discuss best practices after a series of unexpected and offensive situations during your production is the responsible thing to do regardless of if you think an actor is overreacting or ungrateful or lying. To my knowledge they didn’t have any discussions after YR was released from the show early. The ambiguous script change stuff that YR was working on with the team is almost irrelevant when it comes to how they allegedly treated YR during the run of the show. To me it sounds like YR wanted to have more conversations about the script than production could allow time for. And I do think bringing up Oceans ableism is a conversation that should be had even though the conclusion should be that she stays ableist bc she’s a morally bad person. We have to name the offensive things in the works of art we take part in so we know how to approach them better as artists and as collaborators. It sounds hokey but it can be a big part of setting a boundary so someone feels safe in a space.
I don’t know if you saw it, but in the comments Brendon recommends a post on Y-R’s site that addresses some of your points with more information that is not covered in the doc. I also recommend the read!
Honestly you should receive a grant from Playbill or any of the stage unions to make more of these investigative pieces. This is great journalism/documentary work. Much love from Argentina!
This video takes me back to a big part of my life. A year ago now I would have been halfway through a run with a local theater, Selma Arts Center, as Ricky. It’s sad hearing that the show had caused unpleasant experiences for some, but for our production it was one of the most welcoming families of a cast I’ve ever had. I’m happy to believe that everyone I met through this show will have lived a life worth living. A year later, our production has won best musical at the theater’s biannual awards (the SACAs lol) where many of us were reunited, and I’ve just been cast in Alice by Heart under the same direction, alongside friends from all over! Thank you for making this video, be sure to ride The Cyclone!
OMG I've seen that production on the archive! Got any experiences to share while working on RTC?
I was in the Lindsay Community Theatre production, we went and saw you guys! RTC is such a special show.
My niece has recently gotten into musical theater and is OBSESSED with the Ride the Cyclone musical. She was here this weekend and we decided to watch it together. I couldn't believe that you had posted a 2 hour video about it that same day so we watched the musical together. We IMMEDIATELY put this on after because I told her how much I love and respect the research you do for the channel. Loved this!
My university did RTC my sophomore year, and it was a sold out run that’s still talked about amongst me and my classmates. There’s something about it that keeps us coming back.
Hearing the story behind the creation of it was inspiring as someone who’s been trying to figure out how to be a consistent creator while also grieving.
ugh fine i’ll rewatch the ride the cyclone slime tutorial again
I've never heard of this musical but the thumbnail immediately convinced me to watch the slime tutorial. Now I can't wait to watch the doc!
Yes!! Finally a bigger channel talks about this show, it's so underrated!
The story is great, yes, but I'm also super impressed by all the little production flares, the Lego coaster, the creepy doll poems, how the sound lines up, very well done!!
I worked at Chicago Shakespeare Theater when it was in Chicago! I would make sure I was in the house during my favorite songs. The Ballad of Jane Doe still makes me weep. Thank you for this! I never knew the full story. ❤❤❤
I might have only been in one frame, but I was in this documentary!
I have to say it was simply incredible, the production work, the Lego build, everything about it.
BUNKER!! GET YO ASS HOME
@@Valentineofthevoid I am?
1:49:29
@@BunkerghustVA not good enough, we aren’t on call
@@BunkerghustVAHOE THAT YOU
I hope this documentary continues the much needed dialogue about disability and theatre. Two days ago I saw a college performance of the show without having much knowledge about it. That version portrayed Ricky as merely being mute. as far as I could tell, he didn’t seem to have any physical disability. I’m not sure if this stage in choice was the right move or not I’d be curious to hear other peoples opinions on the character.
I think the inclusion of the McCarter Theatre Center production was definitely needed and talking about the history of the show. I’d love for the disabled community to weigh in on the results or how it could’ve been handled better.
59:05 if i was a cast member i think a moment like this would move me to tears. Like I think I’d bawl my eyes out?? What a beautiful reception
The quality of production and storytelling is through the roof. Thank you so much for what you're doing.
Easily your best documentary yet. Incredibly polished, cohesive presentation of what this wild ride of a show is. Can't wait for the next one!
“Karl Marx descended from the heavens” I can’t even explain the sound I made after hearing this
Such an underrated musical, I'm delighted that you're showing it some love.
I saw this at Chicago Shakes in 2015 - specifically, on Saturday, October 17, 2015 - and the audience weren’t silent at all: as I recall, we were quite enthusiastic throughout, and also immediately sprang to our feet applauding at the end. If other nights’ audiences were quieter during the show itself, I can’t personally apologize for them, but I am surprised.
I have a lot of thoughts about the controversy surrounding this show, but all I’ll say here is thank you. It was well worth the wait - a gorgeous piece of filmmaking, well researched and well presented. I think it’s a shame that well-intentioned people are attacking the creators of the show , and that something so obviously crafted with love and care has caused some people to respond with intolerance and anger. My teenager and I bonded over loving this show, and I dearly hope its future isn’t irreparably tarnished with the scandal.
Bravo, Brendon! I’m so proud of how far you’ve come in the time I’ve been following you. This was a triumph! 🥰
Earlier this year TH-cam suggested me a recording of ride the cyclone and I decided to watch it. It was absolutely amazing and I searched the internet for the history of this musical and could barely find anything. This is amazing and I’m in awe of all of the research done for this.
My boyfriend is a huge coaster enthusiast (from NY- so very close and familiar with the history of Cyclone) and I am a huge musical enthusiast. I've never heard of this channel and this popped up in my feed. I thought it'd be fun. Wow wow wow. Never seen something so well produced on this platform. Absolutely insane. Immensely grateful for your creation and for sharing this with the world. Amazing, amazing, amazing.
What a wonderful documentary. I had the honor of playing Ricky Potts in a production around this same time last year. One of the most creatively fulfilling experiences of my life.
We just wrapped our production of RTC at my university yesterday. It was such an awesome experience and I genuinely cannot express how fun this show is to put on. I feel so lucky to have been a part of it ❤️
Having read C.S Lewis's Last Battle with the knowledge of the Pevensie Siblings having died in a train crash the whole premise of Ride the Cyclone reminds me of that
30:59 This is so funny considering how popular the Beetlejuice musical is in the U.S.
EDIT: uhh hello??? after watching this im feeling VERY emotional. this musical means so much to me and its MORE than just a musical in which kids die and sing silly songs. no, ride the cyclone is an amazing story with a truly meaningful message. ride the cyclone is based off of the everlasting feeling of greif and i feel aspects of rtc express greif. me and countless other people, whether my age, younger, or older, can agree that ride the cyclone is a truly amazing piece. i connect so deeply with rtc and i know so many other people do. because rtc is not only a musical; but also a comfort for so many people for so many reasons. so many people can look deeply into the musical, into the characters, into the songs, into the TRUE and REAL story, and understand it. i understand it, and it understands me. rtc is so deeply rooted in my soul and i cannot express enough that it is and will always be, at least in my eyes (and many others) SO much more than a musical! there is true meanings behind everything, whether intended by the writers or not, and that is why so many people connect with and relate to this musical so much like they do. people, including myself, watch ride the cyclone and look past the silliness and can feel true validation and recognition. im sure this seems dumb to some people, but i know many agree with me. this documentary explains and proves all that i have said and more. its really got me in my feels.
as someone who has been very much hyperfixated on rtc and has dedicated the last 5 months of my life to researching and learning more about it, ooooh boy i am BEYOND ecstatic for this. i've dedicated so much time to this musical and thought i had seen and learned everything there was to see so i am extremely overjoyed to watch this and i cannot wait.
YOOOOOO KHOLBSLAND!!!
@@ValentineofthevoidYEASS OMG
As a disabled person myself, who is disabled by a terminal disease, this musical means so much to me. I was so upset that Ricky's Disabilty was just.... Erased. We have so little representation, my heart just sank knowing there's one less good example of representation
Saw RTC at a highschool production once, and I had already seen the slime tutorial, but I was just so in love i didn’t care.
I love ride the cyclone. I cried when I saw it, and again.
I am a disabled person who has never had that luxury of avoiding death though I am much older than the folks you cited. We always have existed. Its just now not isolated to disability. So that acknowledgement and the effort you made to highlight what they did wrong with conversation by and about disabled folks is important. I have been a fan of yours for several years. I found you when you highlighted Aly Stroker's Oklahoma. I do not remember which social media that was on but it lead to my enjoying your work.
I also have been a fan of ride the cyclone. I am disappointed with the changes. I hadn't heard of the revival going on or these changes and I cannot pretend that trauma induced mutism is somehow able. Its not. Its an invisible disability. That does not fix this. I found this change to be a bit hokey.
As a survivor of many traumatic things this musical has always spoken to me on a very deep level. Jane Doe is probably not who you want to most connect with but she is. It should have been Rickey. Except... Rickey could never actually connect to me because until today I had no idea there was an option for them to exist with their disabilities or any effort to be less ableist.
It is exhausting to exist as other in this world and I wish the creatives would consider what they ask of people who are already working harder to achieve normal. I wish they would think about the fans who will see themselves or their loved ones and see that nonsense. So thank you for doing that where they utterly failed.
❤
this IS a roller coaster of a story.
love the look and soul of the documentary.
great work WITW Crew!
As someone who was just in a college production of this show, this was a super interesting video! I didn’t know half of this. Thank you
YESS IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS VID!! funnily enough today is closing night of a rtc production im in😭
Absolutely stunning documentary, oh my goodness!! This was one of the most beautiful and well-put together videos I've ever seen, and it was worth every second of waiting for it!
I was fortunate to see the US premiere here in Chicago. I fell in love and traveled to see it in NY, Seattle, Atlanta, Minneapolis, DC, and several local productions now. Only a snowstorm kept me from the NJ production. Thanks for this history lesson!
As a Canadian, I've been aware of this project since the early 2010s and I am so proud to see a homegrown production go so far.
I was wondering why Sarah Rasmussen seemed so familiar and then a blurb that was included mentioned that she was once a part of the Shakespeare Festival. Interesting that I could remember a name and face after so many years. Thank you for the great video!
I’ve never even heard of this and I watched the musical and it was fantastic and made me really think about life and death. Thanks for doing this documentary.
i’m so excited!!! i’ve loved ride the cyclone thoroughly and am interested to see your breakdown of the show and its many changes! it’s got a fascinating history. interested to see if you cover the disability erasure that’s been more common in productions from the last few years
I’m OBSESSED with this video. never would’ve guessed the amount of trial and error the creators went through to make the musical!
So cool to see such a comprehensive video about the history of Ride the Cyclone. I had maybe vaguely heard about some of this but at least 90% of this video was news to me. Great job, y'all!
Although I have never seen this show, I am obsessed with the music. Since a few of the songs have become popular on the clock app, perhaps it might get a chance to go to Broadway[again] and then elsewhere.
Brendon, I think you and Defunctlandare probaly the best documatarians on this site. You put so much thought and care into your videos. I always come away from them learning something new. I don't even mind that they are few and far between because I know they will be of super high quality.
I can't wait for the next one .
Intersection of my two favorite things at 52:54 . So based on the footage used it looks like the coaster used was Shivering Timbers!!! Shivering Timbers was originally built by Custom Coasters International and is the 4th longest wooden coaster in the world. Among enthusiasts it’s considered a hidden gem at an out-of-the-way park. So if you ever want to “ride the Cyclone” that’s your ride!!
i’m genuinely so excited, i’ve been obsessed with rtc for literal years and this might be the most informative video i’ve seen abt it.
Love this! Saw the atomic vaudeville play as a kid when it came to Edmonton and I’ve never forgot it. I’m so glad it’s getting the recognition it deserves. For the longest time I felt like no one even knew this play existed and it’s fun to see all the variations through time
i'm not even 10 min into this video and i am amazed by the production quality and editing
I am so happy you did this!!! I literally told my friend about this musical the day before I saw you put this out. It's everything we love about theater and learning the deep history just makes me appreciate it all the more.
I drove to a farm in the middle of nowhere to watch an amateur production of this staged in a barn.
Did the production serve the show justice? The vibe must've been immaculate.
Oh, that sounds FANTASTIC.
I love on a dirt road in rural Texas. Almost nothing breaks. My heart more than the knowledge I'll never get to see the shows you open the window on. I really appreciate the glimpse though.
This was an incredibly compelling documentary I would never usually click on because I've never ever heard of the show. Super well done and engaging.
31:00 “They way they saw it, nobody wanted to see a musical comedy about death…” I wonder if the team felt any sort of vindication seeing the success of Beetlejuice.
1:41:31 Did the research into your documentary reveal anything about who/what/why the stage recording was posted online?? That’s honestly been my biggest mystery about the show since I first saw it.
I think that’s one to file alongside “who leaked the Deadpool test footage?”
It’s an interesting mystery. Earlier in the video he did note that the previous director Racheal had videotaped the run for her own records. I wonder if someone found it and decided to show her vision and love for this show to the rest of the world.
@@winters5449 Yeah, I caught that part. Wonder who would have had access to her archives?
I clicked on this because I DO know about ride the cyclone
but then I watched and realized the title isn't about knowing about the musical. It's about knowing the full story WHICH I DID N O T
I knew some parts, but there were many things that have never been discussed before so I didn't know them
After watching this doc I followed it up with the bootleg of the off Broadway production. You have gotten me a little obsessed with a musical I knew nothing about yesterday afternoon. This is some of your finest work and I teared up several times during this! Bravo!
I didn’t know much about RTC until I happened to go see a local production earlier this year because I had some friends in it. It also came at a really strange time in my life - I had just lost one of my parents (who was way too young) a few weeks prior, and I will never forget how the show’s themes about a life being cut short can still be a life worth living really hit close to home. I love this show so much.
this channel is such a specific niche and that niche is very specifically mine
Im so glad rtc gets to more people and leaves the roller coaster still running. Thank you for this
WOW what a great video! I literally can’t put into words how good of a watch that was. it feels like videos of this quality are SO rare nowadays!
RTC has been my favorite musical for about a year now and i’m so glad i discovered it. it’s a really stylistic musical that i don’t think a lot of people would be able to pull off.
I need the 12 minute version of space age bachelor man SO BADLY
Lived in Victoria when this was on its first run...the cast came out after and we hung out for drinks because it was such a small cast. I hated when the run was over but always prayed more people could see this.
I feel like I should preface that, I am not physically disabled (though I have Audhd and My partner is physically disabled, though largely dosent use mobility aids)
I watched a slime tutorial of the New York production (or atleast I think it was the New York show) and I think Oceans less than nice way of speaking is part of her character, she presents as smart but is uneducated in these social matters, as wells as I think that the rewriting of Ricky is probably one of the worst ways to go about it, I always saw Ricky not as some “disabled people are less worthy” but as, disabilities don’t stop you from being able to live a fulfilling and happy life, and it can be harder naturally, there can be far more roadblocks but Ricky always felt like he stepped out because he was fulfilled, that he lived a life he was happy with. I think what happened and how society treats disabled people is abismal and we should all strive for a more accessible and accepting world
Thank you! Well done! I was surprised to learn about the Ricky issue(s) as it reminded me of how a recent production of a touring production of "Cats" was also altered to completely remove the "Growltiger's Last Stand" due to cultural sensitivity issues. The original scripts were not to diminish, nor to poke fun at, one's culture and/or disability, sexuality, etc.. They were built to tell a story. Yes, it is sad that professional B'way still has leaps and bounds to work this out, but you aren't going to please everyone! There is momentum, just not the speed that some wish it would be, but thanks to productions like "Hamilton", boundaries are being broken! Let's hope playwrights, producers, and the like are paying attention.
I’m closing this show today. Thank you for this, such a remarkable show
Regarding the last part of the video: thing is, musical theatre is physically demanding and you gotta be fit to properly perform most roles. Thats not ableism, thats just what this job is. I dont quite understand the point Mirko tried to make here.
My school's shows accommodate student performers who use mobility aids. It's not a valid reason to keep someone from participating in theater.
@@wolfkitty42how exactly would they keep up during a dance number for example? if its just a school play it might be fine but I fail to see how someone who relies on mobility aids could be in a production of something like Cats or Robin Hood
I've really enjoyed the recorded off-broadway slime tutorial of this show since around its online release, and it's really interesting to see the history and development of the show, as well as in depth discussion over Ricky's character and disability in theatre. Your production quality for this is amazing thank you for this documentary it's so fascinating
I am so excited about this doc. I honestly had never heard of the show before this but I've been learning more and more throughout the production. I can't wait to see how it all comes together! I'm also excited to see a frank and honest discussion of accessibility in theater included.