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March 30 – April 28, 2024
(Opening night: Friday, April 5)
Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage
Old Globe Theatre
Conrad Prebys Theatre Center
American premiere
Book, music, and lyrics by Freya Catrin Smith
Music and lyrics by Jack Williams
Directed by Sarah Meadows
Ready, set, ride! The smash-hit London musical makes its U.S. premiere. It’s 1895, and Annie Londonderry wants to discover if a woman can ride a bicycle around the world. The problem? She’s only ridden one twice! As Annie and her unwitting secretary Martha share unbelievable adventures across four continents, they learn that no matter how far we ride, our past is always right behind us. With a high-energy score and a wildly versatile cast, this fresh and funny show is what Theatre Weekly called “an amazing piece of theatre and a must-watch for everyone.”
This production includes strong language.
Total running time: One hour and 30 minutes (one act with no intermission).
Vicki and Carl Zeiger Insights Seminar: Tuesday, April 2 at 6:00 p.m.
Open-Caption Performance: Saturday, April 20 at 2:00 p.m.
Ride is supported by production sponsors The Joseph Cohen and Martha Farish New Play Development Fund and artist sponsors Alicia and Jonathan Atun (for director Sarah Meadows) Sandy and Arthur* Levinson (for music director Dan Green), Sue and Edward "Duff" Sanderson (for Alex Finke), and Richard and Shari Sapp (for Livvy Marcus).
Cast and Creatives Announcement Press Release
Freya Catrin Smith (Book, Music, and Lyrics) and Jack Williams (Music and Lyrics), award-winning composers and lyricists. Awards for Ride: VAULT Festival Awards for Outstanding New Work and People’s Choice, Writers’ Guild Award nomination for Best Musical Theatre Bookwriting, WhatsOnStage Award nomination for Best Off West End Production. Writing credits: Ride (Leicester Curve, Southwark Playhouse, Charing Cross Theatre, West End/Garrick Theatre, VAULT Festival), The Limit (VAULT Festival winner for People’s Choice and Outstanding New Work), song cycle Part A (Edinburgh Fringe sell-out show), Echoes (in development, with Adam Lenson and Katy Lipson); performances at The Other Palace, The Roundhouse, Leicester Square Theatre; development with drama schools including The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, ArtsEd. Other honors: 2023 Fred Ebb Award, Chamber Musical Prize, Cameron Mackintosh Composer Residency finalists, Stiles + Drewe Best New Song Prize finalists, MTI Mentorship Award finalists; for Smith, a MGC Futures Bursary to develop new work.
Sarah Meadows (Director) Multi-award-winning British director. Credits: Ride (15 major awards, 2023 Off West End Award finalist for Best Director, WhatsOnStage Award for Best Production), Marie Curie (Charing Cross Theatre), Bricks (Old Vic Theatre), One Jewish Boy (West End), Screwed (Theatre503; Off West End Award finalist for Best Director), Camilla Whitehill’s Big Mood (Channel 4). U.K. tours: multi-award-winning productions of You, Whitehill’s Where Do Little Birds Go? and Mr. Incredible. Associate credits: Joshua Harmon’s Admissions directed by Daniel Aukin (West End), Blithe Spirit starring Jennifer Saunders directed by Sir Richard Eyre (West End, U.K. tour). Representation: Gersh, InterTalent.
Jennifer Jancuska (Choreography) New York–based director/choreographer. The Old Globe: The Tale of Despereaux. Regional: Berkeley Rep, The Public, City Center, Dallas Theater Center, Goodspeed, Little Island, Ars Nova, more. Broadway: resident choreographer for Hamilton. Other work: Founding Artistic Director of BringAbout Development (a nonprofit development and production company dedicated to developing dance as a narrative tool early in the process of writing new musicals and plays); creator of the sold out, biannual event BC BEAT (described by The New York Times as the placeto “step into the spotlight and re-imagine the possibilities for dance in musical theatre”); educator (NYU GMTWP, Syracuse, Ithaca College, Pace, more); SDC member. Honors: named to the Broadway Women’s Fund 5th Annual Women to Watch List 2024. Education: Cornell University. jenniferjancuska.com, @jencuska on Instagram.
Amy Jane Cook (Scenic and Costume Design) Theatre credits: Bronco Billy (Charing Cross), Boys from the Blackstuff (Liverpool’s Royal Court), Ride (Curve, Southwark Playhouse, Charing Cross), The Swell (Orange Tree), Protest (Northern Stage, Fuel), The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher (Watermill), Wolf Cub (Hampstead), All My Sons (Queen’s), Baskerville (Mercury), The Season (Royal & Derngate), Jellyfish (National Theatre), The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (Clwyd), You Stupid Darkness! (Plymouth Drum), Insignificance (Langham Place). Honors: four Off West End Award nominations for Best Set Design, 2017 Wales Theatre Award for Best Design.
Jamie Platt (Lighting Design) Lighting designs: The Last Five Years (West End, international tour), Jellyfish (National Theatre), Word-Play (Royal Court Theatre), Something Rotten!, Suddenly Last Summer, Sister Act (English Theatre Frankfurt), Nineteen Gardens, Octopolis, Either, Paradise, Yous Two (Hampstead Theatre), Kinky Boots (New Wolsey Theatre), The Children, Moonlight and Magnolias (Nottingham Playhouse), Sleeping Beauty, Mythic (Charing Cross Theatre), The Gap, Head Over Heels, Vincent River (Hope Mill Theatre), That Face (Orange Tree Theatre). Associate lighting designs: Frozen, Six (West End, international), Ink, The Night of the Iguana, The Starry Messenger, Bitter Wheat (West End).
Andrew Johnson (Sound Design) Theatre: Titanic The Musical (international tour), The Play That Goes Wrong (Broadway, West End, U.K. tour, U.S. tour), We Will Rock You, Mamma Mia! (Romania), Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience (global), Best of Enemies, Mandela (live broadcast), Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera in Concert (Guernsey), Bronco Billy, Rebecca, The Lion, Zorro: The Musical, Broken Wings, Preludes, Allegro, Company, Mythic, Amore, Violet, The Woman in White, Death Takes a Holiday, Ragtime, Mack and Mable (Off West End).
Matt Powell (Video Design) (they/she/he) U.S. debut. West End: Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Public Domain (Vaudeville). U.K. regional: Sherlock Holmes and the Poison Wood (Watermill), Exhibitionists (Kings Head Theatre), I Really Do Think This Will Change Your Life (Mercury; Stage Awards finalist for Innovation), Rebecca (Charing Cross), Animal (tour; Offie finalist), Rumi (London Coliseum, D’asha Performance Festival), A-Typical Rainbow (Turbine), Flight (Royal College), Bloody Difficult Women (Riverside). Digital: on hope (The Other Palace), MTPRIDE, Is He Musical? (Chromatic Creative). Education: B.A. in Theatre Practice from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, studying Ph.D. in Queer Representation at University of Wolverhampton. matt-powell.co.uk,
@mattpowell_creative on Instagram.
John Bulleid (Illusion Design) U.K. Illusions Associate: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace Theatre), The Ocean at the End of the Lane (National Theatre). West End: Death of a Salesman (Piccadilly), Robin Hood (Regent’s Park Open Air), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Inn at Lydda (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Worst Witch (Vaudeville), Oi Frog! (Lyric). Further illusion design credits: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Magician’s Elephant, #WeAreArrested (RSC), Further Than the Furthest Thing (Young Vic), Piaf (The Gate, Dublin), Into the Woods (Theatre Royal Bath), A Christmas Carol (Nottingham Playhouse), Our Lady of Kibeho (Northampton), The Lost Spells, Beauty and the Beast (Watford Palace), Doctor Who: Time Fracture (Immersive London), The Canterville Ghost (Unicorn Theatre), Witches of Eastwick (Cirkus, Stockholm), When Darkness Falls (Park Theatre), The Star (Liverpool Everyman), Dirty Dancing, Wishmas (Secret Cinema). johnbulleid.com, @John_Bullied.
Katharine Quinn (Associate Director) Director, choreographer, producer based in New York. Credits: Shucked (writing associate; Broadway), How to Dance in Ohio (writing assistant; Broadway), Tootsie (SDC Fellow; Broadway), Hercules (choreography assistant; The Public). Director/choreographer: Fun Home (Mill Mountain Theatre), Footloose (Midland Center), Mamma Mia! (Brick Road Theatre), Holiday Inn (Prather Entertainment), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (associate director; Tuacahn). Awards/nominations: SDC Traube Fellowship, Goodspeed Observership, BroadwayWorld Award nominee for Best Choreography for Newsies, 2018 OnStage Best of Theatre for Mamma Mia! (director/choreographer), Kelly Award. Education: M.F.A. in Arts Administration, B.F.A. in Directing from SMU. katharinequinn.com, @itskatharinequinn.
Natasha Harrison (Original Choreography) Movement credits: Hir, A Single Man, Whodunnit Unrehearsed, Whodunnit Unrehearsed 2, La Cage aux Folles, Building The Wall (Park Theatre), The Bolds (Unicorn Theatre), Good Enough Mums Club (U.K. tour), Ride (Leicester Curve, Southwark Playhouse, Charing Cross Theatre), Linck & Mülhahn (Hampstead Theatre), Lord of the Flies (Leeds Playhouse), Girl from the North Country (U.K. tour), One Jewish Boy (Trafalgar Studios), A Christmas Carol (Derby Theatre). Direction credits: Four Minutes Twelve Seconds (Oldham Coliseum), Purgatorio (Wimbledon College of Arts).
Jim Carnahan, CSA (Casting) The Old Globe: Almost Famous, Love’s Labor’s Lost, The Comedy of Errors. Broadway: Doubt (Todd Haimes Theatre), Merrily We Roll Along (Hudson), Appropriate (Hayes), A Doll’s House (Hudson), Leopoldstadt (Longacre), A Beautiful Noise (Broadhurst), Funny Girl (August Wilson), Lehman Trilogy (Nederlander), Moulin Rouge! (Al Hirschfeld), Harry Potter (Lyric).Off Broadway: Little Shop of Horrors (Westside), The Doctor (Park Avenue Armory).London: Stranger Things: The First Shadow (Phoenix), An Enemy of the People (Duke of York’s), Plaza Suite (Savoy), Lemons x5 (Harold Pinter), Best of Enemies (National), Eureka Day (Old Vic), Mad House (Ambassador).Film: Beau Is Afraid.
Jason Thinger, CSA (Casting) The Old Globe: Almost Famous.Upcoming Broadway: Sunset Boulevard, Pirates of Penzance (Roundabout).Broadway: Merrily We Roll Along, Funny Girl, A Beautiful Noise, New York, New York, Almost Famous, Take Me Out, A Christmas Carol, Tootsie. Off Broadway: Little Shop of Horrors, Merrily We Roll Along (NYTW), Medea (BAM). Regional/tours: A Beautiful Noise, Galileo (Berkeley Rep), Funny Girl, A Christmas Carol, The Light in the Piazza (Lyric Opera of Chicago). London/U.K.: Sinatra (Birmingham Rep), Local Hero (Chichester), The 47th(Old Vic). Benefits/concerts: Pirates of Penzance (Roundabout), Chess (Entertainment Community Fund). Film: The Week Of, The Sinner.
Anjee Nero (Production Stage Manager) The Old Globe: Cabaret, Destiny of Desire, Come Fall in Love, Almost Famous, The Gardens of Anuncia, The Heart of Rock & Roll, Bright Star, Allegiance, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Benny & Joon, October Sky, Rocky Horror Show, Life After, The Wanderers, Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show, Twenty-Seventh Man, A Room with a View, Kingdom, The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, Be a Good Little Widow, more. Broadway: Bright Star. Regional highlights: Bright Star (Kennedy Center), Fly, Sideways, Ruined, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Herringbone, The Seven (La Jolla Playhouse), Ruined (Huntington Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre), Kiss Me, Kate (Hartford Stage), Venice (Center Theatre Group), Antigone (SITI Company).
Macy Schmidt (Orchestrations) Broadway: Kimberly Akimbo, Tina. Regional: It Came from Outer Space (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), Interstate (Mixed Blood Theatre), She Persisted, The Musical (Atlantic Theater Company), Earthrise (The Kennedy Center). U.K./international: Ride, Monsoon Wedding, Beauty and the Beast, Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical. Honors: Forbes 30 Under 30 list as founder/CEO of The Broadway Sinfonietta, an all-women and majority women-of-color orchestra.
Sam Young (Music Supervisor and Additional Arrangements) Sought-after music director, arranger, orchestrator, pianist. Education: University of Cambridge, Berklee College of Music, Royal Academy of Music, including a full scholarship to the latter. Work: regularly performs and records with some of musical theatre’s leading artists, including Ramin Karimloo and Rachel Tucker; recently served as arranger and orchestrator for Stephen Schwartz’s 75th birthday concert at the Lyric Theatre. As orchestrator: Mandela (Young Vic). As musical supervisor/arranger: Ride (Southwark Playhouse, Leicester Curve, Charing Cross Theatre). As musical director/arranger: Lift (Southwark Playhouse), The Man in the Ceiling (Turbine Theatre). As associate/deputy musical director: MJ (West End), Sinatra (Birmingham Rep), Mandela (Young Vic), White Christmas (U.K. tour).
Daniel Green (Music Director) The Old Globe: Almost Famous. Broadway: over a dozen shows including Almost Famous, Parade, In Transit, Rocky, Big Fish, Peter and the Starcatcher, The Addams Family, Wicked. Off Broadway/regional: Ever After (Alliance Theatre), The Wild Party (Encores!), Theory of Relativity (Goodspeed), Between the Lines (Second Stage). Television: “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee”(TBS), Annie Live! (NBC). Composer: The Museum of Broken Relationships (O’Neill NMTC; Holof Lyricist Award with David H. Bell), Window Treatment (The Barrow Group), The Tale of the Gifted Prince (ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop). Education: Northwestern University, BMI Musical Theatre Workshop. danielgreenmusic.com.
Amanda Salmons (Assistant Stage Manager) The Old Globe: Cabaret, Destiny of Desire, Come Fall in Love, Life After, The Blameless, October Sky, Rain, The Metromaniacs, The White Snake, Inherit the Wind, over 40 more productions. Regional: Blueprints to Freedom: An Ode to Bayard Rustin (La Jolla Playhouse), Kiss Me, Kate (Hartford Stage), The Foreigner, See How They Run, The Rivalry (Lamb’s Players Theatre). Education: UC San Diego.
Chandra R.M. Anthenill (Stage Management Swing) (she/her/hers) The Old Globe: English, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Exotic Deadly, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Trouble in Mind, Krapp’s Last Tape, What You Are, Tiny Beautiful Things, Globe for All (2017–2023), The Lorax, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Guys and Dolls, Camp David, The Comedy of Errors. Regional: The Garden, 2020 POP Tour, Junk (La Jolla Playhouse), Fun Home, Beachtown, Roz and Ray, Into the Beautiful North, Outside Mullingar, The Oldest Boy, Oedipus El Rey, Honky (San Diego Rep), El Huracán, Mud Row, The Last Wife, Bad Jews, Sons of the Prophet, True West, Fool for Love, Spring Awakening, Assassins, Company (Cygnet), Pippin (Diversionary).
Kendra Stockton (Stage Management Swing) The Old Globe: The Age of Innocence, The XIXth, Come Fall in Love, The Taming of the Shrew, Trouble in Mind, Hair, Almost Famous, As You Like It, The Gods of Comedy, Familiar, Looking for Christmas, Much Ado About Nothing, Benny & Joon, October Sky, Bright Star, Dog and Pony, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Regional: House of Joy (San Diego Rep), Home of the Brave, #SuperShinySara, Guards at the Taj, The Orphan of Zhao, The Who & The What (La Jolla Playhouse), The Loneliest Girl in the World (Diversionary Theatre), miXtape (Lamb’s Players), White Christmas (San Diego Musical Theatre).
DEM Productions is a multi-award-winning production company led by Ramin Sabi and Emily Lunnon. Works include The Book Thief (U.K. tour), Ride (Charing Cross Theatre, Southwark Playhouse), A Sherlock Carol (Marylebone Theatre), The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 – The Musical (Ambassadors Theatre, West End), Dust (Trafalgar Studios, New York Theatre Workshop), Stephen Schwartz’s Working (Southwark Playhouse), Spring Awakening (Hope Mill), Brother (Southwark Playhouse), Blowhole (Soho Theatre, Pleasance), Pigs Might Fly (U.K. tour); world premieres of Karagula (Soho Theatre), Twenty-Eight, Clickbait, Four Play, Sense of an Ending (Theatre503); six other revivals.
Wagner Johnson Productions, co-founded by eight-time Tony Award–winning producers Sue Wagner and John Johnson, specializes in producing and general managing theatrical productions and live experiences on Broadway and around the world. They have amassed over 50 Broadway credits including Vanya and Sonia..., A Gentleman’s Guide..., Hello, Dolly!, The Lehman Trilogy, Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and the Pool, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, Lempicka, and Stereophonic. Beyond Broadway they have produced The DiscOasis in Central Park, the history-making production of To Kill a Mockingbird at Madison Square Garden, and Stephen Sondheim’s final musical Here We Are. @wjplive.
Orchestra
