What would you do if you were a 19th-century young working-class English woman named Annie Cohen Kopchovsky who desired adventure? You probably wouldn’t do what Annie did, but then you’d miss out on one heck of an entertaining story now playing at The Old Globe Theatre.
The show is called “Ride” and it lets Annie tell her story in a wildly entertaining musical with book by Freya Catrin Smith and music by Jack Williams. The story of the first woman to bike around the world won several awards in England when it debuted in 2023. You can see it here through April 28.
There are only two characters here: Annie (played by Alex Finke) and Martha, a secretary played by Livvy Marcus. When the show opens, it is 1894 and Annie is talking to newspaper publishers like Joseph Pulitzer, attempting to get at least one of them to fund her proposed bike ride around the world. Martha is fascinated, and when Annie gets the approval (she will change her name to Annie Londonderry because she likes the sound), Martha agrees to go with her. Martha will get more and more musical and narrative space as the show continues.
Bikes are seen, though like nearly everything else, they are more often described than seen, and the show moves from ebullience to the grim reality of Annie’s poverty-stricken life as a young wife and mother and her struggles against sexism and class prejudice.
Finke’s voice as Annie is suitably huge, sometimes used almost foghorn-like, and kicks off the show with “The World’s Greatest Story.” Marcus has a lovely, more understated voice as Martha.
The show bounces around, and Marcus changes characters often, from French customs official to cruise ship operator. And Annie’s lot changes too, from enthusiastic adventurer to her struggles with sexism, poverty, class prejudice and the like.
Kudos also to British director Sarah Meadows, choreographer Jennifer Jancuska and music supervisor Sam Young, who get the most out of the cast.
Bravo also to the crew that created the furniture and to the crew that quietly moves it around. The show runs one hour, 30 minutes (one act with no intermission).
“Ride” is a show like no other I’ve seen. It’s worth seeing for that alone, but fear not, there is substance here as well. Don’t miss this show.
The details
“Ride” plays through April 28 on The Old Globe’s Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage, 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.
Performance schedule: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7 p.m.; Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.; matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.
A post-show forum will be held on Wednesday, April 24. An open-caption performance will be held on Saturday, April 20 at 2 p.m.
Tickets: www.TheOldGlobe.org or (619) 234-5623
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