Urinetown

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Permalink Reply by Alex Press on March 14, 2012 at 2:00pm

          “It's Old Man Strong! He ain't waitin!” Waiting for what? To pee! As you might expect from the title, Urinetown: The Musical is all about pee. Well, pee, and love, and a revolution, and some other stuff. It was definitely worth the potty humor for the stunning performance that was Hammond High School's production of Urinetown: The Musical.

          Like many musicals, this show starts in the middle of a crisis. This crisis is a water shortage that has left people having to pay to pee in order to conserve water. Urinetown: The Musical follows the good people of Public Amenity #9, a poor community who can no longer pay the raising fees to pee. The hero of the show is Bobby Strong, the son of Old Man Strong who is carted off to the mysterious “Urinetown” at the beginning of the show after going behind a wall. That's illegal. While wandering the streets thinking about his dad, Bobby meets Hope Cladwell. Hope is the daughter of Caldwell B. Cladwell, the CEO of the Urine Good Company. UGC is the company that controls the public amenities and the fee hikes. Hope inspires Bobby to follow his heart which leads him to falling in love with Hope – and leading a revolution to get people to pee for free. This doesn't go too well. 

          The most impressive aspect of this show was not the good-looking, detailed set, or the small, but mighty pit orchestra, it was the powerful ensemble. One hardly sees an ensemble this strong. It was a delight to see each face on stage engaged in the scene. Also, their clean execution of the interesting choreography made every musical number exciting to watch. 

          Fearlessly leading the great ensemble was a fantastic group of actors. Jon Beahm was dashing as the show's hero, Bobby Strong. His powerful belting made his leading a rebellion completely believable. By his side was Valerie Kamen as the sweet, idealistic Hope Cladwell. Her voice rose beautifully over the cast with a bright, clear sound. Then, there was Alex Peças, Caldwell B. Cladwell, and Gary Malveaux, Officer Lockstock, who stole the show. Alex's deep, rich voice made him wonderful to listen to and his commitment to the evil executive made him hilarious to watch. Gary's condescending narration brought out the satire of the show and had the audience laughing out loud. 

          A major aspect that made Urinetown: The Musical visually interesting was the set design by Linda Wieman. As the first thing one sees when entering the theatre, the set is responsible for setting the stage for the rest of the show. This set certainly did with it's mess of different materials and salvaged parts it had the distinct look of a junkyard. The best part was all the levels of playing the set afforded the actors. There were so many places for the actors to go that the blocking never became stale. 

          Urinetown: The Musical was a particularly great choice of show by director Lauren Tobiason because of the its relevance to our world right now. With today's mindset, it is easy to see Bobby's uprising as the 99% and Mr. Cladwell's company as the ruling 1%. With disasters like Global Warming and the world's rapid consumption of natural resources it is all-too-easy to imagine a world where we've used up all the water, or any of one resource. As a good satire does, Hammond High School's Urinetown: The Musical left one greatly entertained and thinking, at least a little.

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Permalink Reply by Emily Reiss on March 14, 2012 at 4:34pm

CHS 4

             Paying to pee and taxing the toilet were all a part of the zany plot of Urinetown. Audiences braved the bathroom during this comical and satirical production at Hammond High School.

            Urinetown tells the story of a town that has endured a twenty year drought and in order to regular water consumption, forbids the use of private toilets and requires a fee to use a public toilet. The poor people who have to pay to pee are suffering immensely, while the employees of Urine Good Company (UGC) promote these taxes.

            The energy of the cast was marvelous and consistently at a high level. This allowed the cast to more smoothly tell the story and it kept the audience interested as well.

            The narrator of the show was Officer Lockstock (Gary Malveaux). He enhanced the performance immensely with his comedic telling of the story, facial expressions, and interactions with other characters. Another prominent character in the show was Little Sally (Audrey Zahlis). The quirky character she created was well received by the audience and made her the point of focus on the stage. Her entertaining facial expressions and reactions were priceless, especially when they involved her teddy bear that she carried around during the entire show. The mature and powerful vocals of Bobby Strong (Jon Beahm) also strengthened the performance.

            The ensemble was on stage for most of the show and so was their energy. The Poor Ensemble always had interesting reactions in scenes even if the focus was not on them, which kept the stage packed with enjoyment. The commitment of the UGC workers in their dances was showcased in fun numbers of “Mr. Cladwell” and “Don’t be the Bunny.” The Cop Ensemble, along with Officers Lockstock and Barrel, were right on point during “Cop Song” with the precise use of their clubs, their intricate vocals, and their perpetual serious facial expressions.

            The set was very practical. It had many different levels and platforms, and fit well with the different locations of scenes. The scene changes were exceptionally quick which helped the story progress. The Poor Ensemble all had different costumes that were ragged, but also were different styles, colors, and levels of being unkempt. Observing the costumes of the poor kept the scenes even more interesting. Along with the Poor’s costumes came the dirt make-up that furthered the look even more. The Orchestra of the production was excellent. They sounded very in tune and together. The reed players particularly played for most of the time and sounded fabulous on their intricate solo lines.

            Audiences will be flushed with comedy after seeing this production of Urinetown.

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