Ride the Cyclone - Sydney Musical Theatre
“Production designer Alaska Jarvis has done an incredible job of capturing the haunted whimsy of the carnival fairground. The use of moveable sets and prop pieces to tell each character’s story is tremendously impressive.” - The Scoop
I fell in love with Ride the Cyclone as soon as I started my research for the design. I knew going into it that creating and designing the set, props, costumes, videography, and lighting in under 4 months would be a huge challenge… and it was! But it was the best and most enjoyable challenge I have ever taken on. Having the opportunity to develop and manufacture original ideas to tell such a meaningful story was very special and a great learning experience, and not to be biased but this is definitely my favorite production I have worked on so far!
Progress
Set Design
Scrapped Concept
When I began the design process for Ride the Cyclone I was originally inspired by the Off-Broadway production. However, as I became more familiar with the musical, I became drawn to the concept of abandoned spaces. As it is set in a purgatory-like realm, I wanted it to be somewhat creepy and carnivalesque in every sense. This also allowed the performers to used various props to tell their story. (We even had a space-themed bumper car for Ricky Potts!)
The backdrop was a key part of the production as it framed the huge LED screen. Because it was intended to serve as a portal between purgatory and “the other side”, I wanted to make it look as if it was an accumulation of scraps from various carnival attractions. I cut out flats, scattered old posters, and hand painted several patterns over them to create a layered, weathered away look. To further elevate this idea, I framed the remainder of the backdrop with mismatched timber, giving the effect of what once was part of a wooden rollercoaster.
Final Concept Video
The Amazing Karnak’s fortune-telling box was the very first set piece I designed for the production. I went for a slightly antique, weathered look. I achieved this by repurposing several parts from old, broken furniture and painting it a beautiful shade of turquoise to really make the character stand out as he narrated the story. Finally, I accompanied this with lights and a color changing crystal ball. (The backstage crew had a lot of fun with this!)
LED Graphics
The graphics are what really tie this musical together. The original Off-Broadway production set an amazing example of how these film-style projections tell each character’s story and capture the audiences attention.
I aimed to create a high contrast between life and fantasy with these videos. While some were old film reels showing characters’ memories or futures as they were introduced, others played during the teenagers’ solos. They showed clear depictions of the characters’ visions, fantasies and dreams, additionally making audiences feel as though they were part of each story.
These are the original video files from the production, This Song is Awesome, Space Age Bachelor Man, What The World Needs. We used an LED screen to present these graphics as opposed to a projector which turned out to be more effective as it was brighter and looked seamless when not in use.
Props
What would a set be without props?! Ride the Cyclone is definitely one of those musicals that requires a lot of interactive and static props to bring the production to life. While I will go in depth about my favourite props. An honourable mention is definitely the human-sized ferris wheel. (Yes it actually spins)
I wanted to do something original for the song “Sugar Cloud”. And after some brainstorming I came up with the very cute idea to repurpose the hydraulic lift used for the great glass elevator into an old cloud ride - from the traveling fairground. This was my first time wiring lights and it was a lot of fun to see how it all turned out. It was very bright on stage!
Karnak’s mask was easily one of the most exciting things to work on, and while it probably counts as more of a costume piece, I am categorizing it as a prop since it was the cast and crew’s favourite item to take turns with. I purchased a skull mask with light-up eyes and covered it in layers of foam and paper towel mâché (yes paper towels mould and hold much better than newspaper). I sculpted the features while it was still wet and once it was dry, painted the details and drilled breathing holes through the nose, eyes and mouth.
Costumes
Costumes for Ride the Cyclone are generally pretty simplistic, with the students wearing their uniforms for almost the entirety of the performance. However, this production included dancers as background characters such as the sexy cat women, Ukrainian gangstas, folk dancers and 20th century french hookers.
The sexy cat costumes are a personal and crowd favourite of my costume designs thus far. I started off with a white, purple and turquoise colour palette, however, after designing planet Zolar for the LED screen, I quickly changed to a bright green and blue galactic colour palette. This contrasted much better against Ricky’s silver and white costume on stage, making everything pop with the lighting. I created these by making a bodysuit base and sewing faux fur fabric onto different areas. I then hand dyed/styled wigs and hand-painted masks to finish off the look.
The rest of the costumes I outsourced from various stores and websites and pieced them together for contrasting looks. I noticed that not many productions had used blue uniforms which I thought matched the overall aesthetic of this production nicely. For Noel (Monique) and the French hookers, I chose all-black as I knew it would look great against the red lighting. The dancers wore scandalous lace outfits and Noel had a worn, sequined bodysuit. The Ukrainian folk dancers wore traditional dresses which also contrasted well with the set and warm lighting.
Videos
Featured videography and promotional content for the production, showcasing all design elements created by me. From prop making and set construction to video shooting and editing.