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Urinetown
Original Cast Recording
Music	Mark Hollmann
Lyrics	Mark Hollmann Greg Kotis
Book	Greg Kotis
Productions	2001 Broadway 2004 National Tour
Awards	Tony Award for Best Book Tony Award for Best Score

Urinetown is an award-winning satirical comedy musical that pokes fun at capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, and petty small town politics, as well as advocating environmentalism. Urinetown rejects musical theatre convention, parodying successful Broadway shows such as Les Misérables, Evita, Annie, West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, and even satirizes its own significance. In reverse pantomime style, the unconventional plotline shatters audience expectations of a pleasant ending.

The show was directed by Tony Award winner John Rando, and features music and lyrics by Mark Hollmann and book and lyrics by Greg Kotis. It debuted at the New York International Fringe Festival, was produced Off-Broadway at the American Theatre for Actors and then moved to Broadway, opening at Henry Miller's Theatre on September 20, 2001 (its planned opening having been postponed after the September 11, 2001 attacks). It ran on Broadway through January 18, 2004, closing with a total of 25 previews and 965 performances.

A national tour starring Christiane Noll began in San Francisco, California on June 13, 2003. An open-ended run began performances at Chicago's Mercury Theater in March 2006.

The original cast included Hunter Foster (as Bobby Strong, later replaced by Tom Cavanagh), Jeff McCarthy (as Officer Lockstock), Nancy Opel (as Penelope Pennywise), Tony Award-winner John Cullum (as Caldwell B. Cladwell), Jennifer Laura Thompson (as Hope Cladwell), Spencer Kayden (as Little Sally) and Ken Jennings (as Old Man Strong/Hot Blades Harry).

History

Greg Kotis came up with the idea for Urinetown while traveling in Europe. A traveling student on a budget, he encountered a pay-per-use toilet, and began writing shortly thereafter, joining with Mark Hollmann for the journey to Broadway. Initially, no production companies were interested in optioning the musical, but finally the Neo-Futurists, an experimental theatre group from Chicago agreed to produce Urinetown for their 1999-2000 season. Kotis, his wife, and original cast member Spencer Kayden belonged to the group. Plans with the Neo-Futurists later fell through, so John Clancy of the New York Fringe Festival accepted the show into the festival. Playwright David Auburn (Tony winner for Proof), a friend of Kotis and Hollmann, came to see the show and immediately called production company The Araca Group. The company optioned the musical and it opened Off Broadway at the American Theatre for Actors, transferring to Broadway in September 2001. Originally planned to open on September 13, the show contained several references that, after the September 11, 2001 attacks, would no longer be politically correct. Ultimately, only one line was removed from the script, and the show opened September 20, 2001. It was nominated for 10 Tony Awards the following year, and won three. The show ran until January 18th, 2004, closing after a run of three years, 25 Previews and 965 Performances. An American National Tour was launched in 2003 in San Francisco. In a footnote to the show's life, the characters of Little Sally and Officer Lockstock have featured in what has become a yearly tradition at Broadway's annual Gypsy of the Year Benefit Concert, in which the characters (Portrayed by actors Jennifer Cody and Don Richardson, both of whom understudied the roles in the original cast) perform a short comedy sketch making fun of current Broadway shows.

Synopsis

Act I

The show opens with a friendly welcome from Officer Lockstock, our narrator, assisted by the adorable street Urchin Little Sally. ("Too Much Exposition").¹ According to Lockstock, a twenty-year drought has caused a terrible water shortage, making private toilets unthinkable. All restroom activities are done in public toilets controlled by a megacorporation² called "Urine Good Company" (or UGC). To control water consumption, people have to pay to use the amenities. There are harsh laws ensuring that people pay to pee, and if they are broken, the guilty party is sent to a supposed penal colony called "Urinetown", where offenders are sent but never return.

The oppressed masses huddle in line at the poorest, filthiest urinal in town ("Urinetown"), which is run by the rigid, harshly authoritarian Penelope Pennywise and her assistant, dashing young everyman Bobby Strong. Trouble ensues when Bobby's father, Old Man Strong, can't afford his urinal admission for the day and asks Pennywise to let him go for free "just this once". After Old Man Strong's plea is dissmissed ("It's a Privilege to Pee"), he pees on the street out of frustration and is soon arrested by Officers Lockstock and Barrell and escorted off to Urinetown. ("It's a Privilege to Pee" Reprise)

Later that day, in the corporate offices of Urine Good Company, the CEO, Caldwell B. Cladwell, is discussing the new fee hikes with Senator Fipp, a politican firmly in Cladwell's pocket, when Cladwell's beautiful daughter, Hope Cladwell, arrives on the scene as the UGC's new fax/copy girl. As a way of introduction to their newest member, the UGC staff sing a paean to their chief ("Mr. Cladwell").

Officers Lockstock and Barrel discuss the journey to Urinetown and how it reduces everyone, even the toughest, to screams. ("The Cop Song"). Hope enters and encounters Bobby Strong. The attraction is instant and the two, joined by their belief in the power of the Heart sing about their hope for a new world ("Follow Your Heart").

Officer Lockstock and Little Sally discuss Urinetown. When Little Sally asks him what it is, Lockstock replies that its power lies in its mystery, and he can't just blurt out that there is no Urinetown and they just kill people. The information will just have to be released at a climactic moment in act two.

The next day, new fee hikes are announced and Bobby, who has been doing some thinking, comes to the conclusion that the laws are wrong, and, opening the doors of the urinal despite Ms. Pennywise's protests, begins a pee-for-free rebellion. ("Look at the Sky")

At the offices of UGC, Cladwell is informed of the revolution, and when Hope is aghast at his vow to crush Bobby for his actions, Cladwell coldly instructs her, using metaphors centering on rabbits, to be the winner in life rather than the victim ("Don't Be the Bunny").

At Public Amenity #9, Cladwell, UGC staff, and police arrive to confront Bobby. Bobby discovers who Hope's father is, and, outnumbered, the rebels kidnap Hope and head to a secret hideout in the sewers ("Act One Finale").

Act II

The second act begins and we see the rebel poor hiding with Hope in the sewers, the police and Cladwell looking for them, and Bobby hiding from the police. The rebels wonder what Urinetown is, and everyone sings about the power of the mysterious no-man's land, Little Sally eventually concluding that Urinetown is a metaphysical place where everyone is down-and-out. ("What is Urinetown?").

Down in the sewers, the rebels are driven mad and are close to killing Hope in revenge for her father's crimes ("Snuff That Girl") when Bobby bursts in and reminds the rebels of their purpose in the revolution in a rousing gospel song. ("Run, Freedom, Run!").

Invigorated, the poor rally around Bobby, but balk at his statement that the violent fight could take decades. Just then, Pennywise bursts into the secret hideout telling Bobby that Cladwell wants him to come to the UGC headquarters. Bobby goes, but only after being reminded by the impatient rebels that if anything happens to him, Hope will be killed and Pennywise fiercely swears that if any of the rebels harm Hope, she will have Bobby sent off to Urinetown. Bobby says goodbye to Hope, apologizes, and tells her to think of what they have ("Follow Your Heart (reprise)").

At the UGC headquarters, Cladwell offers Bobby a suitcase full of cash and full amnesty to the rebels as long as Hope is returned and the people agree to the new fee hikes. Bobby refuses, and demands free access for the people. Cladwell orders the cops to escort Bobby to Urinetown. Horrified, Pennywise reminds him that getting rid of Bobby dooms Hope, but he ignores her and has her arrested as well. As Pennywise escapes her captors, she, Hope and Fipp all sing of their regrets of falling for Cladwell's schemes. Meanwhile, Bobby discovers himself being lead to the top of the UGC building. It being a climactic moment in act two, Bobby learns the truth that there is no Urinetown, they just kill people ("Why Did I Listen to That Man?"). Then Lockstock and Barrel throw him off the building, killing him.

Little Sally returns to the hideout in a shocked daze, having just heard Bobby's semi-coherent last words, directed to Hope, which she recounts ("Tell Her I Love Her"). Just as the rebels are about to murder Hope in revenge, Pennywise enters and offers herself in her stead, proclaiming herself to be Hope's mother. The poor reel back, shocked by this unexpected plot twist.

Pennywise unties Hope, explaining that she was the one-time lover of Cladwell back during the Stink Years. Once released, Hope promptly convinces the rebels, Pennywise now among them, to let her lead the revolution. The rebels march to the office of UGC, killing Officer Barrel, Senator Fipp, and Cladwell's secretary Mrs. Millenium on the way ("We're Not Sorry").

Upon entering his office, Cladwell is captured by the rebels. Hope orders her father off to Urinetown and, after a short reconciliation with Pennywise ("We're Not Sorry Reprise"), he is thrown off the roof by the poor.

Now that Cladwell is gone forever, Hope assures her followers that the age of fear is over and looking ahead to the bright new day. The Urine Good Company is renamed "The Bobby Strong Memorial Toilet Authority" and the people are henceforth allowed to pee whenever they like, as much as they like, for as long as they like, and with whomever they like ("I See A River").

However, in a sort of epilogue, Officer Lockstock informs us that the town's newfound urinary bliss is short-lived, as the town's limited water supply quickly disappears. As draconian as Cladwell's rules were, they did keep the people from squandering the limited water supply; now much of the population dies of thirst. Lockstock insinuates that Hope suffers a terrible death at the hand of the people for her actions in depleting the water supply, but adds that the remaining townsfolk will wage on, their town now quite like the imaginary 'Urinetown' they had been threatened with all their lives. With a cry of "Hail, Malthus!", the show ends and the audience must face these final questions: Can they continue to blithely live a life that they consciously know is unsustainable?. And why on earth would anyone see a musical with such an awful title?

Characters

• Officer Lockstock - The tongue-in-cheek narrator of the story. A corrupt policeman who secretly kills off guilty peers.
• Little Sally - A precocious, thoroughly irreverent and smartly funny street urchin; the narrator who always out-smarts Lockstock, and constantly questions the play's logic.
• Bobby Strong - The dashing, noble young everyman who works for Miss Pennywise at the poorest, filthiest urinal in town; the eventual protagonist and romantic hero who starts a revolution, and falls in love with Hope Cladwell along the way.
• Hope Cladwell - Cladwell's completely innocent and ravishingly beautiful daughter, torn between her love for her father and her new love for Bobby. A parody of the stereotypical Broadway ingénue.
• Caldwell B. Cladwell - The evil president and owner of the Urine Good Company, a miserly moneygrubber who gleefully exploits the poor with his outrageous toilet fees. The Show's main villain.
• Penelope Pennywise - The tough, jaded warden of the poorest, filthiest urinal in town. A shrewd, penny-scrounging cheapskate, Pennywise is a figure of authority and lives to maintain order at the public bathrooms. However, she has a deep, dark secret in her past that somehow involves Hope. Hollman says the character was partly inspired by that of Mr Peachum from Weill's The Threepenny Opera, and her music resembles that of Leocadia Begbick in Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.
• Officer Barrel-Lockstock's bumbling, dim-witted assistant who harbors a surprising secret.
• Senator Fipp- A greedy, cowardly politician in Cladwell's pocket.
• Mr. McQueen- Cladwell's sycophantic assistant/lacky. The ultimate Yes Man.
• Joseph "Old Man" Strong- Bobby's rebellious father, who is sent off to Urinetown early in the show.
• Josephine "Ma" Strong- Bobby's mother, a strong-willed old woman who is able to withstand the hard hand life has dealt her.
• Hot Blades Harry- One of the Poor, a psychopathic, violent loose cannon.
• Little Becky Two-Shoes- One of the Poor; foul-mouthed, impulsive, pregnant, and suffering from polio.
• Tiny Tom- One of the Poor, an idiotic Man-Child.
• Soupy Sue- One of the Poor, easily panicked.
• Robby the Stockfish- One of the Poor, the revolution's stoic enforcer.
• Billy Boy Bill- One of the Poor, typically shy.
• An Old Woman- One of the Poor.
• Mrs. Millenium- A trusted UGC employee.
• Dr. Billeaux- Head of Research and Development at UGC
• Cladwell's Secretary
• Two UGC Executives

Due to the small size of the cast in the original Off-Broadway/Broadway production, the following doubling of actors was performed, and is suggested in the licensed script:

• Old Man Strong/Hot Blades Harry
• Tiny Tom/Dr. Billeaux
• Little Becky Two Shoes/Mrs. Millenium
• Soupy Sue/Cladwell's Secretary
• Robby the Stockfish/UGC Executive 1
• Billy Boy Bill/UGC Executive 2
• Ma Strong/Old Woman

Musical Numbers

Awards and nominations

In 2002, the musical won three Tony Awards:

• Best Director (John Rando)
• Best Original Score (Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis)
• Best Book of a Musical (Greg Kotis)

It was nominated for an additional seven Tonys:

• Best Musical
• Best Actor in a Musical (John Cullum)
• Best Actress in a Musical (Nancy Opel and Jennifer Laura Thompson)
• Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Spencer Kayden)
• Best Choreography (John Carrafa)
• Best Orchestrations (Bruce Coughlin)

See also

• Politics in fiction

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Urinetown

• Official site
• Urinetown at the Internet Broadway Database