Abbie Klein
On April 17th the UWG Theatre Department opened their production of “The Toxic Avenger,” a rock musical adaptation of the 1985 film by the same name. The musical, directed by Shelly Elman, was a fantastic close to their “Resistance is Futile” season dedicated to the late Alan Yeoung-Marcello. The audience was constantly erupting in laughter and the small cast only added to the intimacy and the humor of it all.
The show opened with all of the cast members singing about how horrible the pollution is in New Jersey, the state in which the story was set. Asking the question “who will save New Jersey?” The story continued with the main character, Melvin, confessing his love to a blind librarian named Sarah in the song “I Will Save You, Sarah.” The audience was then introduced to the antagonist of the story, Mayor Babs Belgoody, who is in charge of the corporation responsible for polluting the city. Melvin, in an attempt to be a hero, confronts the Mayor about her unethical ways. Unsuccessful in his attempt, the Mayor orders the city bullies to “Get the Geek”. Melvin is pushed into a vat of toxic waste and turns into a mutant with superhuman strength.
With his new found strength Melvin rescues Sarah from the bullies and takes her home. Sarah, unaware that this mutant superhero is her friend Melvin, falls in love with the Toxic Avenger thinking he is a French man named Toxic. Horrified with his new appearance and powers Melvin seeks help from a scientist who says there is no cure but to stay away from bleach because it is his only weakness.
After accepting his new life and falling in love with Sarah, Melvin grows confident as the Toxic Avenger and uses his powers to stop polluters and other crime in the city. Mayor Babs, who is now threatened by this mutant hero, seduces the scientist in order to discover Melvin’s weakness. Having discovered that bleach is the only thing that can kill Melvin the Mayor starts a hunt for the Toxic Avenger.
At the most climatic part of the story Sarah comes to save Melvin from Mayor Babs, killing the Mayor and reviving Melvin in the process. The musical ends with the cast singing about how they plan to reverse the pollution in their city and save New Jersey in the song “Brand New Day in New Jersey”.
Among all the humor and fun of the show, emotions were high for senior Valeria Lee, who took to the UWG stage for one last time in her role of Sarah. As the female lead and only senior in the show Lee acted as a mentor for the other cast members and crew.
“It’s been very fun,” said Lee. I feel like they made me feel kind of old because they’d always call me a dinosaur, but it felt nice to be able to show them and teach them certain things since a lot of them are new or this is their first musical. It was just a fun combination of my four years of being here.”
Her performance as Sarah was impressive not only because of her vocal ability but also because of the exceptional job she did in portraying a blind character. For most people, convincing an audience that you’re blind is not an easy task, but for Lee it was never too much of a feat.
“The process started pretty easy because we already had a lot of our props and specifically I already had the [cane], so it wasn’t too hard,” said Lee. “But what was really hard was not looking at other people. I wanted to look at them so badly, especially when it was like something funny but I had to remember to just look the other way.”
Lee’s performance was not the only one that stood out. Isiah Sargent and Jamiyah Smith were truly the highlight of the whole performance. Both of their roles required them to play multiple characters including the bullies, CSI agents, the scientist and Sarah’s friends just to name a few. Whenever they stepped on stage in a new costume or wig it was a guaranteed laugh from the audience.
The show was overall a silly and fun experience that the entire audience enjoyed, making it a successful close to the season. The show will continue to run until April 21, for tickets visit https://tcpa.my.salesforce-sites.com/ticket#/events/a0S5d00000c9zJMEAY.