Ride The Cyclone, Disability, & Accessibility (w/Yannick-Robin) [CC]

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Ride The Cyclone, Disability, & Accessibility (w/Yannick-Robin) [CC]

Рет қаралды 5,441

Күн бұрын

SOME FACT CHECKING
(Hey kids I'm rewatching this a year and a half later and noticed some things that are now outdated or not entirely correct and I wanna fix them)
- I say "when I go nonverbal", that's no longer acceptable language, I should have said "when I lose speech". Nonverbal isn't just a state, it's also very much an identity, and one that I'm not a part of. I'd also say my use of "semi-speaking" for myself there wouldn't be super indicative of my support needs at the time but I'll let it pass
- Jagged Little Pill would not have had the first deliberately trans character on Broadway, I believe the first was in Bring It On, but I think they would have been the first openly nonbinary character on Broadway unless I'm missing something
- I was a little too harsh toward Lauren Patten as an individual here, this industry is really really tricky around minority issues and how to handle them. And while I don't necessarily agree with all of the choices made, I think I could have phrased it in a much kinder and more understanding way, particularly given the somewhat impossible situation at hand and the internal politics.
- Ricky Potts as a character is effectively a knockoff Tommy from The Who's Tommy (I have a deep dive on that show here - • Disability in The Who'... ) and after the backlash it seems like the choice was to change him to be even closer to Tommy. Which, if anything, indicated how Tommy as a character doesn't age very well as disability representation
- the amount of easter eggs I put in here about my thesis show being destroyed from the inside out so people would believe me if it got canceled (which it did a month later) is WILD
Sources & Resources:
#saverickypotts - www.change.org...
Yannick's channel! - ‪@mirkoyannick‬ - / @mirkoyannick
Yannick's twitter - / mirkoyannick
Disability in theater - • Disability Theatre & Arts
How to write disabled characters - • How To Create/Portray ...
More interviews like this - • Playlist
First + Last Disabled Ricky Potts | Ride The Cyclone: The Most Ableist Show In Town - • First + Last Disabled ...
Ride The Cyclone: cyclonegate / don’t be a performative ally, please - • Ride The Cyclone: cycl...
Your rights in the workplace - • The ADA, IDEA, and The...
ADA cases - www.reliasmedi....
Why Gen Z Loves Ride The Cyclone - playbill.com/a...
Let's Talk About Ride The Cyclone - • Let's Talk About Ride ...
Ricky Potts and Representation in Media - • Ricky Potts and Repres...
Check out my thesis! - www.disabledau...
Follow me on insta - / disabled.autistic.lesbian
If you want to support me financially, you can buy me a smoothie! - www.paypal.com...
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Autism Resources:
Ultimate resource guide - www.disabledau...
How to support an autistic person - www.disabledau...
Help! I think I’m autistic - www.disabledau...
Unmasking/How to Start Over - www.disabledau...
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Hello my dears!
My name is Sydney and I’m an actor/singer-songwriter who writes music about my experiences being autistic, disabled, gay, gender fluid and in general, a human. My goal is to fill musical gaps and write about things people often forget to make music about. I’m also a vintage enthusiast and disability advocate (among other things). And, most importantly, my favorite color is buttercup yellow :)
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Find me on...
Facebook - / sydney-zarlengo-110498...
Instagram - / disabled.autistic.lesbian
Tiktok - / disabledautisticlesbian
Website - www.disabledau...
Email - disabled.autistic.lesbian@gmail.com
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Пікірлер: 43

@annikahstebben4425 Жыл бұрын

It hurts to hear about the erasure of Ricky potts' disability and Yannick's treatment. I was never close to being a professional, but I did love musical theatre in highschool. In my sophomore year they announced that school would be doing Mary Poppins for our musical. I was (and arguably still am) a weird kid. One of my favorite characters in that show is the bird woman, you know the old lady with a cane who is primarily seated! I am a hyper mobile individual who uses crutches and can manage well with a cane. I knew the choir detector was... Opinionated but, he knew me. I was in his show choir back in middle school, the audition for which took place before I started using aids. We won competitions and that group, all with a member who modified their choreography no problem. I knew him enough that I honestly knew the answer before I even asked. "Would I have a shot if I auditioned? Even for the bird woman?" "...no, your mobility would most likely prevent you from doing the choreography part of audition and you wouldn't be able to participate." I knew it was coming. The fact that as a disabled kid I understood the fact that I would already most likely be disqualified speaks volumes. I dropped out of choir after that year. It hurt too much. I was fine with the physical stress, but it just hurt me too much.

@Ambienceaudioss Жыл бұрын

The thing about theatre is that while the art of it is wonderful, it can be an absolute nightmare. With theatre there’s this really toxic and hostile attitude of needing to work like a dog and if you protest in any way or are unable at all, that you lose that position and are undeserving. It’s so dangerous, especially for disabled people.

@IndyFilmProductions Жыл бұрын

I just got into Ride the Cyclone this past week and reading up on the Ricky Potts changes had me super curious cuz I felt like he was a kinda cool, though super underbaked, disabled rep that stood out as a cool unique character and I thought that removing his disability was a weird choice and had no clue why. I hope that this gets corrected it's awful what happened.

@PrincessNinja007 11 ай бұрын

He doesn't even have to stop being mute tbh. One of the Hunchback productions had a gargoyle follow Quasimodo around vocalizing his lines. Ricky could very have easily been telepathic in the afterlife and had his lines over the sound system

@gatopel00n 8 ай бұрын

@@PrincessNinja007Yes!! Or they could have done something like in DWSA (characters interpreted by deaf actors had double actors so the character could sing and be interpreted at the same time)

@addyshorhnr3544 Жыл бұрын

I can see during Ricky’s song he doesn’t use the crutches, it’s based off superhero 80’s crazy media. Of course in that fantasy land he wouldn’t see himself with the crutches because no one in that media would have them. Even him immediately dropping them when he realizes he does need them, if he just hesitated and throughout the show went back on and off. The weird sign language thing very much put a lot of context thing in line for me. That and Noel’s sexuality seemingly being such made me think the town itself had incredibly backwards views. Add to the fact that their school seems to be at least founded on religious views that could be on the more conservative side, the insistence that the town is seemingly cut off from everyone else, and that no one knew Jane doe at all. With that I found it no jump to assume this town did not know how to deal with the disabled, likely just dumping Ricky in a special needs class and not actually trying to teach him. His family did what they thought was best but also was overall uninformed. The play itself reads overall that the town has the view point more of 50’s then modern day, so it worked for me that the view seemed so radically misinformed. With that I could see Ricky being treated like a sweet innocent child who doesn’t know anything and either through being ran over or social anxiety he doesn’t correct them until his song. At which point he is acting as he is, or maybe even not it’s a fantasy escape land who says he actually is that confident especially just finally getting to be heard. Yet, Ricky’s character wasn’t developed like the others so we didn’t get that.

@yourlocaltranskidwithanxiety Жыл бұрын

*Goes through list of autistic coded characters* me (autistic) who used to kin every single character & was recently starting to relate a lot to ocean: …IT’S A FUCKING SCARECROW AGIAN!!?!!

@PrincessNinja007 11 ай бұрын

Me, who kins the same characters but doesn't have autism "why are there all these scarecrows"

@PrincessNinja007 11 ай бұрын

He wasn't the only one to concede, Ocean conceded at the start. It was a really nice contrast to her "I'm trying to tell you how good I am so you'll save me" to have a character take the consequences of being good without the fanfare

@AntiSocialExtrovert323 5 ай бұрын

She doesn’t concede from the start. She says she’s going to vote for herself up until Constance’s songs. It’s only until she’s given the sole power to decide that she concedes. She also concedes on the principle that Jane should get to live. Ricky concedes because he’s decided that it’s better to be dead and able bodied than alive with a disability. The two are completely different. One is in favor of the life of another, the other is a strong self deprecating and frankly suicidal ideation (“better off dead” is possibly the poster child of suicidal ideation).

@julicorn2289 Жыл бұрын

I love Ricky, he is my favourite character that i can relate to him the most. I am not physically disabled myself, but I have ADHD and few other things and i am always open about that. Still, I can relate to Ricky not being perceived as 'sexy' and having the whole imagined universe. I loved that Yannick's Ricky still is disabled in death. I love idea of disembodied voice, sign language and other stuff. If they want him to speak when he was nonverbal in life, they could do the thing that he speak on accident (like instead of thinking and not instead of signing?) so great they have speaking ricky, great, but he should be used to other forms of comunication, so now he is mixing it? it might be messy, im not sure if this is good idea, honestly, but it is an idea. Ricky still needs to be rewrite anyways, parts of the show need to be rewrite to not being ableist.

@brimarie4196 Жыл бұрын

I definitely agree with this being a terrible instance of abelism. I'm glad there are people working so hard to increase the accessibility of theater.

@Ambienceaudioss Жыл бұрын

Also with the not speaking because of trauma thing, all the other characters keep their trauma?? Like especially Constance, they very clearly don’t get mentally cured or physically cured in death, just Ricky. Also it’s obvious, but like showing him as happier in death and what not bc of his disability just perpetuates the super crazy and sick idea that disabled ppl are better off dead, for example Max from stranger things might end up being paralyzed and blind, and ppl literally said if they do that that they should have just let her die instead.

@RedbullAddict101 2 ай бұрын

If I die and I’m not autistic anymore, I’ll be sure to update you guys

@mokilatte Жыл бұрын

I saw this video being recommended on tiktok from someone talking about the situation and I honestly love how you cover all your points and the interview, I honestly hope more people find the video so more people start talking about ableism in the theater community

@austensg9596 6 ай бұрын

Activists being told, “we like your work, we just don’t like when you tell us to do things.” Oh it’s a lot of that.

@isabellebise8440 Жыл бұрын

It would have been genuinely interesting if the character of Ricky did have a moment of exploration and maybe the chance to see himself without the disability and maybe be like hey thats cool but its not me. Or in death he decides he wants to use a voice or mimics the voice of someone he admires. I know its not really possible with actors on stage but it could be interesting. This is coming from someone who is not disabled but someone who loves theatre and loves looking at cool ways to introduce or make something better from writers who have no idea what they are doing.

@brimarie4196 Жыл бұрын

One thing that has helped me is recording things. Upfront I gett written permission via email to record things to assist memory issues, it can be hard but it's easier to get when there is a paper trail. It definitely helps with the memory but it also is super helpful for gaslighting situations.

@emmanarotzky6565 8 ай бұрын

I didn’t even know Ride the Cyclone existed until I saw it last week because I live under a rock, and yeahhh the one I saw did the “he lost his voice because a snake killed his dad”

@AntiSocialExtrovert323 5 ай бұрын

As a fellow queer and disabled person, I really appreciate this video. I also went to Hampshire so heeeey 5 college consortium. I agree with about 90% of what you said. I’ve only seen the off Broadway version and was very disturbed when Ricky got to have this utopian experience of not having a disability anymore / it being an expression of the good side of the after life. and I was appalled when he conceded his chance to come back to life AKA expressing that he thinks he’s better off dead than alive with a disability (which is textbook suicidal ideation, and VERY dark coming from an able-bodied person trying to sell that action as utopian). Its mind boggling. The other 10%: 1) I don’t think Ricky is featured less than everyone else or is more one dimensional than everyone else. I would argue that all the men are focused on less and are certainly one dimensional, in particular Mischa seems to get as much stage time as Ricky. Ricky gets a lot of lovely, philosophical lines in each interstitial that I really appreciated. But as a Slav, the xenophobic jokes about Mischa are very f***ed up. He gets overtly punched down more than any other character, and his whole presence is boiled down to “haha Slavs are so ridiculous!!.” Similarly, Noel’s entire identity is about being a gay femme. I honestly can’t think of anything else we learn about him. All we know about Constance is that she’s thick and meek, and her big plot point is the joke of “she’s fat yet she’s the only one who’s had sex LOL” and of course it had to be in a porta potty with a creepy old guy bc fat people do not have regular relationships or sex. So I think all characters but Ocean and Jane are one note stereotypes. 2) I’m not on tik tok so I experienced none of the hype. I stumbled upon the show and I think a big part of the appeal is that very few shows that are so original and creative make it to off Broadway or tour for as long as RTC. Most of those have very short runs in cities with mild to moderate theater scenes and never reach the broader public. Patti Lupone has said that Broadway is now a combination of Disneyland and Las Vegas. And even the most “edgy” shows of late have super basic and typical musical theater compositions and plots (sorry y’all but Beetlejuice and Heathers are guilty of this). So alt musical theater fans are THIRSTY af to get anything. It’s just wonderful to watch a show that isn’t afraid to experiment musically or dive into unique plots. But a big part of my love for RTC is that I adore spooky stuff and horror, so the Ballad of Jane Doe alone had me hooked. Though I totally agree with the points you made about Ricky and will totally sign that petition! I’m super conflicted as to whether or not I should listen to the official album on Spotify, or only watch/listen to b00ts. I would love to see it live with changes, but would never pay to see it as it is.

@Jynxxy13ravedoll 7 ай бұрын

I would love if Ricky could talk but his voice is the one used by a text to talk device he uses in life because that's his voice he's used to, and he likes it. In action just having the actor lipsync the audio for the lines.

@enderblur Жыл бұрын

hey im rewriting ride the cyclone to transform it into a more accurate representation of diversity, disability, and self worth where would people want to read it

@FUNKYBREADHATER Жыл бұрын

GOOGLE DRIVE, WRTIE A SCRIPT AND PUT IT ON THERE

@XxNo_InterestxX 11 ай бұрын

Me! I do! Please!

@Br1eezy 10 ай бұрын

I’ll read it!!! Put it on a Google doc!

@XxNo_InterestxX 10 ай бұрын

@@Br1eezy It sounds great, honestly.

@SonniDez 10 ай бұрын

Sounds interesting!

@Lonely_Raven_666 Жыл бұрын

13:16 I'm not disabled, I use a medical corset to fix my skoliosis, I have no idea weather my soul wears a corset or not, I don't visualise myself in daydreams so I wouldn't know. I know Im not disabled but I think it does apply here

@Anna-xh6fk 5 ай бұрын

Thought scoliosis was a disability

@Lonely_Raven_666 5 ай бұрын

@@Anna-xh6fk it can be but in my understanding if it gets treated like mine was it won't cause any issues so it won't really be disabling. Kinda like needing glasses isn't really a disability

@Fruityflootloops Жыл бұрын

Omg an all nd cast of a curious incident sounds awesome! At the very least the lead should really always be autistic or nd in some way!!!

@PrincessKenny34 3 ай бұрын

My dream is to make my own production of ride the cyclone (I’ve already written a lot a lot of notes script and lyrics and costumes), and in this I wouldn’t want to take away Ricky’s disability but rather give him like, a notepad, that he brought to the fair as his alternative communication, that he writes on during the show that the choir members react to accordingly to whatever is written for them to react with in the script. I feel like it could be good and still give for very funny moments! Like when Ricky goes on his tangent about how…that genre….is magical and tells a story, he could be like shaking his head at ocean and then he starts scribbling on his notepad. Then ocean walks to him and looks all shocked reading it. Then she could say the “now you’ve got sweet little Ricky Potts explaining why 🌽 is magical!” Is this anything guys I feel like this would be a great way for people to do Ricky

@geekyrobot__7316 2 ай бұрын

i saw an idea of him using a communication device (kinda like text to speech) which is smth a lot of nonverbal people use irl

@XxNo_InterestxX 10 ай бұрын

I feel like this is important to mention, but Legoland did have an ablest slur in the book.

@cornybram845 2 ай бұрын

I only just recently got into the show (mainly because I kept hearing about it and felt like I should give it a shot) and while I am definitly not a fan of every aspect of Ricky's portrayel, it makes me so mad that they edited the script to remove his physical disibility alltogether? I had no idea about that until just now. Literally the opposite of what should've been done.

@CassetteVCR Жыл бұрын

You two make such good points in this video!

@ghostisaperson7900 Жыл бұрын

we do theater in our high school and our friend who needs a wheelchair was treated well by the director and they made use of it the actors didn’t like it though was frustrating

@Sincerelyavasophia 11 ай бұрын

Yeah I recently watched ride the cyclone and i really enjoyed it , i didnt really care too much abt the cured in death part or secret sign language in their family, but i would mind if they had a disabled person with someone singing or talking for them

@number_1_leah_defender Жыл бұрын

i love ride the cyclone. i am not a disabled person, but i would love to play ricky. but if i did. get to play him, i’d probably not do it, because i think it’s just wrong :((

@file_corrupted_7836 3 ай бұрын

I totally wish they would have kept more of Ricky's disability in the main show version. However, I get why they didn't have him just be straight up mute and using his aids though. He's dead, just like everyone else. I guess the idea was that since he is dead his disability is no longer there? They also DID have parts of him adjusting to now not having the disability, which I really do like. I like that they didn't just have him be like ' oh cool, I can speak and move freely now ' and instead had him being hyped about all he could now do and discovering things. I wish they had both versions though with the main cast for us to all see. At least they didn't TOTALLY throw his disability away as soon as they showed him as dead, but it is a shame that they didn't do a bit more you know? I wish that maybe they waited until his song to make him more able bodied, because at that point he was fanasizing. I personally am not physically disabled, so I am curious on someone who IS's opinion on this take.