Comical saga: from geek to superhero
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By Chung Ah-young
A simple, small revolving stage, a handful of musicians in the corner instead of a large orchestra pit, and just five actors, are all elements of the Broadway musical "The Toxic Avenger" recently made into a Korean rendition for the first time.
The show is based on the 1984 B-movie and the audience laughs uncontrollably as a geek becomes a superhero.
The Korean adaptation induces roars of laughter with cult elements and a tasty translation against the rich rock-tinged musical numbers such as "Get the Geek", "Big Green Freak", "Hot Toxic Love", "Evil Is Hot" and "All Men Are Freaks".
Written by Broadway hit maker Joe DiPietro, composed by Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan, and directed by John Rando, the musical is set in Tromaville, New Jersey.
Melvin, a nerd dreaming of becoming an earth scientist, played by Oh Man-seok, laments the pollution in his town affecting the citizens and Sarah, his blind girlfriend.
One day, he makes a shocking discovery at the city library where Sarah works that Good Earth, a major dumper of waste, is actually owned by Babs Belogoody, the city mayor, played by Kim Young-ju.
As the geek protagonist tries to reveal the truth to the public, the mayor orders the two goons to get rid of Melvin as she thinks he could be a stumbling block to her plan to run for governor in the upcoming election. The goons throws Melvin into the toxic waste tank but Melvin survives and becomes a giant green mutant called Toxie with his brain half-exposed, an eyeball dangling out of its socket and his body cut up.
The green superhero saves the citizens and Sarah who is often targeted by the goons, causing her to fall in love with him.
Toxie fights against the corrupt authority to save the town from the environmental hazard. The citizens hail his emergence as a "toxic hero". Meanwhile, the mayor wants to kill Toxie who prevents her from illegally dumping the waste. She finds out how she can destroy the monster by seducing her scientist ex-boyfriend.
The mayor threatens the mutant with white detergent that neutralizes his power.
After Sarah finds out that Toxie is really Melvin, she leaves him, driving him crazy, and he starts killing innocent citizens out of anger.
In the final standoff between the mayor and Toxie, the green monster is attacked by the fatal detergent.
The show has many highlights such as Oh switching between the geek and the frightening green mutant and Kim's triple-roles as the mayor, Melvin's mother and a nun.
Oh successfully incarnates a grotesque, comical character, shedding his fixed gentle image frequently portrayed in previous musicals and television dramas.
His splitting of arms, legs, heads, bones and intestines of evildoers in a gruesome execution spree brings a burst of laughter rather than horror, well mixed with B movie elements of grotesque and sleazy humor.
The show's funniest scene sees the mayor and Melvin's mother, both played by Kim, appear simultaneously. Kim's astonishing dual acting in the same scene makes it hard to believe the roles are played by the same actress as her voice and singing style is totally different for each character.
The two actors that play some 13 roles each are the cream of the crop. They are the goons clad in hip hop outfits, the vulnerable elderly, sexy ladies wearing miniskirts and gun-toting police officers.
They support the main characters with flamboyant transformations by switching from the high pitched female roles to male characters throughout the show.
Chae Song-hwa-I, arguably the nation's top makeup artist, whose creative abilities were seen in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch", "Evil Dead", "Cats" and "200-Pound Beauty", again shows her magical skills with the monster.
The show premiered in 2009 and immediately created the so-called "toxic" syndrome on Broadway. "The Toxic Avenger" won the Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical at the Outer Critics Circle Awards in 2009 and the 2009 Theater Fans' Choice Awards on http://www.Broadwayworld.com, a U.S. performing arts website. The musical continues to run through Oct. 10 at the KT&G Sangsang Art Hall in southern Seoul. Tickets cost from 55,000 won to 66,000 won. For reservations, call 1544-1555.
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A scene from "The Toxic Avenger" / Courtesy of Show Note
A simple, small revolving stage, a handful of musicians in the corner instead of a large orchestra pit, and just five actors, are all elements of the Broadway musical "The Toxic Avenger" recently made into a Korean rendition for the first time.
The show is based on the 1984 B-movie and the audience laughs uncontrollably as a geek becomes a superhero.
The Korean adaptation induces roars of laughter with cult elements and a tasty translation against the rich rock-tinged musical numbers such as "Get the Geek", "Big Green Freak", "Hot Toxic Love", "Evil Is Hot" and "All Men Are Freaks".
Written by Broadway hit maker Joe DiPietro, composed by Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan, and directed by John Rando, the musical is set in Tromaville, New Jersey.
Melvin, a nerd dreaming of becoming an earth scientist, played by Oh Man-seok, laments the pollution in his town affecting the citizens and Sarah, his blind girlfriend.
One day, he makes a shocking discovery at the city library where Sarah works that Good Earth, a major dumper of waste, is actually owned by Babs Belogoody, the city mayor, played by Kim Young-ju.
As the geek protagonist tries to reveal the truth to the public, the mayor orders the two goons to get rid of Melvin as she thinks he could be a stumbling block to her plan to run for governor in the upcoming election. The goons throws Melvin into the toxic waste tank but Melvin survives and becomes a giant green mutant called Toxie with his brain half-exposed, an eyeball dangling out of its socket and his body cut up.
The green superhero saves the citizens and Sarah who is often targeted by the goons, causing her to fall in love with him.
Toxie fights against the corrupt authority to save the town from the environmental hazard. The citizens hail his emergence as a "toxic hero". Meanwhile, the mayor wants to kill Toxie who prevents her from illegally dumping the waste. She finds out how she can destroy the monster by seducing her scientist ex-boyfriend.
The mayor threatens the mutant with white detergent that neutralizes his power.
After Sarah finds out that Toxie is really Melvin, she leaves him, driving him crazy, and he starts killing innocent citizens out of anger.
In the final standoff between the mayor and Toxie, the green monster is attacked by the fatal detergent.
The show has many highlights such as Oh switching between the geek and the frightening green mutant and Kim's triple-roles as the mayor, Melvin's mother and a nun.
Oh successfully incarnates a grotesque, comical character, shedding his fixed gentle image frequently portrayed in previous musicals and television dramas.
His splitting of arms, legs, heads, bones and intestines of evildoers in a gruesome execution spree brings a burst of laughter rather than horror, well mixed with B movie elements of grotesque and sleazy humor.
The show's funniest scene sees the mayor and Melvin's mother, both played by Kim, appear simultaneously. Kim's astonishing dual acting in the same scene makes it hard to believe the roles are played by the same actress as her voice and singing style is totally different for each character.
The two actors that play some 13 roles each are the cream of the crop. They are the goons clad in hip hop outfits, the vulnerable elderly, sexy ladies wearing miniskirts and gun-toting police officers.
They support the main characters with flamboyant transformations by switching from the high pitched female roles to male characters throughout the show.
Chae Song-hwa-I, arguably the nation's top makeup artist, whose creative abilities were seen in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch", "Evil Dead", "Cats" and "200-Pound Beauty", again shows her magical skills with the monster.
The show premiered in 2009 and immediately created the so-called "toxic" syndrome on Broadway. "The Toxic Avenger" won the Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical at the Outer Critics Circle Awards in 2009 and the 2009 Theater Fans' Choice Awards on http://www.Broadwayworld.com, a U.S. performing arts website. The musical continues to run through Oct. 10 at the KT&G Sangsang Art Hall in southern Seoul. Tickets cost from 55,000 won to 66,000 won. For reservations, call 1544-1555.
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A scene from "The Toxic Avenger" / Courtesy of Show Note
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