Urinetown: a number one musical
By Addison Welborn
Photo of Urinetown set taken by Addison Welborn
Urinetown: the strangely titled and shockingly political musical, as well as the latest production by Owasso High School’s theater program. Both the title and the content of the show are a cause for surprise; however, these high school actors wowed the audience with their singing, dancing, joking and understanding of the complex topics within the show.
The setting of the musical is a world where a massive drought and water shortage has driven society to the point where it is a “privilege to pee,” and all toilets are controlled by a corporation called “Urine Good Company.” If you pee without paying you get sent to Urinetown, a “mythical place, a bad place” that is filled with “symbolism and things like that.” The show, inspired by an American author’s experience with European pay-to-pee public toilets, is pure satire. It explores themes of corporate greed, hunger for power, fear, following your dreams and balancing the needs of tomorrow with the desires of today through humor and cliche.
Photo of members of the Urinetown cast getting ready for the Friday night performance taken by Addison Welborn
Despite the show’s fascinating plot and witty humor, there was always concern that the title alone would be enough to dissuade potential viewers.
Junior Mallory Sepúlveda played Little Becky Two Shoes in the Musical.
“Urinetown is a big thing in the theater community, … but you go outside of that theater bubble and it’s mostly like ‘You’re doing a show about pee?’” explained Sepúlveda.
The choice of musical was certainly a surprise to the Owasso community, and even to Owasso High School’s Theater Students.
“When they announced that we were going to do Urinetown this year, I think some people were really excited and other people were like ‘Dang it. This is stupid,’” Sepúlveda said.
However, the show is far more than surface level potty humor in the form of song and dance. Urinetown has to be approached with an open mind in order to get the full experience.
“People will hear the title Urinetown and be like ‘that's stupid, why would I go watch that?’ … It is difficult to explain to people how it’s this brilliant satire about capitalism and corporate greed and socialism because all they hear is pee town,” expressed Sepúlveda.
She continued, saying, “The thing we talked about a lot was that this show is the ‘tropiest’ of tropes,” she said. “Every single character and situation is a trope and you need to play it like the biggest trope ever. … You’re letting the audience in on the joke that you know it’s a trope, but even though everything is such a cliche, it really shows how pertinent each cliche is and how much they actually represent reality, even though they are so exaggerated.”
To understand Urinetown’s subject matter, the students discussed modern and real life situations that bear some resemblance to Urinetown’s setting. One example Sepúlveda mentioned was the recent wildfires in California. The students discussed the California wildfires and how there have been restrictions put in place to conserve water for the state. They also talked about the inspiration for the show—European public toilets.
Urinetown has been an option for the spring musical at Owasso for years, but the theater department knew it would come with some feedback.
“Mr. King has been thinking of doing this show for years, … and of course being in Owasso in which they get mad at us for doing Almost Maine, in which there is an implied homosexual relationship, doing a musical called pee town might not roll over well with some of the population,” stated Sepúlveda.
Photo of Urinetown director Ryan King at the Saturday night performance taken by Addison Welborn
However, neither the name nor the political content ruined this exhibition of OHS’s finest theater talent. The reviews were non-stop praise and admiration for both the student's talent and ability to do such a unique and complicated show.
Junior Rhett Dawson came to the musical knowing nothing but the title, yet he said the content, while unexpected, was quite interesting and well-done.
When asked about his feelings towards the name of the show, OHS alumni James Burkhalter replied, “To be honest with you, [the name] swayed me to come even more. The fact that they were able to do Urinetown … in Owasso Public Schools… that’s beautiful.”
Senior Olivia Garrett expressed that she was not repelled by the name.
“Honestly, I wasn't as weirded out about [the name] as some other people were; I was intrigued, [and] it made me excited.”
Junior Michelle Currie not only was drawn in by the name, but also the content of the musical.
“Honestly, [the name was] an incentive [to go] because what does Urinetown even mean?” she said. Of the plot, she exclaimed, “I actually loved it and how … it was funny but you could tell it was a commentary.”
Connie Hubble, the grandmother of Reagan Hubble who played Little Sally in Urinetown, found the content of the play quite relevant to her own life.
“My husband and I’ve both been in politics most of our lives, so it’s fun for us to see it,” she explained. “[The students did a] very, very good job with a very serious topic.”
Sepúlveda was adamant about her fellow actors' ability to portray the complexity of Urinetown.
“Highschoolers, yeah we’re kids, but we can handle heavy topics [and] we can handle deep thinking. High schoolers can do almost any show that any professional actor can do because … the purpose of theater is to spread the stories of other people … so in that way, if you make the effort to understand the story and understand your character, you can portray it in a way that will get that message across and will spread the stories of other people.”
Urinetown was a shocking, showstopping, artistic marvel of a musical that got its audience thinking, laughing and reconsidering judging a musical by its name alone. Despite the odd name and potentially controversial topic, audience members of all ages and relations to the OHS theater department had fun at the beautiful spectacle that was Urinetown.