The Toxic Avenger, with a Score by Bon Jovi's David Bryan, Headed Off-Broadway

The Toxic Avenger, a new musical by Joe DiPietro and Bon Jovi bandmember David Bryan, is headed for an off-Broadway production. The show will begin performances on March 18, 2009, at New World Stages and will open on April 6, directed by John Rando. Casting and creative team will be announced shortly.

Based on the 1985 cult film by Lloyd Kaufman, The Toxic Avenger is set in the mythical town of Tromaville, Exit 13B off the New Jersey Turnpike. Melvin Ferd the Third, an aspiring earth scientist, is determined to clean up the town’s burgeoning toxic waste, until he is tossed into a vat of radioactive goo and emerges as New Jersey’s first superhero: a seven-foot mutant freak, armed with superhuman strength, a heart as big as Newark and bigger plans like saving New Jersey, ending global warming and wooing Sarah, the prettiest, blindest librarian in town.

The Toxic Avenger premiered this fall at the George Street Playhouse with a cast that included Nick Cordero, Audra Blaser, Nancy Opel, David Josefsberg and Demond Green, becoming the biggest-grossing musical in the theater’s 34-year history. It is the second collaboration between Bryan music and lyrics, a keyboardist and co-founder of the platinum-selling band Bon Jovi, and DiPietro book and lyrics, creator of the long-running hit I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. The pair also wrote Memphis, a musical about the birth of rock & roll, which played this summer at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego and will open in Seattle early next year.

Jean Cheever and Tom Polum will produce the off-Broadway production of The Toxic Avenger.