Urinetown: The Musical

Original Post Date: May 19, 2007

Normally when they tell you that a movie has "toilet humor", that usually means that there's a lot of farting. Or it'll be a gag like in Dumb and Dumber, which included a very strong laxative and Harry in the bathroom for a long time. That kind of thing. Well, when they tell you that Urinetown: The Musical, has "toilet humor", they mean it quite literally. Everyone has to pay to pee. You can't just pee on the street. When you gotta go, you gotta pay. What kind of musical is this? Well, it's not a happy musical, even though the music sounds so happy.

Believe me when I tell you, get past the references to peeing and the like, and you'll find that Urinetown: The Musical is one of the funniest musicals ever written. It pretty much breaks every rule. Is there a rule book for musicals? Well, if you've seen more than one, (or been in a lot, like I have) you know the rules. The unwritten laws of musicals. (I should compile a list someday.) They do stick to some rules. The hero girl falls in love with the hero boy. But in Urinetown, the narrator (the HILARIOUS Officer Lockstock) tells you straight out. "Of course she falls in love with him. He's the hero." That's one of the funniest things about this show. The narrator tells you waaaaaaay too much. In fact, if you're really paying attention, he gives away the ending during Act One. Hilarious!

Okay, so I saw Urinetown: The Musical at the Nonesuch Theatre last night. It was a great show over all. I especially liked the revolving set. Oh, wait...I helped put that up. In fact, I'm the reason it rotates. I'm the one that attached the casters (wheels) to pieces of wood so that they could be attached to the bottom of the wall. I also held the wall up for 15 minutes while my sister ran to Ace Hardware to get more pipe so we could make a pivot point at the top. Go me!

There's only a few more performances left. This weekend and next. If you can make it, and can get past the potty references, GO!! Call now! Tickets are selling out fast!

Some individual performances of note:

Gina Schuh-Turner as Hope Cladwell. Gina rocks at whatever she does! She's so funny as the innocent Hope. Her duet with Bobby (Mark Giles) is awesome!

Scott Shaffer as Officer Lockstock. He did SUCH a good job. I was very impressed with his command of the stage. His narration was great!

Scott Rathbun as Officer Barrel. He has the ability to play any age. Seriously. When he was Officer Barrel, he looked a lot older. When he was playing one of the townspeople who kidnap Hope, he looked like a little kid. Such an amazing range for an actor, and very believable on both sides. It was fun to watch!

Courtney Lorenz as Little Sally. I'm not sure how old Courtney is. (I think she 12 or 13), but she totally held her own with all her older castmates. She has amazing talent and is going to go very far in her theatre career.

The show is great, the belly laughs are assured to come, and it's just a fun time. And the potty humor has a point...it's really a metaphor for what's really going on in the world. Corruption and stifled freedoms. But don't take my word for it. GO SEE THE SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!