Photo, Carol Rosegg Nick Cordero stars in “The Toxic Avenger.”

By John Soltes
Editor-in-Chief

NEW YORK (March 30, 2009) — If anyone were to write a musical about New Jersey, it might come across as a nice working-class fable of average folk living average lives amid average scenery — blue-collar laborers trying to simply earn a living.

But that’s too boring.

What about our reputation for industrial waste? What about our factories and pollution? What about our Jersey Shore jokes and long list of corrupt politicians? What about mentioning the influential power of Bruce Springsteen?

That fodder is much funnier, and the creators of “The Toxic Avenger Musical,” currently playing off-Broadway in New York City, pull no punches in their warped, but somehow spot-on, ode to the Garden State.

Based on a cult superhero flick from the 1980s, “Toxic Avenger” is a gut-busting look at what can go wrong when a nerd from Jersey pursues a noble blind librarian and is introduced, thanks a demented local politician, to a steaming vat of nuclear-green toxic waste. Thus is born the Toxic Avenger, or Toxie, New Jersey’s first superhero, who lives off Exit 13B on the New Jersey Turnpike, in a town called Tromaville.

“It’s a funny show that has a lot of social consciousness to it, and a heart,” said David Bryan, who wrote the music to the show and also moonlights as the keyboard player for a small Jersey band called Bon Jovi.

You might have heard of them.

Joining Bryan on his journey of taking “Toxic” from the screen — where it was created by Lloyd Kaufman — to the stage, was Joe DiPietro, the man responsible for the book of the show. Both DiPietro and Bryan tag-teamed to write the lyrics.

DiPietro is no newbie to the world of successful New York City theater. His off-Broadway hit, “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” played for more than a decade.

Though that success story still holds a special place in DiPietro’s heart, the chance to work on a musical about New Jersey, where he was born and raised, was equally as thrilling.

When DiPietro received the go-ahead to adapt the musical with Bryan, the first thing he did was reacquaint himself with the original movie. “The first thing I said was, ‘I better watch this movie again,’ ” he said with a laugh. “It definitely had its low-budget charm about it.”

But simply putting the movie on stage with some catchy tunes sprinkled in was not going to work in DiPietro’s mind. “If the movie was literally translated to the stage, it wouldn’t work,” he said.

Both DiPietro and Bryan made sure it was okay to expand and change the original source material, so they could have more theatrical freedom to try out a few tricks they had up their sleeves.

So, instead of a full cast of many actors, there are just five — with several of them playing multiple roles (sometimes at the same time). Bryan said the key was to have the license to come up with an original rendering of New Jersey.

So the set is bedecked in toxic waste drums, with the orchestra, which of course includes a mean electric guitar, hovering above the stage. It’s a rock concert meets cult movie meets off-Broadway show, and much of its staging is thanks to the direction of Tony winner John Rando.

The song titles for “Toxic” are almost as funny as the lyrics. There’s “Who Will Save New Jersey?,” where the cast sings:

“There’s a place between heaven and hell / Don’t need a map just follow the smell / A place filled with filthy air / A place full of dark despair / A place you have no prayer / A place called ... New Jersey.”

Your tongue should permanently be planted in your cheek for the duration of the show.

Bryan said the actual music was written in a “radio format,” where “every time they sing you don’t drop the band down.”

It’s a formula that worked well for him and Bon Jovi and seems to be working out just fine in the theater world.

The production opened last year at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick to glowing — pun intended — reviews, and talks of a New York transfer seemed imminent. Now, the musical is poised to open at New World Stages (340 W. 50th St.) Monday, April 6.

DiPietro said he always knows when audience members have crossed the Hudson River to enjoy the show. “There’s definitely nights when you can tell there is a big Jersey contingent in the audience,” he said. “It’s a very skewed valentine to New Jersey.”

DID YOU KNOW?

Joe DiPietro and David Bryan also wrote “Memphis,” a new musical that will premiere on Broadway in the fall.