RIDE – Original London Cast Recording (Broadway Records).
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Following a short London run in 2022, a highly-acclaimed 2023 preview period at Leicester Curve and a stint at the Southwark Playhouse Theatre, the original London cast of Ride is now immortalised in the release of this soundtrack album.
Ride tells the true story of Annie Londonderry as she undertakes the huge challenge of being the first woman to cycle around the world. Undoubtedly a significant feat by itself, but as a woman in 1895, perhaps even more so. Indeed, through listening to Annie’s story, one almost feels a little sad that more has not been made of her in modern society until now – she is not one of the ‘greats’ that each new generation automatically learns about – but thankfully the writing and production behind this new musical goes at least part way to giving her the attention she arguably earned all those years ago.
Although not a ‘stereotypical’ musical theatre story, Ride is somewhat reminiscent of Come From Away not only in its true story, progressive-narrative feel but also in the standout emotional nature of the score. What could easily have been a slow-moving tedious collection of songs is actually far from it in the hands of Freya Catrin Smith and Jack Williams, and even without necessarily seeing the show one can follow along with the story thanks to the elements of narration and dialogue within the musical numbers.
The soundtrack is catchy and a delightful melodic listen, if at times a little repetitive in the refrains and harmonics. Nevertheless there are elements that absolutely soar, not least the title track which is simply stunning, performed by Liv Andrusier as Annie. Andrusier also has several duets with newspaper secretary Martha, played by Yuki Sutton, who Annie meets at the beginning of the show as she pitches for column inches to recount the story of her travels. Between them the two manage to capture all the emotional highs and lows of Annie’s journey, with Martha re-enacting the characters she meets along the course of her travels, peaking with upbeat numbers such as ‘Everybody Loves a Lie’ and highlighting the more touching moments in ‘Stranger’.
Amidst the rise in popularity and support of new British musicals such as Operation Mincemeat, it is fabulous to see new stories being brought to the fore and expertly depicted through sublime lyricism and orchestration. A triumph for this cast and the show as a whole, with hopefully many more miles in it yet.
Sorcha Exworthy
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