 "Photo: Jamie Hinson / The Gamecock")
This weekend, Benson Theatre will be the site of the excessive blood and gore usually associated with a bad slasher movie, as well as uplifting song and dance, in the form of the USC Puppet Regime's stage debut of "Cannibal! The Musical."
Based off the first film of "South Park," "Cannibal!" tells a heavily fictionalized account of the true story of Alferd Packer and the sordid details of the trek from Utah to Colorado that left his five fellow travelers dead and partially eaten. Puppet Regime, an undergraduate theatre club known for its offbeat productions often by student playwrights, is putting on the production.
"It's something we've all enjoyed for a long time," said the play's director Jamie Hinson, a third-year technical support and training management student. "And we wanted to bring it to the stage so everyone else could enjoy it, too."
According to the musical's Web site, "Alferd Packer: The Musical" was released in 1996 when Troma Studios, known for such films as the "Toxic Avenger" series and "Tromeo and Juliet," picked it up and renamed it "Cannibal! The Musical" for concern that not enough people outside of Colorado knew whom Alferd Packer was. Few people outside of Colorado ever saw the film since Troma did not distribute it widely. Trey Parker and Matt Stone's animated series "South Park" debuted on Comedy Central the following year. There is no official stage play version of movie; instead those interested in putting on a production are provided with a copy of the film script and allowed to adapt it to suit their production.
"The movie has much of the same appeal as something like the 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' and 'A Clockwork Orange,'" said Layne Womick, a third-year history student who plays Polly Pry in the play. "The play gives a unique perspective you wouldn't get from the movie. It has a funny relevancy to human nature ... and blood and gore."
"Cannibal! the Musical" can be seen at Benson Theatre today through Sunday at 8 p.m. Cost is $3.
To learn more about "Cannibal! The Musical," visit www.cannibalthemusical.net. To learn more about Puppet Regime, visit www.geocities.com/puppetregimeusc.
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