Rife with dark absurdist humor, “Cannibal! The Musical” employs a combination of sardonic reverence with Trey Parker’s easily recognized brand of “South Park”-ian sight gags, bathroom jokes, and of course, a healthy dose of bestiality.

Sporting a cast comprising many current and former UNC Wilmington students, “Cannibal!” opened last weekend at the Brown Coat Pub & Theatre.  The Guerilla Theatre/Pineapple Shaped Lamps production is adapted from a black comedy-musical film by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, now known for co-creating the hit cartoon “South Park,” while they were still undergrads at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Having started from scratch with only the hard copy of Parker’s screenplay and a spotty musical score, director and UNCW alum Wesley Brown gave a spirited homage to the black comedy-musical.  And although there are South Park references aplenty (“Murder’s bad, mkay?”), Brown also seeks to distance the play from a solely “South Park” fan base.

“We didn’t want to just cater to ‘South Park’ fans or ‘Cannibal’ fans when we were putting this together,” said Brown.  With his experience directing another musical comedy, “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog,” the young director takes a darker turn with “Cannibal!” yet successfully makes the production unique in its delivery.

Audiences can expect a lot from the play, as the comedic delivery oscillates between campy and abrasive, and covers disparate subjects including a complex discussion of relative modal minors shortly after the song “When I Was On Top Of You,” in which Alfred Packer, played by David Lorek, repeatedly and passionately implies carnal knowledge of his horse, Liane.

Most of the songs succeed in keeping up with the show’s overall gag-reel pace of its jokes, and according to Brown, this is in no small part thanks to the production’s tireless musical director, Brett Young.  Because so little of the source material for the musical – which has been theatrically produced less than fifty times – was available, all the canned music had to be created for the show, partially based off sheet music which has been created by the movie’s cult following.  Additionally, the inclusion of the rap song “Shatterproof,” a scene originally cut from the movie, required Young to transcribe by ear.

UNCW student Patrick Lewis’ take on Israel Swan was on point, with the UNCW nailing his character’s outlandish adherence to the power of positive thinking, grinning through third act’s alternately tedious and brutal desperation like a half-witted posterchild for naïveté as he serenades his companions with “Let’s Build A Snowman.”

David Lorek stars as cannibal-in-question Alfred Packer, with Lauren Doughten as Polly Pry, an investigative reporter assigned to interview him in jail.  UNCW students Chelsea Deaner,  Ben Henson, and Rachel Helms and alumni Zach Pappas support Lorek as his fellow miners during their ill-fated journey through the Rockies.

Clearly not a family comedy, “Cannibal! The Musical” is not for the easily-offended, but any fan of Parker and Stone’s better-known works will get more than their money’s worth.

Tickets to see “Cannibal! The Musical” can be purchased for $8 at the Brown Coat Pub & Theatre.  This week’s showings are Thursday, Oct. 27 through Monday, Oct. 31.  Shows start at 8 p.m. all weekend except the Sunday matinee, which begins at 5 p.m.