Urinetown

We have an incredible cultural resource (one of many here actually) here in Arlington, Virginia that I'd like to introduce you to. It's Signature Theatre.

My wife and I have purchased Signature season tickets for a number of years. We've seen some incredible shows. I mean really terrific, stuff that touched and moved us deeply, lifted our spirits, stimulated our thoughts, broke our hearts, cracked us up, and, occasionally, caused us to leap to our feet in a standing ovation at the end of the show.

Recently we saw what may have been our favorite so far. It's a show called Urinetown. You heard me right. Urinetown.

Urinetown is a musical set in a stylistically post-apocalyptic punk culture. It's a story about a society where the gulf between rich and poor is huge and where the rich fleece the poor through a money making scheme in which people are forced to pay a fee every time they pee, ostensibly to correct problems with the water table. If they are caught urinating outside the law (so to speak) they are sent to a mythical place called Urinetown.

The basic plot for the play came to the playwright Greg Klotis when he was broke in Paris, needed to pee and couldn't afford the pay toilets.

One of the opening numbers takes place Public Amenity #9, a filthy pay-to-pee urinal where people wait in line in agony for the privilege to relieve themselves. The song and dance is done with the performers bent over pressing their knees together in an attempt to hold back the flood inside them. It's hilarious.

After some time the people get angry at this injustice, and, led by handsome Bobby Strong, revolt against the Urine Good Company, it's CEO Caldwell P. Gladwell and his army of suits and bribed politicians.

Slight spoiler follows...

Early in the show I assumed that the moral of this hilarious story would be one a left leaning person like myself would appreciate - the people would rise up, overthrow the tyrants, and live happily ever after. But like life itself, Urinetown's eventual lesson is complex and somewhat ambiguous. The only solid lesson is that the folly of human nature will be keeping us in hot water (no pun intended) for the forseeable future.

This sounds like a rather serious and somber lesson. But the music (played by Signature's great live band), costumes, set design, lighting, dancing and the (as always) absolutely fantastic acting ensemble that is Signature Theatre's strongest asset, make Urinetown a wonderful, boisterous night out.

In short, I recommend it highly.

Note - the attached photo is from the Broadway production of Urinetown.