Opening Night: The Toxic Avenger

The San Jose Stage Company is topping off its diverse season with a winking rock ‘n roll romp inspired by the sci-fi cult classic. Adapted for an off-Broadway stage by Joe DiPietro and David Bryan from the 1984 horror film, this musical takes deformed hero Toxie and dips him in a tank of pure Phantom of the Opera. The resulting mutation is longer on laughs than its splatter-movie original, and with a real beating heart at the centre of its go-green, freak power hide. See it in person before it closes July 23.