Word: urinetown
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Dates: during 2001-2001
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...this really the title?” That this phrase is on promotional materials and souvenirs means a person can only be in one special location—Urinetown. Not the place, of course, the musical. This musical is a hot commodity; a placard outside the theater even proclaims it the second hottest ticket in town (after The Producers, of course). With the added support of a glowing review from the New York Times, not to mention an improbable, inspiring story of success, one enters the show with high expectations. Though the show takes a few musical numbers to navigate...
Whereas Larson's show is sweet and cuddly, Urinetown is blunt and in your face. This Brechtian fable--a sellout hit in its tiny off-off-Broadway theater that is moving to Broadway in August--is set in a city where the water shortage is so dire that private toilets have been outlawed. The play overdoses a bit on winking self-references ("Everything in its time, little Sally," one character says to another. "Nothing can kill a show like too much exposition"), and the promise of sharp political satire is lost on the way to a generic cartoon...