T he common musical serves to transport its audience into a
carefully crafted realm of melodrama, one contingent on sporadic bouts of camp
and a pointedly moralistic outcome. Its implausibly larger-than-life characters
share sweeping romances that result in emotional conflict, which of course
resolves itself through flamboyant song and dance. Indeed, the realm of the
musical has been perfected since the days of HMS Pinafore and (though often
despised) is rarely questioned.
And then, there’s “Urinetown.” A musical premised on the
privatization of public toilets, its first act presents characters singing
about … performing the first act. “Welcome to Urinetown,” a smug policeman
swoons. “Not the place — the musical.” Such blatant, unexpected
self-consciousness effectively demolishes that invisible wall separating reality
from dreamlike fiction, indulgently stripping our suspension of belief, shred
by shred. It’s a startling tactic that leaves no potential belittlement
unchecked. Do you hate musicals? This musical hates musicals, too.
Fortunately, it’s a damn good one. Sure, it’s about townies
forced to pay pennies in order to use the bathroom (an injustice poignantly
described in the aptly titled piece, “It’s a Privilege to Pee”). But it’s also
about human wastefulness, shamelessness and recklessness, the pitfalls of
greedy capitalism, and, alternately, of unadulterated idealism — giving without
thinking. Indeed, “Urinetown” is not a place, but an understanding that we are
all guilty of some irredeemable flaw.
Thus, there are no real protagonists or antagonists in this
musical, only people with equally misguided (and entertaining) motives, who
manage to reach the same fatefully ironic conclusion. Disillusionment
ultimately conquers the sunshine of the insurgent townspeople, whose hope
drives them to commit the unethical exploits of their oppressors.
The smart, satirical force makes for breathless
entertainment, and its actors have adequate energy to meet composer Mark
Hollmann’s challenge. Without missing a beat, they handle the radically diverse
melodic styles — derived from both ’30s political musicals and gospel choir
music — in perfect pitch.
Starlet Samantha Griffith captures the sheltered naivete of
Hope Cladwell (daughter of Urine Good Company tyrant, Caldwell Cladwell) with
wide-eyed enthusiasm. The persuasion of her pampered oblivion is met with the
scheming deviance of her love interest Bobby, played by charismatic powerhouse
Al Evangelista. Together, the pair spearheads much of the show’s tug-of-war
theatrics.
All of the characters, though, pepper “Urinetown” with their own clever quirks and
punchiness. The hair-twirling innocence of Little Sally (Megan Petersdorf)
might be confused with ignorance — that is, until she offhandedly mentions the
merits of hydraulics. Penny Pennywise (Rachelle Fuhrer), the fee collector, is
possibly the brassiest songstress of the bunch and Caldwell (Matthew Bovee) has
enough hysterical bluster to convince us of his evil.
The undergrad actors are backed by a student orchestra,
which maintains tuneful consistency, along with the occasional standout trumpet
solo. Sophomore choreographer Lindsay Denny also wows with her experimental
aesthetic. Perhaps most surprisingly, though, the entire cast and team is
steered by undergraduate senior director Richard Pham, who convinces us of an
undergraduate crew’s capacity to fulfill a conceptually advanced and daring
vision.
So, maybe there’s not a happy conclusion to the inevitable
moral failings of humanity, but “Urinetown” proves that moral failings can be
pretty fun anyway — just be careful to hold your bladder when you fall off your
chair laughing.
The Muir musical, “Urinetown,” premiers at
Sunday, April 12. Tickets are $8 for students, $10 for the general public.
