Evidently there was a great deal of dissatisfaction with the revamped movie version starring Nicholas Cage from a few years ago, so some hardy souls have embarked on the solemn mission of bringing The Wicker Man to the stage-as, as you might have guessed, a musical. The original movie from the nineteen seventies has a prominent place in the hearts of many, if not most, modern pagans, who viewed the modern re-telling of the tale of the British policeman investigating the disappearance of a young girl, and finding himself on an isolated island populated by a community of modern pagans, as something of a borderline abomination at best.
A good way to judge the initial success of the project that is this newest stage version might well be a look at the reaction to the play's closing scene. If modern pagans stand as a group and cheer when the beleaguered policeman is burnt as a living sacrifice for the islands annual fertility festival, you will then understand two things, which are, in order-
1.The play can be considered an unqualified success at least as a cult favorite.
2.They don't make broom closets too small for me to hide in.
Seeing as how you have to invest in the play in order to read the current reviews of the current London production, something tells me this isn't going to go over too well in the long term.
In the meantime, I have to ask-why a musical? Why not an opera? Then again, if either, why The Wicker Man? Why, oh why, not do something original?
Thanks again to The Wild Hunt
