Reviews 2015
Reviews 2015
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by Trey Parker, adapted by Christopher Bond, Aaron Eyre & Trevor Martin, directed by Christopher Bond
Starvox Entertainment, Panasonic Theatre, Toronto
February 18-March 8, 2015
“Hang the Bastard”
David Mirvish and Starvox Entertainment are currently presenting the latest attempt to create a stage musical from Trey Parker’s pre-South Park cult student film Cannibal! The Musical (1993). Although there have been several stage adaptations from 1998 onwards, the present production is the world premiere of a new adaptation by Christopher Bond, co-creator and director of Evil Dead: The Musical, with writing partner Trevor Martin and new music and a new score by composer Aaron Eyre. The obvious impulse behind the new adaptation is to capitalize of the immense success of the Trey Parker musical The Book of Mormon (2011). Despite the best efforts of the new adaptors, Cannibal! The Musical comes off like a piece of juvenilia best left forgotten and far beneath the talents of the cast.
Like the original film, the musical is loosely based on the case of Alferd [sic] Packer, the only man ever convicted of cannibalism in the United States. In 1873 Packer (Liam Tobin) leads a group of hapless miners over the Colorado Mountains in search of gold after their original leader dies suddenly. Months later when Packer arrives at his destination alone and the men he travelled with are found dead and half eaten on the mountain, he is prosecuted for cannibalism. While awaiting execution in his jail cell, journalist Polly Pry (Elicia MacKenzie) looks for a scoop by interviewing the “monster” only to find he is a naive, rather ordinary guy who says he is completely innocent. When he recounts his version of events, the musical shifts into enacting them.
Packer’s own version of what happened is not a bad premise for a musical. After all, musicals had already broached the topic of cannibalism is Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd (1979). But Cannibal! The Musical is about as far away from Sweeney Todd as two musicals can be. Parker’s dialogue and lyrics are rarely clever. The infantile humour derives mostly from uses of four-letter words and references to sex and bodily functions. The characters are cartoons. The action, especially in Act 1, is boring since it involves the miners literally walking around the stage in circles to show they are going nowhere and getting lost. The musical is made up of imitation middle-of-the-road 1970s songs. And there is no social or economic critique as in Sondheim – only a series of increasingly desperate anything-for-a-joke sketches.
Anyone hoping that Cannibal! is another Book of Mormon will be disappointed to find that neither the musical nor its production is as slick and tightly crafted especially when the top-priced tickets are not cheap. Director Christopher Bond has basically transferred the deliberately cheap and cheesy look of Evil Dead: The Musical to Cannibal! Jackie Chau’s sets made up of painted flats looks like it is from a high school production. The numerous costumes by Claudia Kada that the 8-member cast need to play 33 characters are often ill-fitting. The dance sequences are often shambolic not just because Stacey Maroske’s choreography is so unimaginative but because only four of the cast members – Lana Carillo, Elicia MacKenzie, Tim Porter and Liam Tobin – can dance.
Less excusable is the impression that the cast is singing to a pre-recorded soundtrack, not to a live band. The “band” consists of only two members, but, most of the time the singers seemed backed by the artificial sound of synthesizer alone. As for sound, the cast member all seem to be miked at different levels. Elicia Mackenzie in particular seems to be speaking and singing through an old-fashioned megaphone. To make things worse, the sound technicians have not yet mastered switching from mic to mic so that beginnings and endings of speeches are cut off.
Elicia MacKenzie is best known to Toronto audiences as Maria in The Sound of Music in 2008, though she was even better as Princess Fiona in Shrek at the Grand Theatre, London. It too bad, though unsurprising, that Parker has given her so little of interest to do in what is essentially a male-centred work. Her only big number doesn’t occur until the second act. “This Side Of Me” speaks of the bitchy side of Polly Pry that Parker has failed to show. Otherwise, the only chance she has to show off her vocals are in the Angel’s gospel styling that accompany “Meat My Destiny”.
Tim Porter, who plays six roles is most successful as the goldminer Noon who falls in love with the Ute native woman Yuki (Lana Carillo). His acting and dancing are tops but his singing voice is not as strong as Tobin’s. Among his six roles, Mark Andrada makes the best impression as the Indian Chief. Of his three roles, Marty Adams is best as the food-fixated miner Humphrey while he allows himself to go over the top as Packer’s prosecutor Mills, who for unknown reasons sports a Southern accent. Mike “Nug” Nahrgang is best as the grumbling miner Miller since it is hard to know what he’s trying to do as the boastful trapper Frenchie. Trevor Martin is dependable as the miner Miller, who goes believably bonkers during the action.
There is probably a reason why the 2008 version of Cannibal! has been so successful among college theatre groups. The low humour suits their audience and the low production values suit their budgets. Bond, Eyre and Martin’s attempt to raise the status of such an adolescent musical while retaining the low humour and the look of low production values is paradoxical at best. They can hardly expect people to pay top dollar when the return in entertainment is so low.
Bond does not even show respect for the musical during the performance. Before the show, during intermission and immediately after the curtain call, speakers in the theatre blare bluegrass versions of famous rock songs. If he really thought the songs were worth remembering, he would not distract us. When so many fine musicals are neglected, it’s a shame so much time has been wasted in trying to breathe life into this piece of dead meat.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive.
Photos: Lana Carillo, Trevor Martin, Mark Andrada, Tim Porter, Marty Adams, Elicia MacKenzie, Mike Nahrgang and Liam Tobin; Trevor Martin, Liam Tobin and Mark Andrada; Liam Tobin as Packer and Elicia MacKenzie as Polly. ©2015 Dahlia Katz.
For tickets, visit www.mirvish.com.
2015-02-18
Cannibal! The Musical