The Toxic Avenger: The Musical

As I was randomly flipping through library CDs, I found The Toxic Avenger, and spent about ten minutes trying to decide if I wanted to check it out or not, and finally realizing that it would be okay to try it. Umm...yeah...I think I might have made the wrong choice.

First of all, please let me say that I had no idea this was based off a movie. Looking it up later, it sounds like a really weird movie at that. Actually, I had originally thought that The Toxic Avenger: The Musical would be something similar to Little Shop of Horrors: a slightly nerdy/awkward/down on his luck young man falls in love with a pretty girl, finds himself unable to win her, but with the sudden appearance of something that is both a blessing and a curse, is able to win her heart, but destroys himself in the process. You know, a dark, depressing romance story of sorts.

The Toxic Avenger is a little different. Melvin Ferd III is an earth scientist investigating global warming. When he finds out that the Mayor is supporting toxic waste dumps that leave vats of the crap all over the city, he confronts her about it, only to have her henchmen throw him into the toxic waste and leave him for dead. He comes out as a giant mutant monster and rips people apart.

The lead female is blind, which is good for the hideous Melvin, but I also found her to be a very shallow and vain sort of person. She loves the attention she gets from dating "Toxie," who is now a local hero, but when she learns he's leaving the town, she asks to feel his face and breaks up with him because of his new deformities. She also attempts to sell her story as a memoir so that she can get on Oprah.

The cast is very small, and it makes for some weird characters, as many of the female characters are played by men. I'm used to cross-dressing in theatre, but this just gets weird.

All in all, not really a fan, although I will admit that the premise was interesting (just not for a musical--maybe a late night horror film) and some of the songs were pretty good. Still, I would not check it out again.