The legend of The Toxic Avenger!

The Toxic Avenger (the musical,) which just finished at the Southwark playhouse on Saturday the 21st May 2016, was a hilarious, well directed, immersive performance, with a ridiculously talented cast. And not to mention the amount of almost impossible quick changes!

Based on a film from the 1980’s, the show follows Melvin Ferd the third’s journey to end the ”damn pollution” in New jersey, the fictitious town of Tromaville. Melvin discovers that the Mayor of Tromaville has something to do with this and confronts her. In response, she asks the ‘Town Bullies’ to deal with him. They throw him into some toxic waste and ‘Toxie’ the mutant is born. Toxie/ Melvin tries to use his new mutant strength to do good for the town, but ends up tearing ‘a few heads off’ along the way… Among all of this, his blind love interest Sarah has fallen for him, not knowing it is her friend Melvin, who has previously confessed that he loves her. I don’t want to give too much more away, as hopefully the show will get some sort of revival or transfer in the UK!

As always, the set created at Southwark playhouse was simple, but effective. As soon as you walked into the performance space, with the massive barrels of Toxic waste and a sign with ‘Tromaville – Toxic Capital of the world’ in front of us, we were immediately thrown into the environment of polluted New jersey before the show began. Also prior to the show fully going up, one of the actors appeared on stage in a protective mask, moving barrels of toxic waste to draw our attention slowly in and keep us on edge for the start. It was one of those shows where the music started loudly and suddenly making everyone jump. I always know from this though, that it’s going to be epic, gripping you right from the start.

It took two minutes of singing from the 2 male multi-rolling ensemble to realise this was going to be a brilliant show. The cast were so strong. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a show where everyone simply ‘nails it’. You tend to find in the West End now and even many tours, big names sell seats, even if they happen not to be right or vocally capable. Not to say that this cast haven’t had great roles prior! It was just a breath of fresh air to see something where everyone was so slick, vocally talented AND you could hear them. I mean, the space is small, but I could hear every word, above the music which was pretty loud and the ensemble singing was top notch!

Hannah Grover as Sarah, a ‘blind’ girl, created a character we loved, laughed at and laughed with. She also managed to create some sort of sweet naivety to a character who had slept with ‘A lot’ of men. Her comic timing and convincing ‘blindness’ was great. Sexy, yet also kooky, made for a really great character choice.  Not only was Grover a witty and talented actress, but she had a stunning singing voice to match. She was not the only impressive actress in the production; Lizzii Hills multi rolling as Melvin’s mother and the mayor was simply brilliant. It was exceptional how at one moment she could pull off the sexy, deep voiced Mayor and then a scene later return to the high pitched, slightly hunched backed mother. Again, having a great singing voice that could flawlessly belt, as well as a strong mix. Her greatest moment came at the end of Act 1,  singing the comic and exhausting ‘Bitch/Slut/Liar/Whore’ which she made look easy! The contrast as she flipped between the two characters was seamless and made for a great humorous ending to the first half!

Now it’s not just praise for the ladies! Mark Anderson was perfect as Melvin and made a great  transition into playing ‘Toxie’ but still with the ‘Melvin’ qualities about him. His character at the start was believable, with solid character choices. His voice was also exceptional and really suited every style of song his character sang. My favourite song had to be ‘you tore my heart out.’ While the melody is beautiful and parts of the song are reflective and melancholy, he did a great job of singing out the comic line of ‘I tore some arms’ off, among the other lyrics, making the audience laugh. If you don’t catch the comedy of lyrics like this, they can end up coming across awkward to the audience and weirdly placed in a ballad. Anderson did not fail to deliver!

AND let’s not forget the excellence of Marc Pickering and Ashley Samuels! Without them, the show wouldn’t have been half as funny and brilliant! Their ability to multi role (and quick change at the speed of light) made for such a great comedy duo. Again, don’t need to mention the singing – it was great!

Finally, a quick mention on how brilliant the music and score is! Having never listened to the musical before, I went away singing the songs and have now got the soundtrack on my phone .Although, singing, ‘You’re a bitch, you’re a slut’ out loud a few times, has turned a few heads.  The band was wonderful and the sound between them and the actors was really well mixed. It’s really frustrating when you can’t hear song lyrics, but I heard every word.

Southwark Playhouse has become my favorite venue to see theatre in London (including the West End.) I have never failed to be disappointed with any of the shows I have seen in the large. They seem to pick shows that other venues may be too scared to put on. The more weird and wonderful the better for me; The Toxic Avenger was just this, wonderfully weird and weirdly wonderful! Let’s hope it’s revived in London again soon! I wouldn’t hesitate to go!

 

Review by Jade Cadby 

The Toxic Avenger 

Southwark Playhouse 

 

 

 

A night you’ll never forget …

Gary LLoyd’s new production of Carrie the musical, at the Southwark Playhouse, captured the harsh and sometimes fatal process of growing up. Although developed from the fictional novel by Stephen King, with the unrealistic concept of telekinesis (moving things with the mind) , the powerful messages about bullying and ‘trying to fit in,’ couldn’t have been more of a reality. The female characters were excellently cast and the immersive environment was a perfect atmosphere.

I fell in love with the 1976 film version of Carrie with Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie about 3 years ago. And then, when I discovered it was a musical too, I was hooked.  The story follows a young, troubled girl, with a highly religious, oppressive mother. Carrie has never been allowed to ”fit in” or be ”normal” at school. This leads to cruel bullying from her classmates. One of the most iconic scenes in horror film history, involves Carrie starting her period at school in the showers. No-one, including her Mother has ever told her this would happen to her body. Absolutely traumatised, Carrie begs for help off of the other girls. Instead, they throw sanitary items at her and mock her state of panic. Carrie returns home and her Mother is horrified and believes the reason her girl has started to bleed is because she is a sinner, like Eve, in the christian bible, who ‘was weak.’ Carrie is punished.

Carrie starts to realise that in highly emotional situations she can use her mind to move objects and cause minor destruction. This is either an immediate, unmeditated result of the distress or deliberately inflicted. Susan Snell, one of the bullies, realises the error of her ways and wants to help Carrie, so Sue asks her boyfriend, Tommy to take Carrie to the prom instead of her, thus, Carrie can experience something nice. Carrie is wary and her mum protests, but in the end she goes with Tommy. However Chris, one of the bullies, who blames Carrie for being ‘kicked out of prom’ , has another agenda involving the reocurrent theme of blood.

I don’t want to spoil the ending for anyone who doesn’t know Carrie well. But I’ll just say Carrie uses her ‘powers’ in a way, I’m not sure she was even aware was possible.

All versions of Carrie since the original film adaption of the novel, have stayed relatively true to the story, minus the time period in which it is set. I guess this works though, the idea of Carrie is timeless; there will always be bullies and the struggle of adolescence.

Despite Carrie the musical being known as one of the biggest flops in musical theatre history, I have been dying to see in staged. I hadn’t been impressed by any of the versions I’d come across online. However my faith in it was kept alive by Michael Gore’s music and the Lyrics by Dean Pitchford. As a bit of a “social outcast” myself, the song title song ‘Carrie’ always got to me. I have to say the music at the Southwark playhouse, lead by Mark Crossland, was brilliant. The music flooded the performance space, created by talented musicians. This added to the immersive environment perfectly. I was sat on the end of an isle and had members of the cast stood inches away from me belting their lungs out. I could depict individual voices by the end of the show, this may not be ideal for everyone, but I enjoyed hearing the singers so close and personal.

I think, what mainly impressed me with the whole production, was the expert casting of the female leads. Evelyn Hoskins made a vulnerable, tormented and  repressed Carrie, but showed Carrie’s fire and anger perfectly at the right moments. Her singing was powerful, however lacked volume in parts. Gabriella Williams was exactly how I imagined Chris to be, tall, beautiful but with the most evil of expressions on her face. She captured the nonchalant nature of Chris at times, yet was equally impressive at showing her malevolent side. Sarah McNicholas was an all round perfect performer and again brilliantly cast as Sue. I think in musical theatre we underestimate the power of a good actress and sometimes get carried away in the vocal. However, McNicholas’ acting ability wowed me. The real show stealer though, was Kim Criswell. This amazing powerhouse gave such a genuine, emotive performance and stunned us with her singing ability. She showed the softer side of Margaret and her love for Carrie, but how she is tormented by her own demons which causes her to treat Carrie the way she does.

On the other hand, the male casting disappointed me slightly, with quite a few shaky vocals, which, unfortunately cannot be masked in such a small venue. There was also a problem with volume in some of the lines. I missed a lot of the lyrics in ‘You Shine’ and ‘Dreamer in Disguise.’ However I can see the reason why the actors were cast. It just seemed they were cast more ‘generally,’ whereas the female leads were very intricate and specific to the role.

The ensemble were good, the harmonies were effective. I particularly felt ‘Molly McGuire’ shone, she had a stage presence and energy that can’t be taught.

The venue was the perfect place to perform Carrie, it was eerie and intimate. We walked into the space through a dark tunnel with scrawling from school students over the wall; setting the atmosphere before we even sat down. The seating was in a horseshoe type shape, with the performers performing facing all angles and within the audience. However it seemed it could have done with a bigger budget for some of the special effects. I could hear a few giggles as Criswell was raised into the air by Carrie’s powers. However this is theatre, we must use our imagination. This is not a show for people, who are expecting to see spectacular special effects. The company has done the best they can with the money and space they have.

What stuck with me, however from watching this show, is the severity of bullying and ”How can [we] not see” the effects our actions have on each other. I was left with goosebumps as the deceased students rose and looked down at what they had done to Carrie. Sarah McNicholas, at the end of the show gave a stunning performance as she held Carrie’s body. This scene had room to make the audience cringe at how dramatic it was, but McNicholas was so sincere and affected by the moment, as if it was the first time she had performed this scene. A good actor makes a moment seem like it’s happening there and then just for us; she achieved this.

Overall, it’s a brilliant moving piece, made by the music and performers, mainly the female cast. However we need to use our imaginations just a little bit with Carrie’s ‘powers,’ due to a lack in special effects. I highly recommend watching the show, especially if you wish to be moved by it’s content and if you like dark thematic pieces. The vocals are brilliant and there are some amazing performances. It’s a shame the show is recommended as a 16+, as I feel a lot of teenagers would benefit in watching and connecting with certain characters, whether this be Carrie or one of the bullies. I was moved, I won’t forget seeing this highly discussed and constantly re-worked musical on stage finally. I’m not entirely sure why it has flopped in the past, but hopefully with more productions like this, Carrie the Musical will thrive in the Musical Theatre world. It runs until the 30th May 2015 at Southwark playhouse.

Review by Jade Cadby

Carrie the Musical  

Southwark Playhouse 4th May