Review of Buzz22's Ghost Bike

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called Ghost Bike. It was directed Sara Sawicki and written by Laura Jacqmin. It was about a girl named Ora (Aurora Adachi-Winter) whose friend Eddie (Ricky Staffieri) had died in a bike accident. And then she goes to the Underworld to try to take him back, because a guy (Scot West) at her doctor's appointment in the waiting room said that you could just get them back. But he actually kind of tricked her. The idea of the play is that when someone dies, they are not completely gone. They are still a memory. But the problem can be that you think about them too much and that makes you sad and makes other people not able to be friends with you. Ora learns that she should think about Eddie sometimes but that she should live her life. I thought that this was a very good play, and I was crying at the end, and I am also still kind of crying now.

Even though it was very sad, there was still some funny parts. I really liked Persephone (Margaret Cook); it was funny how she said, "Well, we're kind of divorced" about her and the king of the Underworld (West). She was like, "I love this pomegranate juice, it is like soooo good." She kind of had a valley girl voice. I liked Light and Dark Hel (Lea Pascal and Thea Lux); I thought that they were really funny. I liked their double bike; I thought it was cool. It made me laugh when Ora said, "I'll trade you something," and Dark Hel whispered "Turn around!" to Light Hel. Like the second that Ora said "trade" Dark Hel was like, "Turn around." I thought Light Hel's Minnesota accent was really awesome and I liked how Dark Hel's voice was very scratchy. I thought it was hilarious when the doctor (Ben Hertel) when he was walking Ora to their room and he had this giant creepy awesome smile on his face and he kept looking back at her with the exact same expression. He did it over and over and over again. I thought that it was really hilarious when Satyr (West) got on his triple pink bike, which was a bunch of little kid disney princes bikes stacked on top of each other. It was pretty cool and awesome. My favorite line in the entire play was when the Old Ghost (Hertel) said, "We talked about how the snacks in the vending machine were kind of like when we were alive but just different enough that we would notice." I liked that so much because it was not something you would usually talk about and Ora wanted him to say, "Eddie talked about you"!

I loved the set (by John Wilson). It reminded me of an actual bike trail. I liked how on the floor there were the bike trail signs. I thought it was cool how the Underworld was like a dark creepy alley. I thought the fences were awesome because they reminded me of the dark creepy alley. I liked the ramps; I wanted to ride my scooter down one. It was super cool when they hooked up the bikes to the thingamabob so they could ride in place basically. That was really cool because it made it so you could pay attention to what they were saying while also getting the feeling they were riding bikes. I liked how all the ghosts had white bikes and everyone else had colorful bikes. I liked the bike that was basically like a canoe. They made it like a canoe because the Ferrywoman (Lea Pascal) biked along and there was a shopping cart at the front that Ora would get in and ride.

I thought it was cool how all the characters were from Greek mythology, Norse mythology, and Buddhist mythology. I thought the Cerberus was really awesome because it was like two roller derby girls (Cook and Quincey Krull) a biking guy (Alex Tey). I knew it was Cerberus because there were three of them and they kept barking and their job was to guard the gate. It would have been cool to have a three-headed dog, but they worked it out nicely. I thought that it was cool how Hel was two people because in the myth half of her is alive and half of her is a corpse. I had never heard about King Yama (West) or Datsue-Ba (Lea Pascal) but they are from Buddhist mythology. In the play, they are like husband and wife, but King Yama is also married to Persephone. I thought that was cool because they mashed Greek and Buddhist myths together.

Ora and Eddie I thought had two different types of relationship: they had a friendship friendship but they also had a little bit of a romantic relationship. I thought it was kind of romantic because of how much their friendship meant to each of them. And also when he gave this other girl (Krull) in the Underworld a necklace and they did all the same things together, I think it made Ora jealous because I think she liked him, like like-liked him. I think it was fair of her to be jealous; that was kind of a jerky move. I think he should be able to have friends in the Underworld but not give them the exact same present that he gave his friend before he died!

People who would like this show are people who like friendship, mythology, and awesome tall pink bikes. People should go see this show because it is funny, the set is awesome, and it is bittersweet. It teaches you about how to let go of somebody you love and it also teaches you about mythology in many different cultures. It only goes on until Sunday, so get your tickets quick!

Photos: Justin Barbin (www.JustinBarbin.com)