Urinetown
Music and lyrics by Mark Hollmann
Book and lyrics by Greg Kotis
1 March 2024
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Winner of three Tony Awards, 2001 Hollman and Kotis musical Urinetown is still largely unknown in the UK.
"Set in a world where private bathrooms are a luxury reserved only for the very wealthy, one young revolutionary hopes to bring about change and let the people pee freely!"
The book by Greg Kotis is certainly interesting. It satirises Capitalism, local government bureaucracy, and even musical theatre itself. Urinetown is very meta in parts: The narrator (Nathan French) tells us he cannot die, because he's the narrator. We need him if we want to know how the story will end! The frequent digs at musical theatre are funny and a clear hint that the writers do not take themselves too seriously.
Interlaced with the light-hearted humour, Urinetown is conceptually pretty dark. As the show opens we learn that there has been a catastrophic drought and that water usage is tightly controlled. We witness the poorest members of society queuing for the dirtiest public toilet in town, begging for money, terrorized by the police and those in authority. It's an unthinkable situation. When one man can't pay, can't hold it in any longer and pees in the street, he is carted off to Urinetown for punishment, as all lawbreakers are.
A bonkers scenario for an musical? Certainly. But aren't they all.
While the plot of Urinetown kept me entertained with plenty of drama, twists and turns, the score is largely forgettable. Enjoyable at the time, I'd struggle to name any of the musical numbers after the show. They're perfectly pleasant and performed with gusto here, but still, the soundtrack isn't going to be bothering the charts in terms of record sales anytime soon.
Urinetown definitely has that off-Broadway / off West End, Fringe feel, but what does elevate it from good to great is the unique RCS staging of it. Reimagined as an actor-musician piece, the music and the entire show comes alive at the hands of Director Oliver Lidert and the exceptionally talented Conservatoire cast.
Portraying a travelling circus group performing the cautionary tale of 'Urinetown', each of the company not only sings, dances and acts, but plays instruments too. Brilliantly I may add. The talent on stage is remarkable. The final year students of the BA Musical Theatre course have created a new category of theatre performer: The quadruple threat.
Lidert's creative vision draws from The Theatre of the Absurd taking a dark situation and heightening it through comedy. The actors faces are painted like clowns, their movements are exaggerated and mischievous, and the atmosphere swings from jovial to menacing in a heartbeat. The inventive choreography from Ruth Mills intensifies every scene, and the performers on stage give it their all. They walk, they run, they never stop moving. Their knees are at their chins for most of it - they certainly got their step count in during these performances.
The more challenging scenes in Urinetown are cleverly depicted via shadow puppetry so the audience don't actually witness anything too physically macabre. But so close are the performers to the audience, thanks to the configuration of the theatre, that the threat feels very real.
As always with RCS productions the collaboration between various departments ensures that this production of Urinetown is presented with the utmost quality. The Musical Directors situated on-stage accompany the voices and instruments of the cast to create a powerful, rich sound that fills the auditorium. The lighting and staging is well considered and effective. Not too much - nothing overwhelms the space - and it all ensures that the performing students are the focus. We did have one minor sound issue at the performance I saw - the audience couldn't hear Mr Caldwell during the Act I finale - but this was quickly rectified by the next act.
The students themselves are magnificent, of course, and the multi-charactered Urinetown presents opportunity for each of the 17-strong cast to shine. They all have such charisma, stage presence and talent, it's difficult to know where to look.
Urinetown is another great success for the RCS team; they have transformed it way beyond its original limitations into something even more musical, entertaining and refreshing. A super production of an offbeat musical.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Urinetown plays at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland until Friday 1 March 2023. Contact the box office for tickets: https://www.rcs.ac.uk/box-office/
📸 Production photos: Robbie McFadzean
🎟️ Disclosure: I was invited to review this show and received a complimentary ticket in exchange for my time and for publishing this article. RCS has no say in what I write. I'm completely independent, and whether I am invited or not has absolutely no impact on my reviews or star ratings.
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REVIEW - Urinetown: The Musical (BAMT3, RCS, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland 2024)
