"Urinetown" comes to The Bluff, offers blend of potty jokes and postmodernism
By Elliot Boswell
In "Urinetown," just about everything is up on the chopping block. Name your creed, ideology or political system, UP's new musical, which opens tonight in Mago Hunt Theatre, spares nothing, and that includes itself.
Plot-wise, "Urinetown" is a dystopian satire, the story of a society in which a lengthy drought has resulted in a crippling water shortage, forcing the city municipal services to charge the population for the use of public toilets. (Peeing outside has been made illegal.)
Written by Mark Hollman and Greg Kotis, it is in spirit a head-on postmodern barrage: If the world is truly in shambles, the play suggests, then let us dance upon its ruins.
And dance "Urinetown" does. At the heart of the tale lies Bobby Strong (junior Connor Bond), a handsome, young employee of the Urine Good Company, or UGC. (The script is full of such puns.)
The show's lowly plebeians - those of the crossed legs and near-bursting bladders - file up outside of a urinal, scrounging through their pockets for enough change to gain access to that most precious of commodities: Public Amenity #9, a toilet. Strong and his unyielding boss, Penelope Pennywise (senior Elizabeth Evans), have the unfortunate duty of making sure everyone pays.
The play's central antagonist and architect of the whole mess, Caldwell B. Cladwell (junior Brian Burger), is unveiled soon enough: A model capitalist right down to his pin-striped suit, Cladwell is the miserly president of UGC who uses his profits to both further oppress the general populace and to bribe local politicians with trips to Rio.
As you may have guessed, this economic disparity prompts a revolt, led by the socialist hero Strong, who elopes with Cladwell's innocent, Pollyanna-ish daughter Hope (freshman Rachel Thomas).
As you may not have guessed though, the revolt quickly degenerates into a Robespierre-inspired Reign of Terror, bloodthirsty and anarchical, and ends with one form of tyrant replacing another.
But the plot, as it were, does not unfold quite like that. One of the many caveats "Urinetown" throws at us is a narrator, Police Officer Lockstock (senior Zach Virden), who pretty much tells us where the storyline is going before it ever gets there.
In a tone heavy with irony, Lockstock offers lines like "Dreams only come true in happy musicals," discusses what a bad title the show has, and cutely excuses himself with "too much exposition will ruin a show!"
"Urinetown's" self-consciousness is simultaneously part of its charm, and, at least for this reviewer, part of its weakness as well. It is always welcome to see a work of art that doesn't take itself too seriously, especially compared to the bombast of many musicals, and "Urinetown" makes a point to mock the conventions of the genre: "Les Miz" is subject to several pot-shots, and "West Side Story" is ably sent-up with the song "Snuff That Girl."
Yet such a string of theatrical inside jokes is likely to confuse some people, or downright alienate them, especially when the punch-lines hinge on whether or not you're a regular theatergoer. (I am, however, far from a regular, so take this paragraph with a grain of salt.)
There's a bigger issue too: "Urinetown" can't really decide on what to satirize. Capitalism? Idealism? Rebellion? Every other musical ever made? Such a mocking rejection of ideology gets a little tiresome, and more than that, it's a little disingenuous too: After all, pitching your tent in no one's camp is merely making a new camp.
However, I'm happy to report that these problems may be endemic to the musical, but not to our production of it. Directed by drama professor Andrew Golla, UP's "Urinetown" zips along in all its self-referential glory, lit up by strong performances, lively costumes, a dramatic set, and an uncluttered stage (small cast).
Although Bond, Virden and Thomas are all nimble performers and more than capable singers, it is the immaculately-cast Burger who steals the show. His hilariously malevolent Cladwell is a bumbling arch-villain, kind of like Mr. Potter from "It's a Wonderful Life" but with a lot more singing and dancing - his rendition of "Don't Be the Bunny" is arguably the play's highlight.
Staging-wise, "Urinetown" is an odd alchemy of the futuristic and the antiquated. The set, designed by drama professor Larry Larsen, could have been lifted directly from Fritz Lang's sci-fi classic "Metropolis," yet the costumes are reminiscent of "The Grapes of Wrath," especially Hope Cladwell's green gingham dress.
As a gleeful step-child of Bertolt Brecht, "Urinetown" offers no solutions, but merely hopes we've enjoyed the ride. It was, however, oddly comforting, especially for a cautionary tale. Aren't we glad that this kind of "reality" only exists in the theater? Let's hope it stays that way.
"Urinetown" plays in Mago Hunt Theatre from April 8-10 and 14-16 at 7:30 p.m., and on April 11 at 2:00 p.m.
