#seriously so good skshdnajsj

[dubsteplevi]

Okay so I've gotten a new hyperfixation of the BEAUTIFUL Broadway performance of Ride The Cyclone. I've yet to finish listening to the album however I want to talk about the opener and how it opens and the meaning cause I don't see anyone talking about it and NEEDS to be talked about cause it's so good and unlike no other I've heard. It's not happy like many other musical openers it's tragic while comedic at the same time. Into the analysis!!

Let's start with the very first song you hear when you open the playlist: Karnak's Dream Of Life: this song sets a perfect tone to what we'll be hearing and the vibe we should expect of the show itself, the first half of it starts with an organ playing music you'd expect from a funeral or some other sad event because the play starts with the children already being dead from the roller coaster accident, my guess is that it's music from the children's funeral(s) (the S being in parentheses because the children could've had their own separate funerals or one big one it's never clarified as far as I've heard) anyway then it goes into a music box kind of tune that's more hopeful and classical in a way with some sort of string instrument, if you know please tell me, this gives it Danny Elfman vibes (if you don't know who that is he is most commonly known for writing the music of Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice, Corpse Bride, along with many other movies). Then we here a women's voice singing saying:

"I know this dream of life is never-ending

It goes around and round and round again

You know the sun is rising while descending

It goes on and on and never ends~"

This could be possible foreshadowing (again this is a guess since I've yet to finish listening to the full show) to how the kids all had dreams but could never fulfill those dreams ("I know this dream of life is never-ending, it goes around and round and round again") to then saying that they all will never be able to fulfill those dreams, hence the metaphor of the sun rising while descending, saying that they all have hope (sun rising) but at the same time feel they can never get those dreams because of them being trapped in Uranium (the sun descending, I'll get more on that in a bit) and the last line meaning the kids feel like it'll take forever to get their dreams but they want them now

OKAY NEXT "SONG" (song in quotations because it's more of a monologue than a song) Welcome...

We get introduced to the Karnak, this is more comedic than really lore-based but worth mentioning because it makes me laugh every time because it's brutally honest in a really funny way. Seriously, if you've yet to listen to this on Spotify, do because it's worth it every time I hear it.

Now for the point of this post, the song "The Uranium Suite"

It starts with our main 5 singing about their town as a tribute. For a hot second I want to talk about how the lead sings individually, she sings very brightly. If you're not in choir this means singing like you would hear in very modern pop, that children's choir sound. This fits her character because she's very happy go-lucky, looking on the bright side and it's amazing how they showed that through this song alone. Apart from that the line of "we will never leave this town at all" is very important in this analysis.

After they do their bit the Karnak comes back, telling us that he saw how the children die, how they died, when and what time, they're dreams, etc. I saw a few clips of the show. I found that as he says this, the main 5 do some background acting of riding The Cyclone and as he talks about how they die, they do exactly as he says and show it. Like when he gets to the part of the coaster falling, the main 5 crescendo through their "ah's" and spread apart like they're falling off the ride, which story-wise is exactly what they're doing.

Then we get to my favourite part of this opener. Them singing:

"and then you're sailing through space

You don't know up from down

And you feel a little strange

The moment spinning round

And everything you loved

And everything you dreamed

And everything you feared

And everything that seems so

Oh so terrifying

It's far behind on the ground

Like I fall from this silly little itty bitty pretty hometown

Just a teeny tiny dot

On a wee blue ball

And we've all been spinning

All been spinning..."

Stopping there for a second to talk about the characters and why they sing this. Clearly it's because they're falling and their describing it. Along with that it shows that they're hopeless, desperate, and overall scared, kind of an eerie vibe to it before getting into their individual parts. Honestly I don't think there's more to that, the real part I want to talk about is when the trial song their part and the boys sing theirs. It goes like this:

"girls: empty space of empty shops

Shattered walls of mom and pops

Welcome to the Mega shopping mall (no idea if that's what they say, it's hard to hear over the guys)"

The girls sing this while the boys in the back sing "Uranium" about 4 times, each time being stretched like "uraaaaaaaaaanium" anyway this shows the children character of being hopeful and kind of more right-brained. They're looking over the town as they soar above it while falling. It shows they're character more and adds to them being more optimistic than the rest. This could also represent them all putting up a front on how much they love their town, to which as I type this I believe that's what it is. Then the guys sing this while girl switch to the uranium part:

"Boys: smart ones all packed up and went

Why stay if you can't pay the rent?

We will never leave this town at all"

This shows them all to be a little more pessimistic, only noticing the flaws of their town and how run down the town is and how they never truly liked it. The line "we will never leave this town at all" shows how they feel they will never amount to anything outside Uranium. then they go back to their front of loving the town:

"drink some brew, join the choir

Build yourself a funeral fire

Uranium our dead and dive

We'll never leave this town alive

No, we will never leave

This

Town

At

All

Genie: greeting children, it's time to play

Children: earth is sky, the sky is ground

Did we finally leave our town?"

Woo boy just a little more to unpack in that last part. The first 2 lines are that front of them loving their town before they emphasize them never leaving their town. The Karnak appears and the children meet him before they sing, "did we finally leave our town" that last line is whispered to each other and the word finally just adds to them wanting to leave otherwise the word finally wouldn't be put in. I think I've emphasized that enough

Anyways those are my thoughts on it all. It's a very wonderful way to introduce the show and very different and it's very beautiful. It's slowly becoming one of my favourite musicals lmao.

#rtc musical #rtc #ride the cyclone #noel rtc #musical analysis #analysis #seriously so good skshdnajsj #ride the cyclone musical