Independent Weekly Review
By Megan Stein

http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A158318

Urinetown: The Musical
Raleigh Little Theatre
Through Aug. 26

The crowning achievement of Raleigh Little Theatre's production of Urinetown: The Musical is its unflagging playfulness. Filled with satirical dialogue, Urinetown's cleverness is a part of its fun. Set in a Gotham-esque town sometime after a fictional period known as "The Stink Years," the musical comedy offers audiences a poignant message using green topics and hilariously bleak realism. When faced with problems of limited resources, the ever-needy townspeople are forced by the greedy entrepreneurs at Urine Good Company to pay a fee for the essential act of peeing.

The play's intelligence arises, in part, from creators Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann's ability to maintain a thread of relevance amidst the stereotypes of moral alignment: a beautiful girl with a pure heart (Katherine Anderson), a greedy businessman (Scotty Cherryholmes) and an idealistic young man (Zach Morris). As a refreshing addition to the play's wit, Urinetown offers challenges to the conventional morality of musicals: The townspeople are rather bloodthirsty, and the awful tactics of Urine Good Company are revealed as a generally effective way to control the town's problems.

In addition to the inherent playfulness of the original script, Raleigh Little Theatre does a grand job of contributing its own subtle tricks and constant enthusiasm. When the rebellious townspeople don armbands and standoff against the greedy company, Urinetown's precocious ragamuffin Little Sally (Melissa Patterson) puts an armband on her stuffed rabbit doll and holds him high above the crowd in a righteous pose to face down the bad guys. The cast's vivacity reveals itself through their catchy dance numbers and hilarious subtletiesat one point Cherryholmes mimics a bull, charging the file folders in the hands of his employees, who are equally entertaining as they agilely prance in and out of the office.

The cast also does a nimble job with Urinetown's fetching and diverse musical score, the highlights of which were Rob Jenkins' "Cop Song" and Zach Morris' gospel-flecked tune "Run, Freedom, Run!"—both performers exhibited strong vocal talents and considerable pluck when faced with difficult compositions. A musical comedy presented by an enthusiastic cast, Urinetown is one you won't want to miss.

You are here: Home > Reviews and articles about the theatre's productions > Review of Urinetown