Preview of Urinetown the Musical

Raleigh Little Theatre Preview

“Urinetown The Musical” Is A Satirical Musical
Of Exceptional Charm And Razor Wit

Robert W. McDowell, Triangle Theatre Review

Raleigh Little Theatre will present the award-winning musical Urinetown The Musical, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis, on Aug. 3-5, 9-12, 16-19, and 23-26 in its Cantey V. Sutton Theatre. RLT artistic director Haskell Fitz-Simons will stage the show, with assistance from choreographer Nancy Rich, and musical director Linda Velto.

Urinetown made its Big Apple premiere at the 1999 New York Fringe Festival. Two years later, the American Theatre of Actors’ Off-Broadway production of the show, directed by John Rando, with musical staging by John Carrafa, opened on April 1, 2001 at the Chernuchin Theatre, where it became a big hit and ran through May 28, 2001. Urinetown won the 2000-01 OBIE Awards for Best Choreography (John Carrafa) and Best Book and Lyrics (Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis), plus the 2002 Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Musical and Outstanding Choreographer.

The show made its Broadway debut, also staged by John Rando and John Carrafa, on Sept. 20, 2001 at Henry Miller’s Theatre, where it racked up 965 performances before closing on Jan. 18, 2004. Urinetown was nominated for 10 2002 Tony Awards®, including Best Musical. It won three Tonys: for Best Original Musical Score (Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis), Best Book of a Musical (Greg Kotis), and Best Direction of a Musical (John Rando).

“I first heard of Urinetown The Musical after it opened on Broadway in the fall of 2001, shortly after the devastating events of 9/11,” recalls RLT artistic director Haskell Fitz-Simons. “To say the least, the title ‘caught my eye.’ Shortly thereafter, I purchased the cast album, not really knowing what to expect and was enchanted to find a satirical musical of unsurpassing charm and razor wit with a very important message for us all.”

Fitz-Simons says, “I totally fell in love with the music, which satirizes a variety of styles from the Kurt Weill/Bertolt Brecht works of the 1930s, through the more contemporary musical-theater styles of Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Claude-Michelle Schoenburg, and Andrew Lloyd-Webber, as well as having an original and compelling voice all its own. The vocal work is complex and challenging in a way not often heard in contemporary musicals.…

“When I was able to read the script,” Fitz-Simons explains, “I was struck by the immense sense of fun tied up with a completely serious theme. Also the style of the piece (that sort of ‘Agitprop-Epic-Political-Drama’ of the 1930s and 1940s) is very dear to my heart. Plus, the title always gets such a knee-jerk reaction from folk who don’t know the show, which I think was the cleverly engineered idea of the authors, Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann.”

Setting the scene for Triangle ticketbuyers, Fitz-Simons asks, “The Place? ‘A Gotham-like city.’ The Time? ‘Some time after The Stink Years.’” Fitz-Simons says the show’s costumes are 1930s working-class and executive attire

“As the curtain rises,” notes Haskell Fitz-Simons, “we find ourselves in the midst of a 20-year drought. We are at ‘Public Amenity #9,’ a public restroom (run by the ruthless private corporation: U.G.C. -- or Urine Good Company) where the poor and downtrodden must queue up for hours and pay through the nose for the ‘privilege to pee.’

“The amenity is run by the crusty Penelope Pennywise (Sandi Sullivan) and her young assistant Bobby Strong (Zach Morris). The unhappy populace is kept in line by the comically menacing Officer Lockstock (Rob Jenkins), together with his sidekick, Officer Barrel (Jaret Preston). Lockstock also serves as narrator, assisted by the street urchin, Little Sally (Melissa Patterson), who has a habit of asking difficult (and sometimes metaphysical) questions at just the wrong moment.

“In order to keep the peace,” says Fitz-Simons, “the people must obey the stringent rules involving their personal ‘relief’ issues … or else be carted off to the horrific (though possibly mythical) and eponymous ‘Urinetown,’ never to return. After a regrettable lapse in judgment, Bobby Strong’s father (Brent Wilson) is apprehended and dragged screaming off to Urinetown -- an understandably traumatic event for the young man!”

Fitz-Simons says, “As is true in any shortage of necessary resources, the rich get richer, while the poor must get by (or not) as best they can. In this case, the rich are represented by the ruthless Caldwell B. Cladwell (Scotty Cherryholmes) and his far reaching corporation, Urine Good Company (get it?). Add to the mix his beautiful, innocent daughter Hope (Katherine Anderson), who falls in love with our young hero, Bobby Strong.

“Suffice it to say,” Fitz-Simons adds, “that injustice of this magnitude cannot go on for ever; and Bobby finds himself leading the noble poor in a rebellion to take back the public amenities and restore the universal right for all to ‘pee free’! The kicker to this story is that in the end, we find a world with dwindling resources and a populace only interested in their own needs. (Sound familiar?) All this is told with wicked humor and stylish panache that makes the subject matter somehow irresistible.”

In addition to director Haskell Fitz-Simons, choreographer Nancy Rich, and musical director Linda Velto, the Urinetown creative team includes technical director James Zervis, set and lighting designer Rick Young, costume designer Su Jung Lee, properties mistress Ruth Berry, sound designer Al Wolfheimer and Rick LaBach, stage manager Becca Easley.

“The first challenge [in staging Urinetown] was to find a cast equal to the vocal demands of this nonstop musical journey,” claims Haskell Fitz-Simons. “There are more ‘finale’-type big numbers in this show than there are solos and ballads, so a huge vocal ensemble ‘sound’ is imperative ... this together with the fact that the cast is relatively small (only 16 total).”

Fitz-Simons says, “We were fortunate that there was a great deal of interest in our performer community and we were able to cast the show beautifully! (In fact, it really pained me not to use more of the wonderful folk who auditioned, but the show really works best with this small-sized cast -- if possible … and it was!)

“In addition,” Fitz-Simons explains, “the action of the show often flows cinematically. (The authors use the cinematic term ‘montage’ for at least three huge numbers.) RLT set and light designer Rick Young has solved the problem beautifully with a system of revolving platforms that take us ‘effortlessly’ from one locale to the next with no break in the action.”

Raleigh Little Theatre presents Urinetown The Musical Friday-Saturday, Aug. 3-4, at 8 p.m.; Sunday, Aug. 5, at 3 p.m.; Thursday-Saturday, Aug. 9-11, 16-18, and 23-25, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Aug. 12, 19, and 26, at 3 p.m. in RLT’s Cantey V. Sutton Theatre, 301 Pogue St., Raleigh, North Carolina. $18 ($15 students and seniors 62+), except all seats $10 on Aug. 5th. 919/821-3111 or etix. NOTE 1: All shows are wheelchair accessible, and assistive listening devices are available for all shows. NOTE 2: Arts Access, Inc. of Raleigh, NC (http://www.artsaccessinc.org/) will audio describe the 3 p.m. Aug. 5th show. RALEIGH LITTLE THEATRE: http://raleighlittletheatre.org/performances/07-08/urinetown.html. INTERNET BROADWAY DATABASE: http://www.ibdb.com/show.asp?ID=10611.

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