Urinetown Concert Critique

On May 7th, I went to see the musical, Urinetown, at the Lake Country Playhouse. The play was split into two acts consisting of music and lyrics written by Mark Hollman and Greg Kotis. The premise of the show is that a long drought caused a water shortage which made private toilets a thing of the past. Public restrooms controlled are by a corporation called “Urine Good Company” (UGC) and people have to pay to use amenities. The show opens with a 4th wall break from Officer Lockstock, a policeman who explains the premise and the plot of the show in a musical number called “Too much Exposition.” The song begins with slow piano melody with a downward contour. As the officer begins talking, a horn chimes in and the piano changes to a faster tempo. The melody also transforms into a new one, with an ascending contour. It was very reminiscent of old noire films and added to the atmosphere of the scene well. Following a brief exchange between the officer and another character, the piece slows down again and regains a more descending contour of the first melody. The entire piece maintains the same volume throughout, in order to let the characters speak over it easily. The main melody remains prevalent as the exposition is spoken to the audience. Choir voices are heard, quietly, conforming tom the tempo and contour of the piano. This adds harmony to the instrumental and helps establish the mood of the song. After the spoken exposition, the sung musical number begins and the piano number picks up tempo again, this time in a more jazz sounding melody. The song returns the first melody, but this time accounts for the added voice and the piano accommodates cadences with variation in the pitch and melody. The singer is then joined with a chorus, provided by some side characters, but the melody still remain constant.

The next musical number is titled “It’s a Privilege to Pee,” and occurs in the 2nd scene where a man called “Old man Strong” (Father of the protagonist) can’t