Let’s get the name out of the way first.
Urinetown might sound like gritty fare, maybe even crass, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Blue Mountains Musical Society’s latest production is a smart, hilarious, earworm-inducing show that deserves to be seen by a wide audience.
(And for those still unconvinced, all urine-related references in the show are decidedly PG-rated).
People able to get past the title will be rewarded by a perfectly cast, whipsmart comedy from an amateur company with ambitions beyond recycling musical theatre’s greatest hits. Local audiences should be grateful for this – and for WAAPA graduate Naomi Livingston’s spot-on direction.
Urinetown won three Tony Awards following its Broadway debut in 2002. It is set in the near future where a long-term water shortage has seen private toilets outlawed. Citizens have to pay for the privilege of going to the bathroom with an omnipresent private corporation gouging megaprofits from this ecological setback. But while this dystopian scenario might sound bleak, its treatment is absurd and delightfully upbeat.
With comic timing crucial to the show’s success, the talented performers are more than up to the task.
As the unlikely leader of a rebellion against the toilet oppressors, Benjamin Roorda stands out. His gospel number, Run, Freedom, Run!, will have audiences in stitches during the show and will still be bouncing around in their heads for days afterwards.
Other highlights include real-life father and daughter, David and Hayley Cascarino, as the owner of the pay-per-use amenities company, Caldwell B. Cladwell, and his daughter Hope.
Police-officer-come-narrator Jessica Lovelace guides the audience through the manic proceedings with aplomb, while the talents of teenage cast members Marlena Thomson and Riley Glen belie their years.
As a redneck pair eager to take the rebellion to the next level, Ryan Henry and and Emma Druett pitch their performances with a perfect mix of ridiculous menace.
The choreography by Rebecca Blackwell – at times mimicking cinematic techniques from slow motion to freeze frame – underlies the comedy with tight and punchy execution.
Urinetown’s characters regularly break the fourth wall and the show delights in satirising the tropes of musical theatre and underdog tales of scrappy people rising up against a powerful overlords. The climax of the first act hilariously channels the rebellious spirit of Les Miserables.
And while this adds another layer of enjoyment for musical theatre nerds it shouldn’t deter non-aficionados. If you are the sort of person who usually avoids musicals like the plague – but enjoy television shows like Community or 30 Rock – this could be the entry-point to the art form you never knew you were waiting for.
Urinetown’s season at the Blue Mountains Theatre in Springwood continues for eight more performances until June 3.