Max Mahle, Kennedy Johnson, Harker Russell, Molly Thornton, and Gary Stanford Photo by Evelyn Huynh

Mild-mannered Melvin Ferd the Third is moved by a plea for help from a nun and two men in protective gear in his hometown, Tromaville–a place they describe in a robust opening song as "between heaven and hell, don't need a map, just follow the smell" ("Who Will Save New Jersey?"). Melvin vows to clean up the state, a promise that captures the admiration of Sarah, a blind librarian, who directs him into the stacks to a box marked "Important Files of Jeffrey Epstein." Between his ogling side-glances toward the cute librarian, Melvin discovers that the power-hungry mayor of the town, Babs Belgoody, is in cahoots with a local corporation, The Good Earth, to overrun Tromaville with poisonous, green gook and thus gain the support of its greedy execs for her upcoming campaign to be governor.

That discovery leads Melvin to a mission to expose the mayor to the world, causing Mayor Babs to send her gooks (Sluggo and Bozo) to "Get the Geek": "Make him scream, make him beg, good luck and break a leg." Melvin soon finds himself being dumped into a vat of toxic goo, emerging from the deadly pit just in time to save a passing-by Sarah from being molested by those same two roughnecks.

But Melvin is no longer the Melvin "intimidated by anger," as is soon evident by his Godzilla-like "R-r-r-roar" and by his now gigantic, mutated, green body, oozing from open sores and with a deformed eyeball hanging from its socket. After announcing to Sluggo and Bozo that he is out to "Kick Your Ass" in a hilarious sequence where body parts go flying, the Toxic Avenger–friends can call him "Toxie"–begins a battle of wits and wills with the evil Mayor. He also continues to fall deeper in love with the naïve but sex-hungry librarian, who cannot see her new hero's face but can feel, while almost fainting, his muscle-bulging chest.

Much of the continuous fun and folly of this musical evolves from a cast of five who play at least a couple dozen characters, most taken on with sheer and silly exuberance by just two of them: Gary Stanford and Max Mahle. Besides being the doomed Sluggo and Bozo (what's a lost arm, spleen, and a couple of legs among friends?), the two repeatedly make astonishingly quick changes in accents, attire, age, gender, and nationality to appear as little old ladies, waste management executives, red-neck police, street hoodlums, a farmer with pitchfork posed as in the "American Gothic," a wacky scientist, and a doctor in scrubs whose informed diagnosis of the transformed Melvin is "You're a big, green freak."

Stanford and Mahle bring dynamically powerful voices that, when joined in duet, provide some of the night's best rock music numbers of crystal-clear, close-knit harmony. Each is a hoot in their several drag roles when they appear in tight, sparkly dresses and high heels to move with synchronized smoothness as back-up singers to whomever is soloing at the moment.

Gary Stanford in particular makes gigantic impressions as his dance moves include a bounding somersault, slow and mighty twists and swirls of his hips and thighs, and high and wide kicks while also wrapping his powerfully sung notes in tones that circle upward into amazing heights before sliding back into a low, resolute register.

Molly Thornton is a master of split personalities and soon chucks her initial nunnery robes to don a breast-cleaving, tight-fitting red dress of a mayor whose evilness-to-the-core is heard in sustained, cackling laughs that rival those of Oz's Wicked Witch of the West. And then, in often what seems like the blink of an eye, she appears as Ma Ferd, Melvin's frumpy mother, puttering about in a housecoat and bunny shoes clucking in her "New Joisey" accent. As both, Molly Thomson brings a rock-star voice that trumpets with power, demanding the attention and obedience of Mayor Babs, and vocals that increase in force and determination as Ma Ferd fights the mayor on behalf of her mutant son's survival. Mayor and Ma climax their battle in "Bitch/Slut/Liar/Whore," with Molly Thornton bringing the house down as she switches in lightning speed between the costumes, voices, and persona of the two women. All builds to one of the evening's biggest guffaw moments when suddenly both Ma and the mayor are magically on stage singing a duet while punching it out.

The Sarah, blind librarian, soon proves to not be the timid stereotype one might expect, as her itch to get in bed with her newfound hero, whom she calls "Toxie," is enough to send her into "Hot Toxic Love." With solid vocals that resonate clear and attractive, Kennedy Johnson's librarian is also an aspiring novelist who sings with spunk and spit, "Woo me... Do me... Spank me... Thank me" as she begs, "Choose Me Oprah!" Her groping about, speaking in the wrong direction, and bumping into walls is endearingly funny, but also a bit uncomfortable at times from a "politically correct" standpoint.

As The Toxic Avenger, Harker Russell succeeds in bringing heart and personality to a character in a green, rubberized top half and a grotesque mask where only one eye and two lips that are actually his are visible. However, in comparison to the other four cast members, his vocals are not consistently in the same category in terms of power, confidence, or range. When singing as a total ensemble, his voice contributes and blends nicely,; but in duets or solos, there is some strain to project needed volume.

DiPietro and Bryan's songs and lyrics are for the most part not ones to be recalled the next day, but in the moment, they are absolutely fun and full of tongue-in-cheek humor. There is an ongoing guessing game of which well-known musical is being satirized by either situation, staging, choreography, or music, and the list is long and varied (Urinetown, Little Shop of Horrors, Les Misérables, Hairspray, Jersey Boys, and more).

Gus Kambeitz' music direction of the five-piece, onstage band is outstanding throughout, although a few times the balance between the rocking band and the singer(s) was a bit one-sided at the performance I attended.

Much applause is due all members of the production's creative team. Director Doug Brook has found seemingly countless ways to pull a laugh out of us, and the rapid pace sustained throughout makes the incredibly quick switches of personas all the more impressive. Gary Landis' set design is an underworld of polluted toxins, highlighted in glaring greens, yellows, reds, and more by the lighting expertise of Aya Matsutomo. Dead birds falling from the sky and body parts tossed about as beach balls are just some of the feats of props designer Laura Merrill and prosthetics designer Chris Mahle. The wigs of Melissa Mei Jones are a big part of the many quirky (and often drag-fabulous) characters, while major kudos goes to Greet Jaspaert for a warehouse full of costumes designed for all these citizens of Tromaville, not to mention a certain Avenger whose tumors, misplaced eyeball, and mountains of warts are just part of his monstrous look. Last but least by far, Brittany Watt's choreography is a soaring mixture of hints of past Broadway productions, movies of old, and scenes from Dick Clark's "American Bandstand."

As a summer of super-hero, action-packed, and silly comedy movies is just beginning, what better way to get all of those in one night of live theatre by grabbing a ticket to Los Altos Stage Company's The Toxic Avenger? While we laugh, we must take pause to contemplate that fantasy is in this case too much like reality when we remember there is a blonde, male version of Mayor Babs living in a certain house of white in D.C.

The Toxic Avenger runs through June 28, 2026, at Los Altos Stage Company, 97 Hillview Avenue, Los Altos, CA. For tickets and information, please visit losaltosstage.org or the box office in person Thursday and Friday, 3-6 p.m., or call 650-941-0551.