4.5 Stars
It’s Who You Know Productions
Venue 17 – PTE – Colin Jackson Studio
I Love You Because is a delightful take on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. You follow a group of friends as they discover true love amongst themselves. Two explore the world of being “Friends with Benefits” while the others help each other get over their past relationships but end up falling for each other.
This is a solid production but the venue is quite small and does hinder the full experience. Set changes are a little awkward and there are times when the four-piece band is… well, a four-piece band. I do wonder if the show would have benefited from a scaled down band.
The cast is stellar. The musical numbers are pleasing to the ear especially when Alicia Dash takes the lead. Dash’s voice is incredible and has you in the palm of her hand as soon as she hits her first note. Colin Peterson and Aaron Pridham both have incredible comedic timing; you’ll find your sides hurting after laughing incredibly hard.
I Love you Because… you’re all just so cute and charming.
– Bernie Pastorin
Zanna, Don’t!
4.5 Stars
Stage16
Venue 9 – Shaw Performing Arts Centre
Welcome to Heartsville, U.S.A, the setting of Zanna Don’t! Imagine a world where homosexuality is the norm and being straight means you’re the odd one out. Sound bizarre? Yes, it could be… but you’ll have to admit that the world would be very colourful and seem like a happier place, or so you would think.
The cast is brilliant and deserves the standing ovations they’ve been getting. At times, the band does drown out the actors but you’ll just smile as you watch every action the actors make.
While everyone has his or her own shining moments on stage it is Paige Pooley who steals the show with her “mechanical bull”. Shaun Castor also delivers a heart melting number that is sure to jerk a few tears.
Everyone should see this show if they haven’t. Lining up 2 hours prior just to get your tickets is well worth it.
Zanna, Don’t? More like Zanna, please do! … Sorry, I had to.
– Bernie Pastorin
Cannibal! The Musical
4 Stars
Ahhhh, musicals. You can’t have a Fringe Festival without musical theatre. Now what separates Cannibal! The Musical from most others is that it centers around something that you wouldn’t think to sing about…eating people. Now I don’t know from experience but I never thought eating people was all that entertaining to write a musical score to but Trey Parker, co-creator of South Park, made it happen and I am ecstatic that M.P.M.M Productions made this musical come to fruition this year.
Cannibal! The Musical is the story about convicted cannibal Alferd Packer (played by Dan DeJaeger) recalling his trip with five other men on their journey from Utah to Breckenridge, Colorado in hopes of hitting the jackpot with a gold mining expedition. Although their adventure takes a turn for the worse when they finally figure out they are lost within the Rocky Mountains and the gold miners begin their journey to insanity from starvation and begin to…well, you can guess.
This was an amusing musical to watch simply for the fact that it’s so untraditional from the popular musicals which deal with happiness and love and not about eating human flesh. Don’t worry, there is love in this play; the love between Packer and Leanne…his horse. Hey, it’s Trey Parker. What do you expect? So even the relationships that are showcased in the play are just as untraditional. The uniqueness of the premise, songs and even the characters is something to take note of and something that I enjoyed.
What I thoroughly enjoyed though that had me giggling in the audience by myself was the amount of Filipino actors posing as Indians in this version of Cannibal! The Musical. The chief (played by Donnell Dacillo) is the leader of the Tagalog tribe, a tribe that Packer and his gold mining crew run into while on their adventure. I was glad that these little Filipino subtleties made it into the play just for the fact that a little bit of the Tagalog language makes it into the play. And I’ll just say (without giving too much away), misinterpretation is always hilarious.
I like to think that musicals make situations much more enjoyable and make light of situations because of the melodic tunes and dance steps (dancing wasn’t quite these gentlemen’s thing but they did make up for it in their singing). And to make light of things so farfetched and serious as eating another human being, hanging people or a man/horse relationship that you pray doesn’t end in bestiality just screams hilarity! Probably one of the funniest musicals I’ve seen live before like The Adventures of Robin Hood meets the movie Alive. Definitely worth the watch if you aren’t easily squirmish.
– Tyler Magnaye
Illuminati II: The Second One
3.5 Stars
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a dolphin as the focal point of our universe? No, not Flipper. I mean somehow a dolphin as the key to stopping world domination? Me neither. But after watching Illuminati II: The Second One, it has now made me wonder a little bit. Not a lot, but the thought of having a dolphin as some sort of messiah has not only confused me but also scares me a little.
As for the play itself, the same feelings occur. Confusion and a little bit of fear. The latter only coming from the fact that an actress was creeping up into the audience and I thought she going to pull me on stage and make me do something. But the confusion was my main concern about this play. Illuminati II involves a dolphin-turned-human, a female robot, Bill Gates, a nazi, the lost city of Atlantis and of course, the secret organization Illuminati; all of which fight for/against world domination when the United States plans to bomb Greece (out of all places). Don’t forget all these things are singing and dancing along for an hour and a half. Yes, doesn’t get more weirder than that.
I use the word “weird” but I don’t mean much negative to it. While the plot makes no sense whatsoever, this seems like the type of play that doesn’t need a straight plot for it to be enjoyable. But me being me, I was thoroughly entertained in all my confusion saying to myself “I have no idea what is happening or why but I don’t really care.” And if that was the point for this play then mission accomplished Kiss The Giraffe Productions, mission accomplished. But to be reasonable, that doesn’t give them an excuse to randomly pick and choose the first thing that pops in to your head, put it on paper and tie it all together to make a play. Not everyone is going to like it which is why this play could be iffy for some people.
Audience members aren’t going to like being confused with all this randomness that Illuminati II: The Second One offers. And alas, I will never know if watching the first one would have helped me to understand what I had watched. But the weirdness in this play had a “cuteness” to it as if it was okay to not know why you’re watching a dolphin basically save the world. But with that being said was it too much weirdness? Are we ready for a play about a dolphin messiah? They might have pushed it a little far with the craziness but this certainly takes the cake in the most “out there” play I’ve seen during this year’s Fringe.
– Tyler Magnaye
Rogue Cop
2.5 Stars
First stop for my first Fringe Festival adventure was at the Tom Hendry Theatre at the MTC Warehouse where production company Matching Jackets showed what they dubbed as “Winnipeg’s first action play” entitled Rogue Cop.
Rogue Cop follows the story of detective Skylar Murphy (played by Adam Hurtig), a dimwitted loose cannon who likes to play by his own rules. Detective Murphy is following the mystery of fellow officer Detective Shaw, who was killed in a drug trafficking bust. But Murphy, being the self-proclaimed rogue cop that he is gets pulled from the case due to his recklessness. But like you would assume that’s not going to stop him from taking matters into his own hands and finishing what he started.
While Rogue Cop was an entertaining watch, there wasn’t anything that really stood out to make it a memorable show or a stand out in this year’s Fringe. It mostly follows the antics that the character Skylar Murphy comes up with during his time on the case. Hurtig plays up what we all think a rogue cop would be like complete with the Magnum P.I mustache and Miami Vice aviators, taking those certain elements here and there from different 80‘s cop shows and making it a decent comedic parody or I guess…a parody of a parody. Think of Rogue Cop as the old TV series Police Squad! except younger, more facial hair and less funny.
But all in all, the Skylar Murphy character is nothing but a shtick. From the bad sound effects (or should I say lack thereof) to the occasional breaking of the fourth wall. Surround this Murphy character with drugs, sex and violence and mix it with profanity and late 80‘s/early 90‘s hip-hop and you’ve got your basic unlikely superhero/cop comedy with all the jokes that have already been told in previous versions of this genre. The reason being is that the story seemed unoriginal. I was hoping for something more surprising to the murder case or maybe a different case altogether and because of that it may have been funny but I know it could have been funnier.
The play is a worthy watch if you want some good chuckles but don’t expect any side splitting humor in it. It’s one gag after another though and it’s not going to get people to come back to watch it again and again. A simple murder case with a whole bunch of complications along the way, Give this play a shot but I don’t really recommend it. Whether you liked it, hated it or you’re like me and am somewhere in between is up to Skylar Murphy, Rogue Cop.
-Tyler Magnaye
So You Think You Can Be a Music Theatre Idol: All Stars
4 Stars
Whether you follow reality shows religiously or you’re like me and only watch it because you’re being forced to, you’re going to want to watch White Rabbit Productions’ So You Think You Can Be a Music Theatre Idol: All Stars. I haven’t had so much fun watching a play by myself and trust me, it’s not very fun watching a play by yourself. SYTYCBMTI made my Fringe Festival worth going to.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of reality shows whether it’s a singing competition or a competition to see who can eat the most worms in a minute but my indifference to reality shows didn’t stop me from going to watch SYTYCBMTI and I’m glad I made that decision.
Remember when you had that idea where you wished that they could just combine all the reality shows together because it would makes things so much easier? Well, that’s basically what they did. It was a buffet style of your favorite reality shows rolled into one giant smorgasbord of entertainment. These all-star triple threats brought it all and put a smile on my face which is more than I can say about a Jersey Shore episode. So don’t expect any fist pumpers in this play because…well, you want to be entertained right?
Unlike Jersey Shore, there’s such a diversity of characters from Jose (played by Alan Castanaga), homeboy straight from the streets dropping rhymes and a hilarious gangster persona when clashing with the other contestants or Suki (played by Edna Ramos) the lovable foreigner, straight from Tokyo and unaware of the Canadian customs or probably just doesn’t want to learn them. But only naming a few, the whole ensemble have different identities but all desperately seek the same thing: fame, fortune, and to hog the spotlight.
Every different character had their own quirk that always kept me amused whether it was from their video intro telling us more about them or the song and/or dance routine they have chosen to show for the audience. They knew how to work the crowd and they did it their way (imagine me saying/singing it like Frank Sinatra) and were successful in getting the audience to react positively to it. But you figured that would be the case because these are the ALL-STARS from the Idol series!
They sing, they dance (not as well as I thought but added to the hilarity), and they entertained the crowd and got them into it. Sadly not all reality shows can be as good as this show so I highly recommend this on your Fringe adventure.
