Since April 16th, Winnipeg Jewish Theatre has been bringing audiences an exhilarating and thought-provoking new musical that tells the remarkable true story of Annie Londonderry, a trailblazing cyclist, storyteller, and media personality who redefined what was possible for women in the late 19th century. Born Annie Cohen Kopchovsky, this Latvian-Jewish immigrant stunned the world in 1894 and 1895 by becoming the first woman to circumnavigate the globe by bicycle, an extraordinary journey that challenged social norms and ignited conversations about gender, identity, and ambition.
Now lighting up the stage at the Rady Jewish Community Center’s Berney Theatre, Ride, by Freya Catrin Smith and Jack Williams, blends history and imagination into a powerful theatrical experience. Driven by an energizing and emotionally rich score, the production explores themes of womanhood, feminism, immigration, and self-invention, capturing the spirit of a woman determined to write her own story.
A Canadian premiere striking a chord
For audiences in Winnipeg, Ride represents something special: its first Canadian production. According to performer Colleen Furlan, who plays Martha and several supporting roles, the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
“I’ve had the opportunity to chat with a lot of folks after the shows, and a lot of them have said they have never seen a show like this. or they haven’t seen a show like this in 30 years, and especially in Winnipeg theatre,” she says. “They are loving it, and the music has been sticking with them, which is really tough for new musicals, I find.”
Discovering Annie Londonderry
For Furlan, the journey into Ride began with discovery. “I had never heard of Annie Londonderry before,” she admits. But once she began researching the historical figure, she found herself captivated by both the story and its complexities. While her main character, Martha, may be fictional, she serves a vital purpose in the narrative.
“We realized that Martha represents the new woman of that time,” Furlan explains. “There’s a big shift going on and she represents all the women who were then inspired by Annie.”
Furlan’s musings about who Londonderry was is a question that the show itself tries to answer. “Her legacy is complicated by her tendency to blur fact and fiction,” she says. “She had a casual relationship with the truth, so she always knew what to do to get ahead.”
As the musical unfolds, audiences discover that Annie Londonderry is not who she claims to be. A Jewish immigrant, a wife, and a mother, she adopts a new identity while on her journey, raising questions that remain deeply relevant today.
“She’s a very complicated, flawed person, but we all have flaws. And she ended up doing something quite remarkable.”
One of the most intriguing elements of Londonderry’s story is the wager that allegedly set her journey in motion. According to legend, two wealthy men bet that a woman could not cycle around the world, prompting her to prove them wrong under ambitious terms.
“She had 15 months to travel the globe,” Furlan explains. “She had to earn $5,000 on her own. And if she made it back in time, one of the men would have to pay Annie and the other man involved in the wager $10,000 each.”
Furlan adds that the wager is an element of the story that can be chalked about to Londonderry’s casual relationship with the truth. “The wager, in my eyes, I don’t think it really existed,” she says, “and it begs the question, did she just want to do it for fame? Did she, what did she want to do it for? Why?”