Review: Phoenix Theatre's THE TOXIC AVENGER Is Wicked-Great!

Big TENS all around for THE TOXIC AVENGER, now burning up the stage of Phoenix Theatre and oozing with absolutely intoxicating performances and spectacular staging.

The inimitable Michael Barnard, the company's Producing Artistic Director, is a wizard of theatrical chemistry, and in this production of the wild and crazy rock musical with a save-the-planet message, he has concocted a mind-blowing brew of crew and cast ~ Caleb Reese, Johanna Carlisle, Trisha Ditsworth, Nathaniel Lewis Tenenbaum, and Lucas Coatney ~ that bubbles and excites long after the show's end.

A blast of lightning strikes. The billowing scum-stained curtain opens on a place between Heaven and Hell ~ Tromaville, New Jersey ~ in a yard strewn with layers of steel drums filled with toxic waste.

"Who Will Save New Jersey?" ~ that is the opening musical question, revealing the pressing and distressing need for a solution to end the pollution.

The call for action falls upon Melvin Ferd the Third (Caleb Reese), an earth scientist, to get to the bottom of the problem. The impetus to play environmental hero is spurred on by his infatuation with Sarah (Trisha Ditsworth), the blind town librarian who has a hilariously chronic case of the dropsies. However, the only bottom he reaches, alas, is that of a barrel of waste into which he's been (inadvertently) dumped by the two Beavis and Butthead-like goons (Nathaniel Lewis Tenenbaum and Lucas Coatney) of the town's mayor (Johanna Carlisle), who, lo and behold (it's Jersey, after all!), is slime-deep in the corrupt disposition of toxic waste.

Even if you're unfamiliar with the B-movie genre and the film from which the musical was derived, you'll inevitably burst with heavy chuckles and heaving gasps when Ferd rises with grunts and growls from the muck all green and gross. With one eye dangling and a body to die for, the resurrected mutant crusader, aptly named Toxie, is now intent upon killing the evildoers who are polluting the earth ~ and, in his furious wake, he leaves behind the heads and limbs of his victims. In return, the evildoers are conducting a frantic chase to dissolve him and the threat he poses to their livelihood.

At the core of the aforementioned brew are five explosive performances.

Caleb Reese is magnificent as Melvin/Toxie. His metamorphosis from nerd to monster is extraordinary. Torn between the man he was and the monster he has become, he yearns still for Sarah's love, beseeching her to trust him but preventing her from touching him. Reese convincingly captures the angst and the fury of this internal struggle, perhaps no more powerfully than when he mesmerizes the audience with the soulful "You Tore My Heart Out."

Trisha Ditsworth is terrific as Sarah. Her versatility and comic sensibility is fully on display ~ whether as a fumbling blind librarian or the lovestruck object of Melvin's devotion or Toxie's fired up seductress ("Hot Toxic Love").

Johanna Carlisle is awesome and can belt out a song as good as it gets. Hers is a knock-your-socks off performance, both as the town's corrupt and salacious mayor and as Melvin's mother. Carlisle is perfect as the politico who will go to any lengths and exploit any wiles to preserve her position. Her switcheroo as Mayor and Mother in a stormy confrontation between the two ("Bitch, Slut, Liar, Whore") is a comedic tour de force.

Nathaniel Lewis Tenenbaum and Lucas Coatney are hilarious as they play multiple roles ~ goons, cops, showgirls, etc. ~ throughout the show.

This musical feast is deliciously seasoned with Beowulf Boritt's brilliant set design; David Woolard's costumes; and Louis Zakarian's masks and prosthetics. Jeff Kennedy's zestful musical direction rocks the house and infuses the music and lyrics of David Bryan and Joe diPietro with electrifying energy.

Phoenix Theatre's Southwest Regional Premiere of THE TOXIC AVENGER is a powerhouse of a production. If that's not a prescription for a must-see show, what is? The production continues through November 22nd.

Photo credit to Erin Evangeline Photography

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