Ur-ine-town the Musical

Performances 

Friday June 29 at 7:30 pm

Saturday June 30 at 7:30 pm

Sunday, July 1 at 2:00 pm

Friday July 6at 7:30 pm

Saturday July 7 at 7:30 pm

The Flat River Community Players continue their 2018 theatre season with “Urinetown, the Musical,” the Tony Award winner sometimes known as “the terrific show with the terrible title.”

What can one say about a show with a title so unpleasant it’s a running gag in the dialogue? Bathroom jokes aside, “Urinetown,” a musical comedy modeled off the satire and parody of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, is about a person’s right to pee for free. One Broadway critic dubbed it “The Spend-a-Penny Opera.”

The story is rather dystopian. In the not-too-distant future, a 20-year drought has caused such a severe water shortage that private toilets have been banned by law. People must pay increasingly high fees to use public facilities. Run by a mercenary company, the monopoly over these pay-toilets has made poor citizens desperate and rebellious and the corrupt officials wealthy and cruel. Anyone caught “going in the bushes” to avoid the fees is arrested and sent to the dreaded and mysterious “Urinetown.”

Book writer and lyricist Greg Kotis came up with the idea for “Urinetown” after encountering pay-per-use toilets while traveling in Europe. Shortly after that trip, Kotis joined with composer and lyricist Mark Hollman to create this completely original musical. They’ve written a clever show filled with smart lyrics and surprisingly fun rhymes and rhythms. It may not be a typically “happy” musical, but it sure sounds like one!

The show’s title and plot does suggest such musical numbers as “It’s a Privilege to Pee” and “I See a River.” However, this really isn’t a play full of silly, prepubescent potty humor.

In many ways, “Urinetown” is a standard, Broadway-style musical. For example, there’s a brave hero and an innocent ingenue who fall in love in a whirlwind of world crisis while battling a despicable villain who happens to be the girl’s father. And, the public toilet story line really just takes the place of various social issues that constantly divide our world today between those who have and those who have-not.

“Urinetown” doesn’t preach, though. The fun the show pokes at political corruption, social activism, environmental crises, and corporate greed is well-balanced by its eclectic variety of musical styles which parody many well-known Broadway shows.

For example, “Follow Your Heart” is a traditional romantic ballad. “Run, Freedom, Run” is a dance-in-your-seat gospel number. “Snuff That Girl,” brings to mind the finger-snapping dance style of the Jets and Sharks. The Rebel Poor sing their hearts out in the anthem-at-the-barricades style of “Les Miserables” in more than one number. “What is Urinetown?” has the rousing quality of the bar scene from “Fiddler on the Roof.” There’s even a sort of rap number in the mix similar to the patter songs Professor Harold Hill sings in “The Music Man.”

Director Timothy Addis and Music Director Valerie VanderMark have chosen a largely veteran cast for “Urinetown,” with a few newcomers thrown in for good measure. Leading roles are played by Tim Addis, Cassandra Jansma, Kent Schuster, Brenda Jolls, Jamee Gunn, and Donita Coughlin.

Supporting them are Christian Sowers, Katy McDonough, Dennis Hess, Greg VanderMark, Deb Dieckman, Sandy Cote, Katrina Nelson, Caleb Kellogg, Jody Butler, Raymond Koren, Cynthia Karaba, Lori Engelbrecht, Mary McDonough, Patty Rockafellow, and Shawn Jansma.

Working with Addis and VanderMark on the production are Brittany Bassett as tech director and stage manager, Roxanne Hutchinson as house manager, and Jessica Gilbertson as costumer. Addis also designed the set. Mary McDonough serves as assistant director, and Carolyn Johnson as consulting director. Deb Dieckman is show producer.

The FRCP production of “Urinetown, the Musical” runs for five performances: June 29 & 30 and July 6 & 7 at 7:30 PM, and July 1 at 2:00 PM. All performances are at the Greenville Area Community Center.

Tickets are $13 for adults, $11 for senior citizens 60 and over, and $11 for students 18 and under. General seating admission tickets are available at the Greenville Area Community Center during regular business hours Monday through Friday. Tickets may be reserved online with MasterCard or VISA at www.flatriver.showclix.com (or by phone at 1-888-71-TICKETS).

If you have any questions about tickets, this show, or anything else about the FRCP, call the Players at (616) 754-8207. You can also visit the website <www.frcplayers.org>, where there is a link to the FRCP Facebook page.

The Flat River Community Players group has been performing live comedies, dramas, and musicals in the Greenville Area for over 40 years. “Urinetown, the Musical” is the group’s 149th production.

All in all, this full-of-goofy-humor show asks a bold question: In a world where greed and corruption thrive and it costs a pretty penny to pee, can an unlikely hero lead the masses toward revolution and find his one true love? Or will he just end up in “Urinetown”?