“Urinetown” – Music and Lyrics by Mark Hollmann. Book and Lyrics by Greg Kotis. Directed by Courtney O’Connor. Presented by The Lyric Stage Company of Boston, 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, through October 20.
By Michele Markarian
If I were to be perfectly honest – and somewhat lazy – this review would consist of only three words: See this show. But that wouldn’t be fair to the truly talented director, cast, and crew, so bear with me while I tell you why. It’s a hilarious script with a catchy score and pointed undertones that’s performed flawlessly in moments both tongue-in-cheek and sincere.
Introducing the play is Officer Lockstock, played by the affable and snide Anthony Pires Jr. Pires is an excellent narrator with a likable stage presence, even when he’s cruel. He and his sidekick, Little Sally (the wonderful Paige O’Connor) explain that because of a twenty-year drought, water consumption must be controlled. This means all toilets are public, and in order to urinate, people must pay a fee. While Urinetown takes place at the dirtiest urinal in town, there are many other urinals, all run by the same corporation, the Urine Good Company (UGC). If anyone is caught peeing anywhere other than at a pay toilet, they are sent away to Urinetown, which is not a place one returns from.
The urinal where the action takes place is managed by Penelope Pennywise (Lisa Yuen, dynamic and nasty) and her assistant, Bobby Strong (Kenny Lee, both sweet and ferocious). When Bobby’s father, Joseph Strong (Remo Airaldi, who also plays the creepy Senator Fipp), can no longer hold it in and does his business discreetly in public, he is taken away to Urinetown. Bobby, inspired after meeting the dreamy Hope (Elliana Karris), forgoes his duties as a money collector for the urinal and lets the townspeople in for free. Then he discovers that Hope is the daughter of the corporation’s owner, Caldwell B. Caldwell (a smug Christopher Chew), and the course of the revolution he’s leading shifts, with Hope being held as his prisoner. In a typical musical, this might turn out okay for Bobby, but it’s Urinetown. As Officer Lockstock tells his young sidekick, “…dreams are meant to be crushed. It’s nature’s way”.
While the show sounds – and is – dark, it’s funny as hell. When Hope deadpans to her father, “I never realized large monopolizing corporations could be a force for good in the world,” the audience chuckles knowingly. The fee hikes, fearmongering, and corporate monopoly are all too familiar, yet the fact that they’re being spoofed makes them somehow smaller. The songs have a winsome quality, and they’re executed beautifully by the cast. Standouts are “It’s a Privilege to Pee,” delivered savagely by Yuen, “Follow Your Heart,” a sweet duet between Lee and Karris, and “Don’t Be the Bunny,” a fatherly warning sung by the self-satisfied Chew.
O’Connor uses the theater well – actors spring up on steps beside the audience and disappear in corners of Janie E. Howland’s downtrodden yet dangerous-looking set. Deb Sullivan’s lighting design adds to the dramatic tension, with sudden shifts and surprises. O’Connor writes in the director’s notes that she understood Urinetown to be Brechtian, and stylistically, I think that’s what makes this production work. All of the actors are on the same page, so there’s a sense that they’re winking at us while at the same time holding up a mirror to society’s ills. After the final number, we all leaped to our feet, grateful for the opportunity to have witnessed our fears and failures so charmingly diminished. See this show. For more information and tickets, go to: www.lyricstage.com
