Green Jersey

The Toxic Avenger, New Jersey’s homegrown activist

The Toxic Avenger, with his (blind) girlfriend.

by William Owen

It’s a simple story: A nerd, named Melvin Ferd III, gets dunked in toxic waste and mutates into a nigh-invulnerable, super-strong hulk. But rather than emerging muscled, square-jawed and vaguely like Eric Bana, he’s hideously deformed. One eye hangs out. Fluid spurts from his cranium. And he punishes evildoers by tearing them apart and beating them with their own limbs.

The formula has worked well.

It has spawned three sequels, a cartoon series, comic books, action figures, built a film studio, and now, of all things, a musical. The stage version of “The Toxic Avenger” premiered last October at New Brunswick’s George Street Playhouse and is running now in Manhattan, and the soundtrack went on sale nationwide today. But “Oklahoma” this is not. Think more along the lines of “South Park: The Movie.”

Lloyd Kaufman, the creator of The Toxic Avenger, says the inspiration for the character came when he and his wife went camping in New Jersey in 1982. “There was garbage everywhere, all over the place,” he says. “And none of that stuff was biodegradable then. McDonald’s didn’t recycle stuff then.”

Toxic waste was on the national radar at the time in a big way, following the then recent legal battles over the Kin-Buc Landfill in Edison and the Love Canal disaster.

“‘The Toxic Avenger’ was the first film to address the environment in a comedic way,” Kaufman says. “Now Al Gore wins the Nobel Prize.”

So when writer Joe DiPietro updated the Toxic Avenger for the stage, he kept much of what originally appealed to the late-night film crowd — kitsch, slapstick, and sexuality — but also updated the plot, taking into account changes in the public’s environmental awareness and New Jersey’s history of political corruption. The sexpot Mayor, a super funny Nancy Opel (she alone makes this worth seeing), tries to get rich by cramming the fictitious town of Tromaville, New Jersey with toxic waste. Her actions hint at the bad behavior of past Jersey politicians, and songs about how hot evil is, what happens when blind librarians fall in love with mutants, and of course, “Who Will Save New Jersey,” are hilarious.

And where the original film found Melvin ending up in a vat of glowing goo that just happened to be sitting around, the musical places him squarely in the path of the vats, as he tries to investigate and clean up the rank-smelling barrels, finally butting horns with the corrupt mayor.

Local Green Jersey readers can see the play in New York at the New World Stages theater, with the wonderful cast of Opel, Nick Cordero, Sara Chase, Demond Green and Matt Saldivar. And the producers are offering a special for our readers — use the code below for discounted tickets through July 31.

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Valid on performances now-July 31, 2009  
Code: TOBLOG409
Regular Price: $71.50, $51.50
Discounted Price: $45 (includes $1.50 facility fee)
This offer is valid for select performances thru 7/31/09 and is subject to availability. Not valid on prior purchase. Offer cannot be combined with other discounts or promotions; blackout dates and restrictions may apply. Limit eight tickets per order. No refunds or exchanges. Offer may be revoked at any time. Additional service fees may apply to phone and website orders. Click here for tickets.