Illuminati Lizards From Outer Space

It's hard to know what to write about Illuminati Lizards From Outer Space since I was unable to hear ~70% of the lyrics (100% if more than one person was singing). I don't know if it was where I was sitting (house right, fifth row, near a speaker that was blasting the musicians much louder than the singers) or bad sound design in general, but the experience was downright dreadful. For a campy show like Illuminati Lizards From Outer Space, lyrics are all-important, and, who knows, they might have been brilliant. I believe I caught a rhyme of free and happy that required a painfully unnatural emphasis on the last syllable of happy, so I doubt the lyrics actually were that great, but, again, I just don't know.

The basic plot, such as it is: A beauty queen is denied her crown because she is an "illegal alien" from Canada (which I think isn't a country in the land of Illuminati Lizards). The Illuminati lizards, who, I think, are supposed to destroy earth, or something, believe she's one of them since they are actual aliens. And stuff happens.

I think Illuminati Lizards is supposed to be a goodhearted, campy, political satire, but it comes across as though a bunch of reasonably talented people threw a pile of ideas against the wall and kept what stuck. And then they swept up the losing ideas and used them anyway.

I loved the video design by Lisa Renkel and Wayne Bryant. It stands in for scenery and periodically provides an excellent head lizard speaking from outer space (if only I could have understood more of what he was saying!).

The cast seemed pretty good, to the extent I could tell, and I was blown away by Brian Charles Rooney's huge voice. I couldn't decide if I would rather hear him sing Jim Steinman songs or opera, but I'd be glad to try either.

The one lyric that did stay with me was "Illuminati lizards from outer space. Illuminati lizards from outer space. Illuminati lizards from outer space. Illuminati lizards from outer space. Illuminati lizards from outer space.  Illuminati lizards from outer space. Illuminati lizards from outer space. Illuminati lizards from outer space." It rang in my head for hours after the show. I was grateful, though--it knocked out the "Hard-Knock Life" ear worm I had been enduring for days.

My apologies to everyone who worked on Illuminati Lizards From Outer Space. I wish I had been able to hear enough to provide a more useful review.

Wendy Caster
(press ticket, 5th row, far audience right)