Cessy Newmon
Urinetown: The Musical, the quirky satirical musical comedy with music by Mark Hollman, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis hit the floor at the 5&Dime this past weekend. The premise of the show is a time when water is scarce, so it is a privilege to to pee. Of course, you have to pay for that privilege, or you are banished to Urinetown. I went into the show not knowing what to expect and left waiting to see the authors’ next endeavor. The whole audience was laughing throughout the show. Don’t let the title turn you away.
Urinetown: The Musical is a big show in a relatively small space, and I was very impressed. The set was simple and grunge. I was pleasantly surprised with live musicians in a era that everyone is going digital. Even with a little double-casting, it was a nice-sized cast with a lot of talent. And the choreography was simple and did a good job with adding to the humor in the show.
Officer Lockstock (Tom Cassaro) breaks the fourth wall greeting the audience accompanied by deceptively educated street urchin Little Sally (Shauna Clark). Mr. Cassaro is very official in his duties and Ms. Clark is utterly adorable in her role. They recount the premise of the show, where to control water use, people must pay to use public toilets.
Masses are in line at the poorest, filthiest urinal in town which is run by the rigid Penelope Pennywise, played by strong actress/vocalist Emily Charleton, and her assistant, Bobby Strong (Chris Robertson). Trouble ensues when Bobby’s father Joseph “Old Man” Strong (Matt Barnes), unable to pay, asks Pennywise to let him go for free. When definitively told “no,” he urinates on the street, and Officers Lockstock and Barrel arrest him and escort him to Urinetown.
That same day, the CEO of Urine Good Company, Caldwell B. Cladwell, with perfectly cast David Sacks, is discussing fee hikes with Senator Fipp, played by talented Neal Thorburn, when Cladwell’s beautiful daughter, Hope Cladwell (Aly Blakewell), arrives as the UGC’s new fax/copy girl.
Eventually Bobby and Hope meet, and finding that they have the same goals for the future, they fall in love. Mr. Robertson and Ms. Blakewell make the cutest couple, and their voices and antics blend nicely with one another.
This show is dystopian, as it’s a futuristic image of what could happen in a corrupt society where greed wins over the basic needs of the masses. But it is also very much dark comedy and farce, and I lost count of the number of Broadway shows the authors parodied – from Fiddler on the Roof to Les Miserables.
Urinetown: The Musical is playing at the 5&Dime July 12th-27th. For tickets and infomation, go the the5anddime.org.
Words by Cessy Newmon
Photos by Daniel Starling with Stray Imagery
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