FINISHING RIDE THE CYCLONE | Sugar Cloud + It's Not A Game/It's Just A Ride
Added 2025-05-26 23:08:11 +0000 UTCI... may never be the same
Comments
Sugar cloud is actually one of my favorites, definitely not my favorite but I’m glad you are giving it the love it deserves
Randomfandom
2025-06-20 22:23:38 +0000 UTCMy interpretation is that it’s STILL a cycle. They end in almost exactly the same poses as they stand the musical in, so maybe this whole thing is just happening, over and over again, for eternity. An endless loop of growing and changing and staying the same and going back as you go forward.
Antisocial Butterfly
2025-06-17 00:46:53 +0000 UTCMy kinda pessimistic theory is that no one comes back and this just repeats again and again since Jane Doe couldn't come back and it's the same line at the beginning and end
Liz Nichols
2025-06-03 05:29:36 +0000 UTCI absolutely adore the choice they made to make sugar cloud the bows song because it’s truly the most optimistic song of the bunch and it also being the last of the kids songs is just— GAH I LOVE THIS SHOW SO MUCH BROOO thank you for doing this series 😭🙏🙏
Dairy Godmother
2025-06-03 03:33:05 +0000 UTCHow I sort of interoperate the ending is in three ways: Two are the ones you mentioned, that they were able to come back. Or that this all happened in a time suspended before their deaths. Where they chose who would remain off the ride, and they experience it again. The last way I see it, and I think my favorite way of seeing it, is that the end of the musical is them in the afterlife. The Cyclone ironically is what got them all together, they might even enjoy and experience that ride again. But the singing at the end I see as once Penny (Jane) finally lived her life as herself, and not a number or a statistic, she came to the afterlife with them, and got to see them again. I could see problems with this, but I like the idea of them meeting again, and getting to know the woman none of them had the chance to get to know. Either way it really is a beautiful musical. And I'm glad I stuck around to watch till the end with you.
Daisy whatzittoyou
2025-06-01 03:51:47 +0000 UTCOne thing I love about this show so much is how it talks about life, and how life inherently has meaning, no matter how long or short it is, no matter how hard or how little you try... Because you lived. You were here on Earth and you had fun and you cried and you learned new things and you loved and you hoped and you dreamed. And that means something, inherently. There's no grade at the end of life. There's no one to tell you you didn't do enough. You weren't put on Earth to win, you were put on Earth to just be. To experience. Because life isn't a game. It's just a ride.
Paradoxgavel
2025-05-31 00:36:22 +0000 UTCIt was nice to see someone appreciate it as much as I do. I also love the analogy of the jawbreaker, it’s so simple but so effective (It haunts me that the big sugar cloud prop is probably just in some warehouse somewhere. It should be in my house)
Lindsey Freeman
2025-05-27 23:52:23 +0000 UTCConstance’s monologue always makes me cry like a baby. Sugar Cloud is far from my favorite song musically, but thematically it is the most important moment in the show. Ride the Cyclone is such a powerful show, and Constance is such an incredible character. Nothing has ever made me felt quite this seen.
Lindsey Freeman
2025-05-27 23:47:40 +0000 UTCPersonally, I think that ending is just that they "moved on" and is deliberately ambiguous as to what that means. Especially since it is due to Karnak's knowledge that we know or have seen any of this, and he doen't know what's after either.
Moony Star
2025-05-27 23:28:43 +0000 UTCSugarcloud is such an underrated, beautiful, song. It genuinely makes me cry every time.
Moony Star
2025-05-27 23:01:08 +0000 UTCMy personal headcannon is that the kids get sent back to right before they died. Thus letting them enjoy their last few minutes before they pass away. This being a contrast to the begining of the play. Before they were angry, scared and confused. Now they pass away knowing they lived good lived, not fear death.
Pumpkin Pumpkin
2025-05-27 22:43:41 +0000 UTCI’ve always interpreted the ending as them just getting to be kids and playing in kind of an ethereal space, then moving on and dematerializing from the warehouse, at peace ♥️
Tey
2025-05-27 20:47:04 +0000 UTCjoining the chorus to suggest next to normal <3 bring tissues though
Bethany
2025-05-27 19:46:18 +0000 UTCSugar Cloud is definitely underrated
Turtle
2025-05-27 18:10:38 +0000 UTChave you seen next to normal? would love to see your reaction to the pbs proshot, it's so good!!
scarlett
2025-05-27 17:55:49 +0000 UTCI played Constance last September and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I still bawl listening to sugar cloud.
Calie💕
2025-05-27 17:53:23 +0000 UTCYou should watch the Next to Normal proshot that came out on PBS this month!!!
Bianca Cavender
2025-05-27 14:53:36 +0000 UTCI’ve been WAITING for Sugar Cloud. It’s so underrated 😭 it’s definitely the song that’s grown on me the most and I’m a Constance/Sugar Cloud defender. I’m auditioning for her at the end of June and hope I get her because she means so much to me now!
Erikka Lynn
2025-05-27 13:10:14 +0000 UTCmortius im so curious if youve checked out the lightning theif musical at all
Graves Edgar
2025-05-27 09:28:45 +0000 UTCYes! That's what I wanted to recommend as well! I love that show so much
Jennifer Solenthaler
2025-05-27 08:23:55 +0000 UTCThe whole show is a journey, and so to me the ending doesn’t actually have to have a specific meaning, and it can differ per production. At the theater I watched it at, Penny Lamb came out to the front of the curtains without the wig and doll makeup singing her ending line, holding up 5 carnival tickets. Also Jawbreaker (the monologue+the singing portion before sugar cloud) is my favorite song just because of how relatable it is! It isn’t one id hype up ahead of time because it really is about the journey to it when it hits.
Zaphirite
2025-05-27 07:01:01 +0000 UTCSeriously, Youtube premium is cheaper than the other streaming service I never watched. It's worth it if you watch a lot of YT.
Hanon Ondricek
2025-05-27 06:59:50 +0000 UTCSugar Cloud doesn't seem outrageous but that's not Contstance. Her special feature is she plays the recorder and that's rockstar awesome. Karnak basically let every one of them discover and live their interior joy and gave them all the finales they deserved. The show can be interpreted as "the split second before they die" like people's reported "life flashing before their eyes" before they survive a brush with death. I also like Mortius's idea that the five of them are singing together forever on the Cyclone - but it's the best version of a roller coaster ride that doesn't end in tragedy and they can see everything. The Chekhov's Gun of Karnak and Virgil's finite amount of time is so powerful when it hits. The show makes you forget about it and then it's like a bandaid ripped off. The 90 minute wait for the end is better enjoyed with the choir performances than spent worrying about the clock. Penny Lamb is one of two characters in Legoland, a play that preceded Ride the Cyclone but is in the same universe - literally in Uranium City Saskatchewan.. It's just as weird and wild and I believe it's not too great of a leap to consider Penny's parents are in the same commune as Ocean's. It's also possible the author didn't think the two-character play he wrote for a comedy troupe was part of a complicated multiverse and may just have used her name for fun.
Hanon Ondricek
2025-05-27 06:38:42 +0000 UTCThe thing that came to mind for the ending, especially with the whole emphasis on a never ending cycle, is that it might be about reincarnation. Not like Jane Doe/Penny, who got to go back to her life as it happened before she died but as entirely new human beings without memories but with a certain something from them still remaining. I do also like the interpretation that this is just them reliving out their death after going back in time so Penny can live (her whole head got cut off originally, I imagine it'd be difficult to bring her back by being like "oh she lived" so I assume Karnack must've changed something fundamental before the accident.)
Nika
2025-05-27 06:37:35 +0000 UTCI feel like sugar cloud is often overlooked because the staging is so understated. Every other song has a gimmick to make you remember it better. What the World Needs has you gasping at just how narcissistic Ocean is, Noel’s Lament has amazing staging and choreography to go with the unusual subject matter, Talia has the projections, Space Age Bachelor Man is insane, and Ballad of Jane Doe has you asking how exactly she managed to sing those notes while spinning upside down. Sugar Cloud doesn’t have that. It’s a bunch of teenagers jamming together. Yes, it shows off Constance’s amazing voice, but the entire cast has impressive vocal control, so it doesn’t stand out. Add the fact that the finale comes immediately after, and Sugar Cloud just fades into the background in comparison to everything else.
Rhyianan
2025-05-27 06:12:28 +0000 UTCI second this as well as Next to Normal and possibly Fun Home
Icy The Dragon girl
2025-05-27 05:24:43 +0000 UTCI love sugar cloud because it shows the choir just being kids and having fun. they’re not perfect but they’re all into it. it’s the celebration of their lives
NotCurrentlyPresent
2025-05-27 05:05:00 +0000 UTCanother musical that i think could be insane is 35 mm it has some of the most beautiful songs and devastating ones
suspicious owl
2025-05-27 04:38:56 +0000 UTCSome of us have deluded ourselves into believing they all ended up being brought back, but it's most likely this is the moment of them passing, sans Penny
Shiloh
2025-05-27 04:38:14 +0000 UTCSeeing you jump at Karnaks death was so real, my husband was so startled when it happened. 😂 But a sad fun fact is behind them after Penny's life montage, it counts down, and Mischa and Noel see it, grab everyone and pull them close, as if protecting them. 🥲😭💕
Shiloh
2025-05-27 04:32:16 +0000 UTCmay i put in a humble request for natasha, pierre and the great comet of 1812 if you're interested in another fantastic but weird one
gibbsith
2025-05-27 04:26:30 +0000 UTCgod its such a good ending
Enby_Ember
2025-05-27 03:47:50 +0000 UTCConstance's monologue makes me cry every single time and then I continue with tears on my face until the bows. I love this show so much. <3 Thank you for watching it!
Josie Smith
2025-05-27 03:22:13 +0000 UTCAt the beginning, Constance said that Father Marcus was inspired by the Lion King.....It's the Ciiiiircllle, the Circle of Life
Ryan Tjarks
2025-05-27 02:37:49 +0000 UTCConstance's monologue is beautiful in a heartbreaking way, my whole being aches to give her a hug. I also really love Jawbreaker/Sugar Cloud and I think it frequently gets overlooked because this whole section comes right after The Ballad of Jane Doe and people's brains are still broken from that. In a way it was a good thing that you had a few days in between the two reactions, it meant you could fully be there for all the depth and magic of Constance's song without still having part of your attention going "BUT HOW DID SHE SING UPSIDE DOWN".
Smee
2025-05-27 02:26:05 +0000 UTCI SECOND COME FROM AWAY!!! That show has me tearing up every time
Alex Gukgak
2025-05-27 02:18:06 +0000 UTCKarnaks dying line is "Your lucky number is 7. You will soar to great heights. Be sure to ride the cyclone."
Briana Hyler
2025-05-27 01:46:19 +0000 UTCI always interpreted it as them returning to their final moments, now that Karnak no longer can hold the moment back, plunging into the afterlife.
AnglingForChoices
2025-05-27 01:28:31 +0000 UTCMy ending interpretation after they watch penny's life, is that they start their own afterlife in a limbo/purgatory state, which is why the black stage. But as time progresses they themselves are able to enter the afterlife after we get that last glimpse of their final moment. I sort of like to think that even near death experiences bring one to limbo where you either "go to light" or stay alive. I sort of even think the isekai genre is that limbo state, if yoh die in the isekai, according to the plot of the game or book you end up in, you go back to real life waking in a hospital, if you manage to survive it ends up being your afterlife. Ive read and watch a lot of isekai [and a couple touch on this concept]. Hopefully you enjoyed my interpretation considering I can say I have personal experience, and it was a weird spacey limbo. Maybe I'll turn it into short story one day, i wrote my experience in a journal. 🤔
Seraphina Stardust
2025-05-27 01:03:26 +0000 UTCI petition the council for Come From Away at 100K
Jimmy Wise
2025-05-27 00:57:19 +0000 UTCMortius just needs to get ublock already to get rid of the ads 😂
Slydude71
2025-05-27 00:49:22 +0000 UTCI definitely recommend watching the RTC documentary either on your own time or as a reaction. It can be found on YT and has a lot of information on the entire production and it's many iterations.
ShockedCorgi
2025-05-27 00:46:54 +0000 UTC29:56 "The one who wants to win it the most shall redeem the loser in order to complete the whole", Is Karnaks prophecy from the beginning.
Dev M.
2025-05-27 00:43:55 +0000 UTCAlso this show, hadestown, and the play rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead, are my favorite shows of all time (and they all are very meta and cyclical, so makes sense that I absolutely adore them!!!)
Ratatosk Clarke
2025-05-27 00:39:39 +0000 UTCThe way I interpreted it was their afterlife is the cyclone! It’s them experiencing joy and fear together. Because to me, the cyclone is a metaphor for just.. life and living. When Karnak says “be sure to ride the cyclone” he means be sure to live your life while you have it, and take a look around at the people who you share your life with. In my interpretation, their afterlife is either eternally riding on the actual roller coaster, or eternally living out their lives before they died.
Ratatosk Clarke
2025-05-27 00:38:32 +0000 UTCConstance’s monologue means so much to me!!! I performed it as my senior monologue in high school, and it will forever make me nostalgic. This show has truly impacted me so deeply, the last song never fails to make me cry.
Ratatosk Clarke
2025-05-27 00:35:40 +0000 UTCSince the last lyrics are about everything going round and round and starting again, I always thought the ending meant that they were maybe getting reborn, and getting the chance to live another life differently
Amelis 3000
2025-05-27 00:32:46 +0000 UTCAhh I'm so happy you decided to watch this show!! If you watch any animatics for this you should check out Celvy Cingtons animatic for "It's Not a Game/It's Just a Ride" it's amazing and I've rewatched way too many times.
Dev M.
2025-05-27 00:32:18 +0000 UTCSometimes I wanna suggest you check out Bare: A Pop Opera, but then I'll hear you talk about something personal, or should I say not talk about it, and it makes me think it's not a good idea. It might break you emotionally.
Makayla
2025-05-27 00:29:35 +0000 UTCI love this show a lot. I was a little reserved about it my first time watching but by the end, I was pretty much on board. One of my absolute favorite experiences with this show was getting to go see a home town local production with my two best friends and their reactions. Watching them be so confused and amused was amazing. One of them turned to me and asked "what is going on?!" during Space Age Bachelor Man and I told her "It gets better" just before Ricky said "It gets weird now." lmao.
Nobu Akuma
2025-05-27 00:15:42 +0000 UTCme personally, i love the choice that they go back to the moment of their death. that entire last song was such a screw you to the nihilist "nothing means anything, why even try, we're bugs on a rock floating through space" this show says yes nothing means anything, but that also leaves open the possibility for everything to mean everything. "it's more than spinning round. it's everything you loved, and everything you dreamed" it's a declaration of ultimate freedom and rejoice at the incredible coincidence that allowed the earth to form and for you to be born on it. yes they were 17 when they died, but as ocean says that doesn't mean they had "less of a life." anyway sorry for philosophizing but I think it's much more impactful to stick to their deaths as a choice and to still yet claim that their story is not a tradgedy.
Allison
2025-05-27 00:10:36 +0000 UTCHey Mortius, love the video! You should look up the one act play Legoland. It’s considered lost media, but it’s considered a prequel to ride the cyclone as it shows the life of Penny Lamb before she dies.
Theo Hart
2025-05-27 00:08:48 +0000 UTCConstant's song is even more sad when you find out Ocean always had her sing Alto and never let her show her full vocal potential until she got to sing her own song after they die.
Ziggy
2025-05-27 00:08:46 +0000 UTCIsn't it strangely fitting that Take Me Back to Eden started playing at the start? I'll come back and say my RTC thoughts at the end, once I've finished physically weeping. I honestly think that the Cyclone is Constance's favorite ride because it finally gave her permission to love her life, even if by the end of the ride, her life was over. There's no way to emotionally prepare for Sugar Cloud or the following songs. Best to just enjoy it together, hold each other's hands and wait for what's to come. I think Karnak conjured the choir from the void and held them in Limbo until the choice was made to send someone back. Now all the kids get to move on, their unfinished business fulfilled. Penny passed away from old age, then came back to open the door for her friends so they could go to the next world together. At least that's my hopeful interpretation!
Kory Misun
2025-05-27 00:08:16 +0000 UTCThe other side is essentially earth so my thing is they are watching from the afterlife Jane doe get brought back and my personal canon is since she has no head on the accident she instead gets reincarnated as Savannah with the greenest eyes so Ricky’s imagination also came to live literally and figuratively and Penny Lamb was her life before cause Karnak didn’t say she became
ANTHONY ASHMALL
2025-05-27 00:07:26 +0000 UTCLife is a cyclone... there's ups and downs and the ending will inevitably lead to your death but if you don't ride it you'll never feel anything! The musical is a wild emotional journey - as is life - but satisfaction comes from everything that came along the way. I really feel like the musical is a metaphor for life in every way - and ends with Penny returning to the afterlife! Karnak is confusing and strange, but life isn't fair - youll get weird moments and unsatisfying changes in any walk of life brought by other people. The narrator to anyones story in the end is just another person who will die as well! Remember to ride the cyclone.
Ender Gurl
2025-05-27 00:06:43 +0000 UTCI'd forgotten about Constance's monologue/song, so I wasn't braced to start ugly-crying, lol. I've always taken the end as reincarnation; they don't win the chance to pick up where they left off but they all still get to go back for a new start. This dream of life is never-ending, it goes around and round and round again...
Cassie
2025-05-27 00:04:35 +0000 UTCHow does that production handle the Ballad of Jane Doe? As in, do they have a fly system or something similar to what the "proshot" did with the cherry picker arm?
Jimmy Wise
2025-05-27 00:03:25 +0000 UTCThey get to watch Penny’s whole life while they reflect on their own. At the end, they are send back to the start. They are on the rollercoaster, and they will die, but Penny Lamb will not be decapitated. After they die, it’s a cycle. Back and forth. Round and round. Life is beautiful and sad and strange and this weird little show perfectly encapsulates the human experience.
Lyni
2025-05-27 00:01:05 +0000 UTCI’ve always taken the ending to be Penny rejoining them in the afterlife. We see in the video her whole life play out, including what looks like the moment she died. Time seems irrelevant in the afterlife, so I always pictured that that was Penny coming back for a reunion before going to spend the afterlife with her family. Unrelated, but I also always imagine that Penny names her daughter Savanna. There’s SO much I could talk about, about this this show. It’s absolutely one of my favorites, and, yeah, the ending destroys me.
Michelle Stewart
2025-05-26 23:54:46 +0000 UTCUgh this musical is too short. So glad you reacted to this! 😊
JenaeH
2025-05-26 23:52:37 +0000 UTC*Fall fair not Uranium Suite oops
Jupiter
2025-05-26 23:45:48 +0000 UTCIt's hard to tell on the first listen but in Uranium Suite they say "everything you loved and it's everything you dreamed and it's everything you feared" and in the final song they replace 'feared' with 'shared' :)
Jupiter
2025-05-26 23:44:14 +0000 UTCIVE READ PENDRAGON AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!
Alexus Howard
2025-05-26 23:39:18 +0000 UTCConstance is definitely the character I was looking forward for your reaction on with her monolog and her song just always get to me!
Tori James Art
2025-05-26 23:38:13 +0000 UTCI totally agree that Jawbreaker/Sugar Cloud is underrated, it is one of my favorite songs in RTC
Critical Devil
2025-05-26 23:37:52 +0000 UTCI love this show so much. I live near Orlando Florida, and Orlando is home to the longest running production of Ride The Cyclone to date! (One year and three months!) I'm extremely lucky to call some of those performers peers and friends. RTC is just one of those shows that stays with you long after you watch it. The ending makes me cry every time. It's so chilling, yet so hopeful at the same time. I'm so glad you watched it, and I'm looking forward to more musical reactions in the future!
Alyx Villalobos
2025-05-26 23:35:06 +0000 UTCI WAS SO EXCITED FOR YOU TO GET TO CONSTANCE!!!!! I’ve been anticipating this for so long. No one ever reacts to Constance’s monologue or song, and this is like the only thorough reaction I’ve seen to it. Thank you.
l3erryPipsqueak
2025-05-26 23:33:22 +0000 UTCPNGortius
SugarBrother
2025-05-26 23:29:29 +0000 UTCConstance Blackwood, my sweet baby girl. Her speech before her song makes me want to give her the biggest hug.
Danielle T.
2025-05-26 23:24:48 +0000 UTCAAAH MY FAVORITE PART OF THE MUSICAL
Ziggy
2025-05-26 23:24:07 +0000 UTCNot me dropping everything to come watch this...
Lizzy C-Drake
2025-05-26 23:15:22 +0000 UTCTHE MOMENT WEVE BEEN WAITING FORRR
Emiii 🫶🏾
2025-05-26 23:10:19 +0000 UTCI have been WAITING FOR THIS!!!!!! I’m SO EXCITED!!!
Michelle Stewart
2025-05-26 23:09:35 +0000 UTC
