There are so many musicals that I really don't ever want to see again. Urinetown is not one of them. Urinetown is a wonderful slap in the face sort of show. Lots of self-referential musical theatre references that make it fun for the B'way musical crowd, giving 'em lots to guffaw about while taking them into a future that's already happening at various points of this globe.
Just around the time I saw the Carousel's production, there was an article in The New Yorker about the water shortages in India. Huge population vs limited resources. Wells have been drilled out and too deep. Sea water is seeping into the water tables, turning the water brackish.
And that of course is the story of Urinetown. Water shortages combined with corporate greed lead us down the road to water rationing so severe that the people must pay to pee.
If you are in the Akron area, you can see this show tomorrow, Saturday March 3rd at Firestone HS. 7:30 PM. Lots of bright shining talent over there: actors, singers and dancers, pit orchestra and tech crew. Too bad they have to work in such a crappy auditorium. It sucks up the sound and deadens it. There's nothing you can do about it either. When school systems build auditoriums, it seems they never consult an actual theatre architect. Of course, here in Ohio, new schools don't get auditoriums unless they are willing to pay for it themselves. Schools get those dread spaces known as cafetoriums...but that's a subject for another day. Go see Urinetown -- you'll dig it so much you'll be squeezing hard on your bladder in solidarity with the cast.
