The Good, the Bad and the Toxic

Toxic Avenger is presented by Dancap Productions and is playing at the Danforth Music Hall.

The Toxic Avenger is set in New Jersey in the very polluted town of Tromaville. Our hero starts out as the socially-conscious but also socially inept Melvin Ferd the Third, a self proclaimed activist determined to clean up his town and take on the evil mayor (Lousie Pitre) while nursing an unrequited crush on the very hot but very blind librarian Sarah (Brittany Gray). After Melvin uncovers incriminating evidence against her, the mayor sends her thugs to get rid of him. They dunk him in a barrel of toxic waste, and thus turn him into the title anti-hero, the Toxic Avenger.

Evan Alexander Smith was an excellent choice for the title character....both as Melvin and Toxie. His sweet nature comes shining through and his struggles as both characters are easy to relate to as a normal person.

Lousie Pitre, who plays the less-than-noble Mayor of Tromaville was a delight to watch. Pitre pulls off her multiple roles in the show with a practiced ease, even to the point of two separate characters fighting one another (you have to see just how well this is done :) )

Brittany Gray's portrayal of the heroine Sarah , a blind librarian that is at the same time sweet, naive, salacious, wanton and timid. On the surface she is the shy, girl-next-door type, but the audience soon finds out that there is a shameless harlot lurking beneath those blonde locks and baby blue eyes.

There is quite a bit of swearing, exaggerated violence and "sexual situations" in the show so parents or those who do not appreciate that sort of thing might be better not to see this show.

One issue I did find with the production is that the words of the songs were often overwhelmed by the music, making it very difficult if not impossible to hear some of the lyrics.

That aside Toxic Avenger is a fun time with good music, although definately not suitable for some audiences.

On a side note, I would also like to recommend Allen's, the restaurant right beside the theatre. We stopped in for dinner before the show and it was delightful. We started with Sour Cream vichyssoise and Sweet potato fries...very yummy. The fish and chips was one of the best in the city with a light crisp coating and impeccibly cooked fish and their chcocolate bread pudding with pecans and bourbon-caramel sauce was to die for! :) Their website is http://www.allens.to/ check them out!