Fringe Play Reviews

Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION

Illuminati II: The Second One

By: by Joseph Aragon / Winnipeg, MB

Kiss the Giraffe Productions

07/21/2011 8:02 PM | Comments: 0 (including replies) Our Rating: Your Average Rating:

PTE Mainstage (Venue 16), to Sunday

Illuminati II: The Second One

Fringe Festival

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The second instalment in this gleefully silly series of musicals about a shadowy conspiratorial organization further cements Joseph Aragon’s reputation as a songwriting savant.

The plot… well, it involves dolphins, Atlantis and war with Greece, and it makes about as much sense as a Scooby-Doo episode, but it doesn’t really matter when you have pulsating jellyfish made out of umbrellas and a kick-ass android (choreographer Kami Desliets, whose fight scenes are beautifully staged).

A couple of members of the large cast don’t quite have the pipes to be heard over the recorded music — microphones wouldn’t go amiss — but that’s not the case for the fantastic Lisa Tjaden, who plays the evil, trigger-happy Helga von Nazi with terrifying Teutonic moxie. Peter Bundy oozes testosterone as General Triggerfinger and Duncan McGregor gives good nerd as wannabe world dominator Bill Gates (his freestyle rap battle with Shawn Kowalke’s cocky Steve Jobs is gut-bustingly funny). This is one secret society that shouldn’t be kept a secret.

— Jill Wilson

From the official Fringe Festival program:

The sequel to 2005's smash hit Illuminati: The Musical ("bursts at the seams with fun, 4 STARS" - Winnipeg Free Press) has more singing, dancing, kung fu, boat chases, dolphins, explosions, mimes, plus all the conspiracies we couldn't fit into the first one!

Join Dexter, Ethel and Echelon the Android as they foil the Illuminati's plans for world domination!

Recommended For: General Audience

Length: 90 MIN

Tickets: $10

Warnings: Language

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History

Updated on Sunday, July 17, 2011 at 1:45 PM CDT:
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Updated on Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 8:02 PM CDT:
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