theater reviewer for The New York Times

Now what would you say was the great movie musical of the past 10 years?  Might I suggest the feature-length animated feature, South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut.  This unabashed raunch festival made wittier use of musical-comedy conventions than any dewy-eyed Disney fare, and it produced songs, with largely unquotable lyrics, that I have since been unable to shake from memory.

There are clearly New Yorkers who share my appreciation for the talents of Trey Parker, the co-creator of South Park, since one of his earlier efforts, with the disarming title of Cannibal! The Musical is now packing in late-night cult audiences in the Kraine Theater in the East Village.  As performed by a group called the Saturday Players, Cannibal is a stage adaptation of Mr. Parker's 1995 movie, and blithely tells the grisly but sentimental story of one Alferd Packer, who was tried for canniabalism in Colorado after eating his gold-prospecting companions.

Mr. Parker again twists Rodgers and Hammerstein-style cheer into grining absurdity, and makes eating one's friends seem as innocent as something from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  The young cast here isn't terribly polished, but it's hard not to be swept up in their rambunctious pleasure in the proceedings, and the evening as a whole is surprisingly, well, tasty.

Speaking of Cannibal at the Kraine, this is Ben Brantley of The New York Times.