L to R: Connor Christopher, Ian Stotts, Saige Wilson, JW Ruth, Natalie Stinchcomb. Seated center: Reanna Sherman Not pictured: Howard Mesick, Chloe Bennett
Months before it was on CHT’s official list of coming attractions, potential cast members started adjusting their schedules and preparing to audition for Ride the Cyclone. This amazing musical has achieved cult-like status on social media and has played to sold-out houses around the world. Local audiences will soon have the opportunity to see what all the buzz is about.
Director Kat Melton has assembled a stellar cast to portray the doomed members of the St. Cassian Chamber Choir, off on a school trip from their high school in Uranium City, Saskatchewan. After a horrific accident on a fair midway, The Amazing Karnak, a fortune-telling automaton, offers the teens a chance to sing for a second chance at life. They outdo each other in truly glorious music that is sometimes sad, sometimes comic, and always memorable.
In the Church Hill Theatre revival, a live orchestra (positioned in the balcony) will be led by music director Michael Casey, a featured member of the Chester River Chorale. Choreography will be provided by the triple threat Greg Minahan, Artistic Director of Shore Shakespeare.
The essential, but non-singing, role of Karnak will be played by Howard Mesick, one of CHT’s most versatile actors. The teen-aged choir members are portrayed by experienced actors with the outstanding singing chops the score demands.
The first contestant, the overachiever Ocean O’Connell Rosenberg, will be played by Saige Wilson of Galena who is making her CHT debut. Natalie Stinchcomb of Barclay, a Green Room Gang alum, plays her side-kick Constance Blackwood, a girl with serious self-esteem and anger issues.
Connor Christopher, of Ridgely, portrays Noel Gruber, who fancies himself a French reincarnation of Marlene Dietrich. Connor has been active in CHT productions since early childhood. Mischa Bachinski, played by the multi-talented J.W. Ruth of Centerville, is a Ukrainian, adopted by a Canadian family, but who never fully fit in. Mischa projects a gangster persona through rap music. JW is an accomplished actor and director often seen on the stages of CHT and the Garfield. Although not a contestant, Mischa’s lost love Talia makes a poignant appearance; Chloe Bennett, a Gunston School student from Centreville, takes on this smaller crucial part. She is making her CHT debut, though she appeared on the CHT stage last year in the Gunston School production of Night Chills.
Ian Stotts, of Sudlersville, another Green Room Gang alum and CHT main stage performer, takes on the role of Ricky Potts. While Ricky is mute and has a degenerative condition, his imagination soars to “infinity and beyond.” The last teen, an enigma known as Jane Doe, is played by Reanna Sherman, of Grasonville, who made her debut at CHT as Eliza Dolittle in My Fair Lady in June. Reanna graduated from Washington College and is the Choral Director at Kent Island High School.
While this is Kat Melton’s directorial debut at Church Hill Theatre, she all but grew up on the CHT stage helping her dad, CHT’s master lighting designer Doug Kaufmann. She is a graduate of St. Andrews College in Laurinburg, NC with a degree in Communications and Theatre Arts and a minor in Film History.
Ride the Cyclone will open on Friday, November 8 and run through Sunday, November 24, with performances at 7:30 pm on Fridays and Saturdays and at 2 pm on Sundays. More information and tickets on the website: churchhilltheatre.org
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