By Rose Sopko
The title leaves a lot to be desired, but don’t be fooled. “Urinetown” is not a show about toilet humor, not in the least. It is something that can only be described as completely innovative and unique.
According to the program, in a nutshell, “Urinetown” is “simply the story of two kids who fall in love in a city in the middle of a water shortage.” However, that is only a small piece of what “Urinetown” is all about. This wickedly funny show is a tale of greed, corruption, love and revolution in a town where people have to pay to go to the bathroom.
The show opens with Officer Lockstock (Tom Hewitt) saying: “Well, hello there. And welcome to Urinetown! Not the place, of course. The musical. Urinetown the place is … well, it’s a place you’ll hear people referring to a lot through the show.”
In the opening number, “Too Much Exposition,” Officer Lockstock provides some background on what the audience is about to see, with the help of his sidekick Little Sally (Meghan Strange). Lockstock serves as a protagonist, as well as the narrator who helps the audience make sense of the story going on around them.
Sally and Lockstock make for a delightful team with their witty dialogues and great on-stage chemistry.
The show opens outside of Public Amenity #9, the only toilet where the poor of the town can afford to get in to. The cast begins with “Urinetown,” where they proclaim, “You our humble audience have come to see what it’s like when people can’t pee fre e…”
The show continues with many scenes that cause the audience to laugh out loud. Officer Lockstock is by far the best comic relief and in “Cop Song,” he, Officer Barrel (Richard Ruiz) and the rest of the cops break out into a hilarious song and dance extravaganza where they tell about the many people they’ve caught relieving themselves, and how they have been taken to Urinetown for punishment.
We are soon introduced to Caldwell B. Cladwell (Ron Holgate), the greedy, money-hungry president of UGC (Urine Good Company) who is responsible for the increasing fees for using bathrooms, and stands out in the outrageously funny numbers “Mr. Cladwell” and “Don’t Be the Bunny.”
The token hero of the show is Bobby Strong (Charlie Pollock), who leads the poor in rebellion after his own father is taken away to “Urinetown” for publicly relieving himself. As he is deciding what to do about his father, he meets Hope Cladwell (Christine Noll), Caldwell B. Cladwell’s daughter, and she helps him to follow his heart. They fall in love, as expected, and they soon discover each other’s identities.
Chaos ensues as the poor continue to rebel against Cladwell, and Bobby and his gang proclaim their freedom in “Run Freedom Run.”
The sets of the show are fairly sparse, with everything based around a balcony that runs around the entire stage, and a wall that serves as Public Amenity #9, and the headquarters of UGC.
The choreography is delightfully overdone, but is pleasing to watch nonetheless.
The true charm of “Urinetown,” however, is not the setting or the choreography, but the witty dialogue and on stage chemistry between characters. The atmosphere of Urinetown makes the audience feel like they have an inside look at the production, with Officer Lockstock coming in at key points to clue the audience in, and make comments on the progress of the show. He takes many stabs at typical conventions of musicals, and makes fun of virtually everything that is supposed to make theater look realistic.
The man behind this extravaganza is Wellfleet, Mass. native Greg Kotis, who wrote the show, and penned many of its lyrics. While living in a state of poverty himself, he came up with the idea for “Urinetown” knowing the multitude of success it would have. The show opened off-Broadway in 2001, and moved to the Henry Miller Theatre on Broadway four months later.
The following June, “Urinetown” won three Tony Awards (Best Book, Best Score, and Best Direction), and narrowly lost the award for Best Musical. “Urinetown” has also won three 2002 Outer Critics Circle Awards and two 2003 Lucille Lortel Awards, in addition to others. The show was also nominated for nine 2001 Drama Desk Awards.
This January, however, “Urinetown” will end its run on Broadway after two and a half years. The touring version continues to cross the country with its next stop in Cleveland, Ohio.
“Urinetown” finished its two week run at the Colonial Theatre on Jan. 18.
