The knack for being funny can excuse a multitude of sins — on stage, that is. (Don’t try this defense in a court of law.)

That’s the main factor in favor of The Toxic Avenger, the crass yet usually amusing and sometimes hilarious rock musical based on the low-budget 1984 cult flick of the same title.
The Toxic Avenger, Constantine Maroulis emerges after his metamorphosis.: Nick de la Torre : 29-95
Having already enjoyed a nine-month run off-Broadway, Toxic Avenger has invaded the Alley Theatre in a production the show’s creators hope to take to Broadway this spring. Such aspirations seem not improbable, precisely because the show is based on such a preposterous source. It’s exactly this sort of spoofy, campy, outrageous and frankly low-aiming fare that has found favor on Broadway in recent years.

Friday’s Alley opening demonstrated that, whatever Toxic Avenger’s shortcomings, it’s plainly an audience show. Director John Rando, the show’s guiding light from its inception, has delivered a briskly paced, craftily gag-laden, sharply performed production that makes the most of the ridiculous premise’s outrageous comic opportunities.

Written by the Tony-winning Memphis team of librettist Joe DiPietro and composer David Bryan, the show retains the movie’s plot of a bullied nerd who get dumped in a barrel of toxic goo and emerges a hideous yet nobly motivated superhero. DiPietro gave the musical greater continuity by stepping up the environmental angle. Toxie’s nemesis now is profiteering Mayor Babs, who’s turning the New Jersey town of Tromaville in one big toxic waste dump. It’s she and her polluting pals Toxie sets out to conquer, while conducting his awkward romance with beautiful blind librarian Sarah.


The Toxic Avenger has tea with his love interest Sarah (Mara Davi).: Nick de la Torre : 29-95
Bryan’s score is punchy and serviceable, but largely generic, offering little that is distinctively melodic or memorable. DiPietro’s determinedly jokey script and lyrics throw in anything that might get a laugh, and much that does. But the humor usually is very obvious and that, combined with the repetition of ideas and effects, brings diminishing returns.

The song titles are indicative of their obviousness: Get the Geek, Kick Your Ass, Hot Toxic Love, You Tore My Heart Out. Even the more effective songs are basically one-joke affairs: Toxie’s ballad Thank God She’s Blind; the Evil Is Hot tango for the Mayor and a conspirator; the heroine’s realization All Men Are Freaks.
The Toxic Avenger, Constantine Maroulis, talks to co-workers.: Nick de la Torre : 29-95
Rando’s antic staging adds its anything-for-a-laugh stunts and shtick, as does Kelly Devine’s crazed choreography, with its references to dance club moves of different eras. But what really puts the show over is the game humor and unflagging exuberance of the talented, hard-working cast of five, who work like 50.

Constantine Maroulis not only displays the vocal prowess that made his reputation on American Idol, but shows a flair for the nonsensical foolery, carrying a comic haplessness from his twerpy Melvin, to his transformation as monstrous yet vulnerable Toxie,

Nancy Opel, a cherished Broadway veteran, is a scream as brash, unashamedly evil Mayor Babs, doubling as Toxie’s crusty Ma. What authority! What timing! Her duet-for-one showdown, playing both roles at once, is priceless, hysterical and reason enough to attend.

Mara Davi is marvelous as Sarah, Toxie’s sweet yet surprisingly saucy love interest — with strong singing, sleek moves and comic flair; she brings an innocence to the show’s shameless succession of nutty “sight gags” hinging on Sarah’s blindness.

Antoine L. Smith and Mitchell Jarvis are a show in themselves, demonstrating comedic versatility in dozens of roles. To name two: Smith is hilarious as Sarah’s sass-spewing girlfriend Shinequa; Jarvis, a gem of parody as the Folk Singer who intones the Bruce Springsteen-styled Ballad of the Toxic Avenger.

Such design elements as Beowolf Boritt’s clever set (a mountain of toxic waste kegs that revolves to reveal other locales), David C. Woolard’s wild costumes, and Louis Zakarian’s monstrous mask-and-prosthetic designs, also serve the show’s comic aims.

If you’re seeking musical theater of artistic merit and importance, look elsewhere. But if you’re in the market for a silly, rowdy romp with no holds barred on the grounds of taste, Toxic Avenger ought to be just the ticket.

The Toxic Avenger
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays, through Feb. 12
Where: Alley Theatre, 615 Texas
Tickets: $25-$97; 713-220-5700