Now it’s Cannibal! The Musical

It seems that 2010 is the year of the bloodthirsty musical:  after just announcing Silence! The Musical (based on the Jodie Foster/Tony Hopkins films about Hannibal Lecter) you can now see Cannibal! The Musical at the Basement Studio in Leicester Square Theatre in London’s West End from 27th July-10th September.

Cannibal! The Musical is an adaptation of the 1996 cult film by Trey Parker (creator of South Park which he originally wrote as a three-minute sequence for his film class while he was a student at the University of Colorado). It is described as a “cannibalistic comedy cowboy musical” and the “most terrifying and hilarious musical since The Sound of Music”.  It was first seen Off-Broadway in 2001 and also appeared at the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe.

It is set in Colorado during the 1800s and tells the true story of gold prospector Alfred Packer who was convicted of cannibalism after a group he was in set out in snow-covered Rocky Mountains searching for gold but lost their way and found starvation instead! 

Former Union Army solder Packer is said to have eaten his five companions to survive. Packer was convicted of manslaughter despite claiming that one of his companions, Shannon Wilson Bell, killed the other four and that he only killed Bell in self-defence.