Toxic Avenger: Reviews and Blog roundup

The Toxic Avenger will come to a close this weekend, a bittersweet moment at GSP, but we're already in rehearsals for The Seafarer ( blog forthcoming!). There's been lots of press on the show, but perhaps more interesting is that sci-fi bloggers have fallen in love with Toxie! Below are just a few of the reviews from official and un-official press!

Charles Paolino of the Home News Tribune calls the show "a raunchy plunge into a vat of incorrectness."

Peter Filichia writes in The Star Ledger "the building must now have many cracked walls from all the explosive applause and laughter"

Stephen Wells' reviews The Toxic Avenger in The New York Times and says "there’s a show at George Street that is bringing audiences spontaneously to their feet."

Kelly-Jane Cotter raves "The Toxic Avenger Musical" is a scream" in the Asbury Park Press

If that's not the enough read the blog reviews at

headstonecity

io9

fearnet.com

chud.com

So if you haven't seen it yet! Get your tickets now. Ask about our Monster Happy hour on Thursday 10/30 or our costume contest on halloween! Have you seen the show? Post your review here!

Opening Night Coverage: AMC Sci-Fi

Ever wonder what it's like to attend an opening night at George Street Playhouse? AMC Sci-Fi got an all-access pass and interviews the cast of The Toxic Avenger and creator of the original movie and head of Troma films, Lloyd Kaufman.

Audiences Love Toxie!

The Toxic Avenger is still in previews, but word of mouth has been extraordinary! See for youself!

"Just saw it. Great! Will be back & bring some more Jersey friends. Have a great run!!"

"Saw the show last night at George Street and had a blast! I'm not usually a musicals person but this was such a fun show - with great writing and music. Loved the physical comedy too."

"We just saw opening night in New Brunswick last night, what a fantastic musical! Everything was excellent from the writing, the music, to the amazing actors! We can't stop laughing about it!"

Birth of a new musical!

I recently sat with Joe DiPietro to talk about the creation of The Toxic Avenger which began previews last night to an enthusiastic audience! Below is an excerpt of my interview.

Q: What was your reaction when first asked to make The Toxic Avenger a musical?

Joe DiPietro: It’s funny, because I get a fair amount of calls about people trying to turn various movies into musicals. I had seen the movie about 20 years ago, so I immediately thought, “Oh My God, I love that idea, it’s so off the wall, and I know the perfect guy to write it with.” So I hung up the phone, so excited and immediately started writing an outline of what I wanted to do, and within an hour I knew it was going to have five people, three of them play many roles, I just had the whole feel of it. It’s a pretty good sign when you can write like that…

Q: What are some of the challenges of adapting the movie to the stage?


JD: When I first watched the movie again, I thought it was a weird, odd, fun movie, but aimed at teenage guys under the influence. I didn’t think the movie would work on stage and wasn’t interested in doing a literal translation. I loved the premise of the story so much, that if Lloyd Kaufman (who is the creator of the Toxic Avenger) would let David and I make up our own story, but stay true to the spirit of the film, then I could do it.

Q: How did you come up with the other characters?

JD: It’s a bit of Charles Ludlum’s “Theatre of the Ridiculous”, and also from my experience with I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change having 4 people playing sixty characters. I love that theatrical conceit, the idea of people playing multiple roles. We obviously have two actors playing 20 characters each, of every gender and age imaginable. The movie was a low-budget movie and I thought this needed to be a fun low-budget musical. Obviously, the subject matter is so over the top, it had to match the feel of that.

Q: What about The Toxic Avenger makes it appropriate for a musical?

JD: Well, I wouldn’t want to go see a “monster play” but a monster musical is much more interesting and I really haven’t seen any of those. Musicals need to have a specific milieu that gives it an environment. The Toxic Avenger is essentially set in a toxic waste dump in New Jersey, which is pretty offbeat for a musical. It’s such a heightened story, with heightened emotions, so there’s a lot of passion to sing about. We really worked hard to make sure that the love story between the Toxic Avenger and the blind librarian he falls in love with remains central to the story.

posted by Scott Goldman, Executive Assistant

Meet Steven Jones

I am unspeakably excited to be a part of this years touring company at George Street Playhouse. I am a recent graduate of Rutgers University where I studied Theater Arts and English and received the oh-so-coveted B.A. Degree in both of those subjects! (This means I am soon to be making the BIG BUCKS)

Born and raised in Trenton NJ, the arts have always been an outlet for me. Always the clown or the showoff at all family events I knew from an early age that a future in performing was inevitable for me. I attended the Mercer Country High School of Performing Arts and it was there where I really fell in love with Acting as a craft and Theater as an art. That love carried me into the B.A. program at Rutgers (the greatest University that was ever established…literally…out of all of them…Rutgers is the best one). I have had the fortune of performing in about 15 shows while at Rutgers; most notably: Ragtime, Once on This Island, Glengarry Glen Ross, Six Degrees of Separation, Line, The Brig, and Suzan Lori Parks’ 365 Plays 365 Days, which was directed by GSP’s very own Dan “Da Man” Swern.

I am having the time of my life working with the amazing people at GSP and I think that this year’s tour is assembled of some of the finest actors and greatest people with whom I have had the pleasure of working. I am looking forward to what exciting things and adventures there are to come.

Hometown: Trenton, NJ

Favorite Thing to do on a day off: Just kick back and relax with a good book and a game or two or six of NFL Madden for PS2

Audition Piece: “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” by August Wilson, “Free Will and Wanton Lust” by Nicky Silver

What do you listen to on the way to work: A very eclectic mix but more than likely something by Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, or Musiq Soulchild.

Most embarrassing stage moment: During a performance of Julius Caesar at the Belasco Theater in NYC: Completely zoning out backstage in between entrances and leaving a helpless Denzel Washington on the stage to do nothing else but to yell my character’s name at the top of his lungs, to get my attention. I hauled butt onto the stage and delivered my lines (out of breath), then exited stage left, and immediately proceeded to die a little bit.

First Broadway Show: Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods”

Must See TV: HEROES!!! Top Chef, Inside the Actors Studio

Latest Movie Recommendation: Burn After Reading