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align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face=Georgia>Cain Park’s ‘The Toxic Avenger’ goes
from intoxicating to punch-drunk</FONT></SPAN></B></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN></B> </P>
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face=Georgia>Bob Abelman</FONT></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: "></SPAN></P>
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face=Georgia>Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning
Journal</FONT></SPAN></I><SPAN style="COLOR: "></SPAN></P>
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face=Georgia>Member, International Association of Theatre
Critics</FONT></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: "></SPAN></P>
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style="COLOR: "></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face=Georgia>“The Toxic Avenger,” currently on stage
at Cain Park, is the love-child of “Little Shop of Horrors” and “Rocky Horror
Picture Show.” </FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face=Georgia>No, that’s not really how this
off-beat, off-Broadway rock musical came into being.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But it’s so much easier to envision this
kind of conception then the fact that such a conspicuously silly sci-fi farce
was written by the same fellows – Joe DiPietro (“I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now
Change”) and David Bryan (keyboardist for the rock band Bon Jovi) – who won a
Tony Award for writing the comparatively straight-laced musical “Memphis.”
</FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face=Georgia>Based on the 1984 low-budgeted B-movie
by Lloyd Kaufman, “The Toxic Avenger” features nerdy Melvin Ferd III (Ellis C.
Dawson III), who is in love with the blind town librarian Sarah (Natalie Green)
and is on a mission to clean up the nuclear waste in his hometown in New Jersey.
<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face=Georgia>The corrupt Mayor of the town (Kate
Leigh Michalski), whose shady business deals are responsible for the toxic dump,
attempts to foil Melvin’s plans by having her thugs (Codie Higer and Mariah
Burks) dump him into a vat of toxic goo. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He emerges as a deformed, radioactive
mutant with superhuman strength, hell-bent on righting wrongs and breaking into
song with little provocation.</FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face=Georgia>DiPietro’s script is hilarious and uses
every sci-fi genre trope, musical theater convention and New Jersey failing as
its plaything.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But what is
delightfully outrageous and deliciously idiotic out of the gate becomes tedious
as audiences grow accustomed and then numb to things sick, shocking and
sarcastic.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face=Georgia>The same goes for David Bryan’s score,
which wedges witty wordplay into generic musical theater genres that become
indistinguishable over time despite a superb band under Jordan Cooper’s
direction.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face=Georgia>Despite its creative challenges, this
production of “The Toxic Avenger” is a success. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The reason is the seven exceptionally
talented, fully committed, and unflinching performers who operate under Nathan
Motta’s immensely playful direction and choreography. </FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 12pt"><FONT
face=Georgia><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in">For
more of this review, go to </SPAN></I><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in"><FONT
color=#0563c1>www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/</FONT></SPAN></I><I
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style="BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in">.
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