I’m playing the broadway channel on accuradio at the mo’ and I noticed a musical called Urinetown? Was there really a musical with that name? Anybody know what its about and why, oh why, they gave it that name.
i was playing here a few months ago. Besides that, i know nothing about it.
can somebody explain to me how a musical called URINETOWN about “Amenity #9, the poorest, filthiest urinal in town” ran for over 2 years?
So What Would You Call it? Toilettown? (NY Times, registration required)
An excerpt:
It has sort of a strange plot. It takes place in a town where there’s a water shortage, and all the urinals are owned by this big corporation, and so everyone has to pay to use them (and it’s illegal to urinate anywhere other than a urinal). This custodian, who believes that people have a natural right to pee, leads a revolt against the big company.
And it could have run longer. It closed because the theatre was being remodelled–tickets were still selling.
I have a friend who saw it in Off-Broadway previews because she had a friend involved. She went off complaining about what a good friend she was being to go to such a ghastly show, and came back a convert, urging me to see it as soon as possible. I kept refusing to go for a long time because, well, you know. Finally I gave in and went, and it really is genuinely good. The Threepenny Opera is the closest comparison I can think of. The music is excellent, and the play is both engaging and thought-provoking.
I’m still not sure what I think about the title. It is extremely appropriate, and by the end of the play the word has a lot of resonance and it’s hard to imagine a better title for it. On the other hand, I bet it’s kept lots of people from seeing it. It sure kept me away for a long time.
I even have the Cast Recording right in front of me. It’s coming to Seattle next year, so I’ll finally see it.
From what I’ve heard, and the few snippets I’ve seen, I’m looking forward to it. It seems to be a descendant (I wouldn’t say parody or takeoff, Threepenny is just as ridiculous) of Brecht’s style of musical.
But even the authors in the opening song Too Much Exposition talk about the title:
It’s a privilege to pee!
Feh. I’ve listened to the OCR extensively. It’s not Broadway-calibre material, IMNSHO. They got lucky. Any musical with piano chords PLONK plonk Plonk plonk over a tonic/dominant bass does not deserve to make it anywhere past community theatre or a fringe fest.
Was this really a musical??
Do you people live in a cave or what???
It was one of those shows that opened off-Broadway with no publicity and the people who go see everything saying "You HAVE to see this show,"giving it so much buzz that it ends up on Broadway. Those shows are always worth seeing. The latest example is Avenue Q.
I had a long conversation with Lawrence Street of the original cast, and the man is a riot. Even he found it hard to believe: I take a job as a chorus boy in this off-Broadway musical with an impossible name and figure I can pay the rent and the show will last maybe two months. Now I’m on Broadway in the hottest ticket in town.
It’s one of the least enjoyable and preachiest musicals to come along in ages (imho). The lowlight is when the cast actually shouts “Praise Malthus!” in order to drive home the point to those who haven’t gotten it already.
Yep, and it’s a great show, too. Deservedly won several Tonys.
Ireland actually, but thanks for asking. Not exactly a vibrant hub of musical theatre.
It relies so heavily on the oh-so-quaint idea that it’s a parody of a parody of a musical that it falls flat on its face.
Oh, and can I say again how much the music sucks?
No, but you are a lot closer to the Edinburgh Fringe(first of of Springer! the musical) than those of us slaving away on Broadway. And take it from me, NY hasn’t been the hub of vibrant musical theater for a while either. Although Avenue Q is one of the best shows to come along is a long while.
Ahhhh Schadenfreude…
I’m thinking of writing a personal essay in my LJ or something about Broadway’s latest phase: musicalizations of movies, with some supposedly innovative & wacky crap thrown in. It’s sickening. Did you know that Disney has its next musicals totally ready to go - they’re just waiting for the theatres to open up? Look for “The Little Mermaid” to take over B’way within the next couple of years.
It’s a sick, assembly-line operation that is somehow acceptable because at least the musicals aren’t all West End transfers like they were in the 80s. And we all know how the Mackintosh/Lloyd Webber mega-musicals were resented. The backlash began circa 1989 with shows like “City of Angels”, “Grand Hotel”, and “The Will Rogers Follies” - very American shows with very American subjects.
Sondheim (and I’m not his biggest fan, but I agree with him here) had something fantastic to say about all of this:
(As quoted by Frank Rich in Conversations With Sondheim (New York Times Magazine, March 12, 2000), pp. 40 & 88.)
I disagree with the last bit. But to all those who thought “RENT” (IMO, highly overrated) was to herald a new era of “innovative American musicals” (RENT was hardly innovative), well, did it happen?
I know, this is a hijack, but I have a vested interest in this.
Stevin Suskin (the longtime theater writer) has pointed this out as the problem that the American musical has had in recent years:
Virtually every composer of Broadway musicals that’s still active and of any note (or, at any rate, of any cloat) is in his seventies.
As a result, the Broadway musical has gone downhill, getting to be more and more reliant on imports and movie musicalizations.
This is why more risks need to be taken on the younger generation. (Like me & CuriousCanuck.)