Cannibal! Review

Cannibal! Review

Based on a true story, Cannibal! The Musical tells of the only reported incident of cannibalism in the history of the United States. Yes, one of those musicals. Alfered ‘Alfred’ Packer sets out with a group of prospecting miners in search of gold in Colorado. Unfortunately for the expedition Packer has no idea where he is going, and promptly gets lost in the Rocky Mountains. At this point despair and killing set in (with less than hilarious results) and members of the cast eventually start eating each other… Written by Trey Parker of South Park fame we might have expected more from the script of Cannibal - and at least some decent musical numbers. These fail to materialise however, and despite the many insider jokes (I had to do my research to comprehend them) there is little to be said for the humour. Jokes are often either too obvious - relying on swearing or slapstick - or simply badly told. Many of the subtler puns or punch-lines are lost in the void between stage and audience. It also says something about the musical when the funniest moments often come from Packer’s busty brunette of a mount – that is ‘horse’ – rather than central characters. Surprisingly dull for a musical comedy about eating people, this was a disappointing, often hard to digest, attempt at a musical comedy.