Never before have so many severed body parts appear on one stage. Never before have arms, legs, head, spine, spleen, and intestines been used as weapons of mass destruction. Never before has off-Broadway seen a Mutant Green Freak win over the heart of a blond & blind librarian. And never will an audience laugh harder than they did at the New World Stages tonight.

Described by TimeOut New York as “Shrek for stoners”, The Toxic Avenger, story by Lloyd Kaufman with music & lyrics from Bon Jovi’s David Bryan, is probably the most fun I’ve ever had in a musical. Not only is the show ridiculously funny, it manages to show, or at least make obscene references to, every inaccessible part of the human body – anything from bulging male genitalia to oversized breasts (associated with both male and female characters alike).

The Toxic Avenger is a story about a typical Jersey nerd who is dropped into a giant vat of toxic goo and becomes a Frankenstein-y monster with an overhanging left eye and gooey green dreadlocks. Being the unattractive nerd/freak that he is, Melvin Ferd the Third, aka the mutant green freak, aka Toxie runs into trouble with Sarah, the love of his life. Fortunately for Toxie, Sarah is blind. So for the most part of the story, she doesn’t realize how ugly and disgusting her potential sex partner is. When someone finally told her the truth about him, she responds, “what?!? He’s not a freak. He’s just French.”

In the mere space of two hours, the Avenger cast pokes fun of innumerable aspects of popular culture and minority groups, French or otherwise. For instance, when Toxie shrinks away from Sarah’s sexual advances, she asks him the question “why don’t you want to do me?” Not getting a satisfying answer, she then suggests: “is it because you’re gay? Cuz then we can totally be best friends and watch American Idol together.”

If you’re desperately in need for comedy and love obscene jokes, go see The Toxic Avenger. Try not to take offense, and enjoy the show!

Tickets to The Toxic Avenger were provided by the LLC of Columbia University.