UMD Intro to Theatre Reviews

REVIEW: UMD Theatre delivers delightful performances in “Urinetown”
BY PAUL BRISSETT, Duluth News Tribune
Published Friday, October 19, 2007

Sometime soon, some high school is going to announce it is staging “Urinetown,” triggering hysteria among the usual suspects, who will be monumentally PO’ed.

“It’s clearly inappropriate. I haven’t seen it or read it,” they’ll cry, “but that title is soooo disgusting!”

If it’s your child’s school, know this: “Urinetown” contains absolutely no jokes about bodily functions. The coarsest word in the script is “pee,” employed quite economically.

The play, which opened Thursday in UMD’s Marshall Performing Arts Center, is satire, fable, parody and a gourmet smorgasbord of musical styles of the past 120 or so years.

The play is about a town in which a 20-year drought has made private toilets unthinkable. All the public facilities are controlled by the Urine Good Company, a corrupt and greedy monopoly that is constantly raising rates. Ultimately, a lowly attendant at the town’s seediest facility foments rebellion, aided by the daughter of the UGC’s president.

The show is charmingly self-deprecating: “Nothing will kill a show,” one character notes, “quicker than a bad title.”

You’re going to want to see “Urinetown” a second time — although it might be tough to get even the first ticket.

The first time, you’re going to bask in the fabulous score, the delightful performances and the stunning design work. Then you’re going to want to go again just to see how many musical styles you can identify.

As noted, the show is completely free of scatological humor. Indeed, although comic, it includes few actual jokes, but director William Payne has strewn this production with visual humor ranging from broad to subtle. At one end is the elderly man who doesn’t have the price of admission, and at the other the occasional synchronized hitch-step of two police officers.

Payne pushes his cast to the very edge of melodrama, but never beyond.

Composer Mark Hollman’s score is a tribute to composers from Gilbert and Sullivan to Kurt Weill to Stephen Sondheim and musical styles from gospel to klezmer.

“Cop Song” is the descendent of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Modern Major General,” “Privilege to Pee” is homage to “The Threepenny Opera” and the gospel-style “Run, Freedom, Run” and “Fiddler on the Roof”-ish “We’re Not Sorry” received the warmest audience reaction of the evening.

Serena Brook, who made the cheerfully cynical cop-narrator Officer Lockstock engaging nonetheless, took the lead on “Cop Song,” teaming up with Kyle Kokesh as her partner, Officer Barrel.

Martha Gagliardi’s soulful “Privilege” was powerful enough to make Mack the Knife surrender his blade.

And Brian Kess’ lead on “Run, Freedom, Run,” as rebel leader Bobby Strong, nearly stopped the show.

UMD Theatre designers, whose work is always impressive, outdid themselves with “Urinetown.” Choreographer Rebecca Katz Harwood paid tribute to her own facet of musical theater with numbers that called to mind “West Side Story,” “Fiddler” and “Les Miserables.”

Ashley Ann Woods’ costume work and Makeup Designer Jake Neuman’s work was impeccable, most notably in crafting the chalk-striped, $400 haircut persona that helped make Dan Bigwood’s Caldwell B. Cladwell so deliciously detestable as the president of urinal utility.

Musical Director Tina Thielen-Gaffey and Orchestra Conductor Mark Whitlock gave Hollmann’s score and his and Greg Kotis’s lyrics their due, with full, smooth sound and crisp choral delivery. If you can catch either of them after the show to congratulate them on a great job, you can also have them check your scorecard of musical styles.

Paul Brissett is a Duluth writer and amateur actor who has appeared in numerous community theater productions and has served on the board of the Duluth Playhouse.

IF YOU GO

What: “Urinetown”

Where: UMD’s Marshall Performing Arts Center

When: 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday as well as Oct. 24-27 and 2 p.m. Sunday

How much: $15 for adults, $11 for seniors and students and $5 for UMD students and children

Call: 726-8561

This was my first time ever seeing a college level theater production. I thought that Urinetown was amazing. The costumes were great, the different sets were cool and funny, and the actors did a very good job. I think that they utilized the stage space very nice. I was really impressed by the acting and singing. I really got into the show and was entertained through out the whole thing. I also really enjoyed the background music and how they were very in sync with the actors. I also thought this production was really funny. I would enjoy going to it again just to catch anything I might of missed. At first I was thought the music might not be that good thinking about what this production was about. But I was blown out of my seat it was so good. I thought the different songs were very entertaining and I enjoyed listening to them. This was a very good performance for the first one I have ever seen. I guess the next theater production I go to has a lot to stand up to.

First of all I would like to say that “Urinetown the Musical” was PHENOMENOL. I attended the play on Wednesday, October 24th and I really had no idea what to expect. This was only my second time seeing a UMD theatre production and I was amazed at how good it was.

The first thing I noticed was how great the actors and actresses were. I was very impressed with their singing, dancing, and acting ability. Serena Brook, who played officer Lockstock, was an amazing and very talented actress. I think she did a great job at narrating and she made her character really come alive. One of my roommates told me that they saw this production at Madison last year and that the narrator was a man. So I thought it was kind of interesting that the roles could have been played by either male or female. Another character I really enjoyed was Hope Cladwell, who was played by Jenna Kase. Her role seemed so innocent at first and then at the end seemed so determined and passionate. I was just honestly amazed at all of the people who took part in this play. There isn’t one actor/actress or part that I could say anything negative about.

I also really enjoyed the costumes, scenery, and props. It wasn’t overdone, yet it wasn’t bland or dull either. The scenery for the public amenity #9 I thought was really creative. I liked the looks of the brick buildings and it was simple which suited the characters of the rebel poor. At the UGC headquarters I also really liked how the scenery was simple, yet you could tell that it was way more elite than the other scenes. When looking at the costumes I did notice that Hope Cladwell’s costume changes did get less fancy as the play went on. I know we had talked about that in our Intro to Theatre class when the costume designer came to talk to us. I thought the rebel poor had really interesting costumes. I liked how they had this grunge look, yet it totally suited the play. The character Caldwell B. Cladwell was dressed up in a fancy suit and all of his staff was dressed “business-like” also. I thought it was hilarious the way they walked in between the conversation with Hope and her father. They all seemed so “robotic” and it really emulated how they were of an upper class. I also enjoyed how the set came into the audience a bit. It made it seem so much like someone was telling an actual story and you were watching it before your own eyes. It let your mind have an imagination of what the next scenes would bring and every time I was surprised.

I would definitely go see this play again and recommend any one to go see it. I know it’s only playing one more weekend, but if you get the opportunity you should really go. Not only is the play funny, but it kind of has meaning to how society can be when issues such as water shortages arise. I was laughing the whole time and I loved the music and dance numbers. Everything was so in sync and it all went together so well! So lastly I would like to congratulate all the cast members, director, and everyone else who had something to do with this play because it was definitely a hit!

Last Thursday, I saw the opening night performance of the musical Urinetown, and for the most part I agree with reviewer Paul Brisset in that it was a delightful performance. Were I to be told only the name of the production, I probably would have bypassed the show, thinking, “Urinetown? That sounds a little too bizarre.” Fortunately, I learned in my introduction to theater class what the musical was about and what the producers were trying to do before I went, so I walked in to the theater having a good idea about what was to come.

The show takes place in a city that is in the middle of a severe drought, making water in such short supply that it has become necessary to require payment to use the toilet. Refusing to pay or using nature’s facilities is cause for arrest by a corrupt police force, who then ship the offender off to a place of punishment nobody has ever seen called Urinetown. The play follows the lives of several people, some poor and some powerful, and ultimately ends with the poor rebelling against the ones in power and the bathrooms they control.

I’ve never seen a production quite like this one before, where the performers make it blatantly obvious what the show is trying to do instead of hinting strongly or having the main character “learn a lesson”. I thought they pulled this off quite well, mostly with narrator Officer Lockstock and Little Sally conversing about water shortages and power struggles. The musical also makes fun of itself and other musicals. I especially enjoyed the “Run, Freedom, Run!” number in which Bobby Strong majestically conducted the poor in an over-the-top choral piece, poking fun at other musicals. The spastic dancing of “We’re Not Sorry” made it another song that stood out, as did the completely absurd lyrics to “Don’t be the Bunny.” By themselves, in any other musical, these songs would have probably made the performance a subject of ridicule.

This sort of production makes it very difficult to say anything bad about it. An audience member doesn’t feel part of the play? She/he’s not supposed to. Things that happen seem far-fetched and lame, leaving too much to the imagination, even for a limited stage? They’re supposed to, and the play goes out of it’s way to do this—one example is when Bobby Strong and Cladwell B. Cladwell fall slowly to their deaths, with leisurely arm waving and taking such a long time to fall they’re required to take multiple breaths if they want to continue screaming.

Therefore, the only things I saw in this performance that could have used a little improvement were minor and had nothing to do with the plot of the play. I thought using the spotlight, especially when most of the other stage lights were already on, was a little redundant. It caused the performer(s) to look washed out, and generally it was obvious who was singing or talking anyway. The other bit was that sometimes it was hard to pick out what the performers were singing, but this is the case in nearly all musicals and usually requires just as much effort on the audience’s part as the actors’.

Overall, I had an excellent night and would recommend the musical to most, especially if they enjoy the sort of dry humor Urinetown does such an outstanding job of providing.

On Wednesday night I went to see Urinetown the Musical. I went to the musical not knowing exactly what to expect, but when I left I was very happy with what I had just witnessed. This musical was great, and the thing that I liked about it the most was that it was like no other musical I have ever seen. It was so unique in its own way, and in my opinion worked out great.

I think that what the directors attempt to do in this musical would mostly be to entertain the audience and to be unique. I think in doing this play the director wanted to make the audience laugh and just enjoy themselves while they were watching this musical. One of the things that made this musical unique and like no other I’ve seen would be the interaction with the audience while the musical was going on. Officer Lockstock and also Little Sally narrated the musical while it was going on. I wouldn’t call it a traditional narration, but it was some form of it and it was great. I thought that what they did was so unique and really was one of my favorite parts of this musical.

The attempt by the director was successful, the actors and actresses did a very good job in bringing to life what the director was expecting. The audiences response the whole musical was nothing but positive. It made them laugh a lot; also it just got them in a good mood. The music was very upbeat and joyful, which I believe was a good thing.

The attempt that the director made in going the direction he did was very worth while. It was the most unique musical I’ve ever seen in a good way. So if you enjoy to laughing, listening to great music and singers, and just having a good time, this is the musical that you want to go see.

Wednesday night I was able to see the UMD theatre production of Urinetown. I felt that the production was very well done. It included many different types of music and dancing. There was humor as well as a good message.
I really enjoyed the overall story line. It was very different from most other plays, dealing with when and where people are allowed to take care of their personal business. I feel that without all the jokes in the play, it would not have gone anywhere.
I think that the scenery and costume design were also very well done. The scenery did a very good job at showing where each scene took place. The UCG could be easily identified with its grand stairs and public amenity #9 by its old, broken walls. Everything also moved around very nicely, I did not notice any problems in scene changes. The costums helped us identify the different groups of people in the play. Just by looking at the clothes they were wearing, you could tell if they were part of the rebel poor or the company. Costumes also helped to show the transition of characters. The colors of Hope's clothes became closer to the colors of the rebel poor as the play went on.
I would say that this play is worth attending. It is very entertaining and makes you think about your own way of life.

Wednesday night October 24, 2007, I attended a performance of the musical "Urinetown." It was an amazing performance that I believe had something for everyone. It had colorful and creative costumes, wonderful set design, and fun music that was a lot of fun to listen to. I definitely enjoyed myself when I attended the play, and I think many others would as well. One theme that was clearly emphasized was the show's social message. It had a deep and powerful theme amidst the happy smiling faces which are so commonly found in musicals.

The play was about a town where everyone has to pay to pee in a public toilet, and it is against the law to even relieve oneself in the bushes. There is a strong and powerful man named Mr. Cladwell who runs a comapny called UGC (urine good company) and he basically controls the fees that people have to pay to pee. His reasoning behind it is to accumulate money of his own, but also because of recent low water levels. He is afraid of the town's water supply dying out. The townspeople see differently, and led by Bobby Strong, they try to start a revolution.

The revolution is a success, but at a price. Not long after the town's new found freedom to pee, their water supply runs out and people start to suffer and die. This occurence in the play displays a clear social message that we can relate to today. With our growing economy and population around the world, we are becoming more wasteful, and resources in our world are becoming more scarce. Although this is an unfortunate truth, many people choose to ignore the facts of life. This musical is very good in bringing up the points and facts of life that we don't like to face. Sometimes if we look at life through forms of art, then the truth is easier to swallow. "Urinetown" seems to accomplish this task. As an audience member, I started to understand the serious issues that the musical was pointing out, but I still was enthralled and glued to the stage, even though the musical brought up many things we often don't like to hear.

I think that "Urinetown" is an amazing musical, not only for its costumes, music, and lighting, but for the social issues it dispalys and represents. If people identify with art, then art is the perfect medium to inform people of issues in society, and "Urinetown" does just that.

On Wednesday I attended the performance of "Urinetown". To be honest, like all the people who have judged this play on its name, I didn't think it would be my cup of tea. I have never really liked seeing people sing about what they feel or what is going on in their life. Luckily this play was not the ordinary play. It was a great joy to experience this production. I think I enjoyed it so much because it was a farce. It did not try to sweep us off our feet or pound the message into our thick skulls.

One thing that the director, cast, and the script were great at was giving the audience humor that we could really appreciate. Another expectation of mine was hearing the jokes that have been done over and over. Many of the comical areas of the production were very cliche,although, being a farce, this was done on purpose. This is even similar to how I act in real life with overacting certain jokes or phrases that I have heard a million times. I am also not used to such great acting out of my peers. In high school the actors were pretty good, but these people did an exceptional job with their parts. I don't think it could have been nearly as comical in a high school play. The script allows some of the actors to acknowledge the audience. This helped the comedy reach its full potential even more so. Because the officer could talk to the audience, the play had another opportunity to crack sarcastic jokes sometimes involving us as the viewer.

Being in the Intro to theater class, I had heard a good amount of background information on all aspects of the show. I got to hear the set designer, the director and the costume designer talk about their areas of expertise. This furthered my appreciation for the production and all the aspects of it from the head actors to the people helping with costume.

All in all, "Urinetown" was a great play. Every part of this play, as I mentioned, was done very well. It was quite entertaining, comical, and of course, has a very good message for the audience.

On Wednesday October 27, 2007, I attended the UMD musical "Urinetown." It was very well done and provided something for everyone. It had creative lighting design, elaborate sets, and colorful costumes. In particular, the show had a multitude of talented actors that helped make the show come alive.

"Urinetown" had very amazing and talented lead actors. The lead male Bobby Strong was played by Brian Kess. Brian seemed to really capture the motives and personality of Bobby Strong. Bobby Strong seemed like the type of character that always wanted to do the right thing and not cause trouble, while at the same time he wanted to rebel and stand up for his true beliefs. Brian Kess did a phenomenal job of displaying these qualities of Bobby Strong, and he acted in a way that showed Bobby's transformation over time. I believe that Brian Kess had an amazing singing voice as well, which made his character more intriguing. Brian had just the kind of voice that suits a musical. It projected into the audience with amazing volume and what I thought was almost perfect diction. Brian Kess's ability to make his character believable and extremely likable enhanced the whole performance.

The other leading role was done by Jenna Kase who played Hope Cladwell. Hope was a character who was from the higher class and lived very well. Jenna Kase did a nice job of portraying Hope as an angelic and innocent girl. Because of Jenna's beleiveability as an actress, she made me as the audience member think that Hope could do no wrong and was always completely innocent and joyful. This ability to make me believe that made Jenna such a convincing actress. Especially when in the end of the musical, Hope became...shall we say...a little "crazed" over the revolution and her cause. Jenna Kase made Hope lovable and seemingly innocent.

With any musical, the right actors and actresses are key to the production. In my opinion, "Urinetown" had many amazing actors which strengthened the play and the plot. In my opinion, it is a must see play that one should take all their friends to. It makes you laugh, enjoy good music, and realize the truths that are found in our society.

When I first heard of the title of this musical, I was a bit curious and doubtful. Everyone who I had spoken to was quite surprised by the name “Urinetown”, but seeing as our class was given an opportunity to see it, I decided to satisfy my curiosity. I was very glad that I did. Urinetown had a different approach to offer, introducing an upsetting aspect that I had never experienced previously with musicals.

I think that director William Payne did a great job on getting the story of Urinetown across to the audience. Having Officer Lockstock as the narrator kept it easy for the audience to follow, and including Little Sally kept it cute and entertaining. You could not help but listen to what both of them had to say. They definitely had all attention on them when relaying the story. Other characters that I greatly enjoyed were Bobby Strong and Cladwell B. Cladwell. Bobby was a great protagonist, and his leadership of the rebellion was dedicated and faithful. The actor Brian Kess did an amazing job with this character. He was tough but gentle at the same time. Dan Bigwood, who played Cladwell B. Cladwell, did an excellent job of portraying the villain. The saddest part of Cladwell’s character is that the emotion he had for his money surpassed his love for his daughter. Bigwood put on a promising performance in this area. His “hard” attitude made you hate to love the character.

The costumes were brilliantly done. Ashley Ann Woods’ creations were easy for the audience to follow as the poor people were dressed in bright colors and the rich in darker. I loved to watch how Hope Cladwell’s attire changed as she started to fall in love with Bobby and his rebellion against her father. I thought that there could have been a costume change for the richer people. It would have solidified how much money and power they actually have over the poor, but I do understand that there is a budget when making a show. The scenery looked very complex to work with, therefore proving that the stage crew had quite the task ahead of them. I’d have to say that they did phenomenal. I did not see any flaws and I loved how they were incorporated into the actual play. The only thing I did not enjoy was seeing the orchestra through the background. I found my eyes getting drawn to the musicians in the back as soon as a musical number started. It was very distracting.

Lastly, the moral of the story was very strong and evident at the end. I enjoyed hearing from the narrator that the rich people like Cladwell had a sense of control. Even though their intent was to maintain their wealth, indirectly they kept society in order. They imposed a method of population and resource control that is needed in the world.

Overall, it was a very successful performance. If you have a chance I would definitely go see this show if you have not already.

A musical named, "Urinetown," sounds absolutely disgusting doesn't it? How could a play about a town of urine be comical, entertaining, or enjoyable? Well, before you judge this book by it's cover, you should all know that this play was not at all disgusting. It was far from that actually. It was extremely comical, very entertaining and highly enjoyable!

The way this play was put together was very clever. It covered a very serious situation in a lite, hilarious manner. The jokes and puns were cleverly placed in a way that made me stop and think even though I was laughing right off my seat!

Unlike most plays one sees, "Urinetown" doesn't make one completely oblivious to the real world. In fact, it does quite the opposite and made me realize that our set way of living may not always be sustainable. This play would be a very daring play to perform anywhere, but the writer is obviously very aware of that. The writer of "Urinetown" knows it's odd to use such a crude title, and also that the audience will not escape reality as they watch this live theater show. But he or she really pulled it off! This play is a hit!

This performance was an absolutely amazing display of talents. The orchestra was always perfectly in sync with the performers. The dance numbers were fascinating. I never saw one dancer out of step. The dancers left me stunned. The singers were breathtaking. I noticed that everyone also had quite a distinct voice which fit their character's personality perfectly, thanks to the casting process. Like Hope Cladwell who had a sweet and innocent voice, but she could also belt out her notes like crazy. This is like her character who is soft but eventually escalates into a strong, adamant woman. Miss Pennywise was already a strong, tough woman, and her singing voice was all of those things as well. I thought all of the songs were done extremely well and I was left amazed, and intrigued. I couldn't wait until the next song!

Musicals are happy. Musicals leave the whole audience feeling warm and fuzzy inside. Musicals have happy endings. However, "Urinetown" is none of those things and I'm perfectly okay with that, because even though the ending was sad and a little strange, I still thoroughly enjoyed the production and laughed through the majority of it! "Urinetown" did an amazing job at such an unusual storyline. I think what made this play so influential is the fact that the audience was left wondering how they had such a wonderful time at a aplay about urine and how someday, we all may come to find that our way of life isn't sustainable anymore. I know that I sure had a wonderful time at this production. UMD theater hasn't let me down yet and something tells me it never will!

I went to "Urinetown, the Musical", by Mark Hollman and Greg Kotis, on Wednesday, October 24th. First of all, I'd like to say that the UMD theatre department either got really lucky, or they teach their actors very well, because every single acter on stage during this musical was extremely talented.

Brian Kess, playing the hero, Bobby Strong, has an amazing singing voice and a strong stage presence. It's an impressive accomplishment to get a lead role as a sophomore, but his talent showed that he deserved the honor. He did an excellent job of portraying the emotions of guilt, love, and determination that Bobby Strong goes through during the plot.

The heroine of the musical was Hope Cladwell, played by Jenna Kase. Jenna did a wonderful job of being the girl who wants to be on everyone's good side and doesn't want anyone to disagree. When she was confronted with siding with her father, or siding with her admirer, Bobby, she cleverly portrayed the distress of Hope's character by looking very lost and out of place. Since she couldn't decide for herself, Bobby had to kidnap her to serve as a ransom in his protest.

I also really enjoyed watching all of the minor characters and all of the ensemble. I could tell that they all had individual characters that they created, and I found it fascinating to watch their reactions and involvement in the show. Actually, the ensemble scenes and numbers were some of my favorites because of the humor and expression that each rebel poor character added.

I wasn't quite comfortable with the way the story was narrated, although I knew it was going to be like that when I went to see it. A musical that knows it's a musical is not my favorite kind of musical. But they did a really good job of living up to the challenge of this narrative style. Serena Brook, playing Officer Lockstock, was very effective in this role and took on the challenges of being the narrator and trying to keep the audience engaged at the same time. The humor and sarcasm that she added to her character really kept the show moving, and Little Sally, played by Lindsey Marquardt, also kept the audience laughing. The transitions between the narration and the scenes were perfectly timed so that there was never a lapse in the momentum.

The cast really gave it their all and while I was watching the musical, it didn't bother me that it wasn't quite my style. I was mesmerized by the energized singing and dancing and acting of every single member of the cast.
Well done!

I attended the Wednesday performance of Urinetown. Overall I really enjoyed the show. The acting was was really superb. "Urinetown" is written in such a way that it requires the actors to go all out. There can be no hesitation in performance. And for the most part the UMD actors did just that. My favorites hands down were Martha Gagliardi (Penelope Pennywise) and Lindsey Marquardt (Little Sally). Everything from their walk to their voice to noticeable mannerisms were so commited that I was completely enraptured by both of their characters and their involvment in the plot.
I also thought that the singing was wonderful. The energy was amazing when you think about how tired they must all be in reality. And to do it in conjunction with all of that high-energy dancing was simply phenomenal. Speaking of the dancing, wow. The second half of the show was especially involved. I really liked "Snuff That Girl". The energy on the stage was hitting me in the audience and I really felt involved.
The costumes and the set really worked with the show. On seeing the set before watching the show I wasn't all that impressed. It seemed almost TOO decontructed and for lack of a better word "cheap", but seeing it as a whole show really made me understand what the designer was getting at and it definetly worked for me. The costumes were also very interesting to me. I really like how she used just regular modern clothing (for the poor people) and deconstructed them and dirtied them. I thought it was great. You could pick out the original design of the clothing and see its destruction. It helped tell the story of each of the characters. Very cool.
All in all I thought this was a very well done show. You can tell that every detail was covered and the actors as well as the techical crew and designers really knew the show and had a unified idea of what they wanted the show to mean and how they were going to get there. Great Job!

Urinetown, the place where you have to go if your cannot afford to pay to pee? When I first heard about this musical I was thinking, "you have to be kidding right?" I defiantly thought that this musical was going to be crazy! But right when that curtain opened I was drawn in. The opening scene, called Urinetown was with the narrator (Office Lockstock) and the whole cast singing about "Urinetown" which gave the audience a heads up. I really like how the play was narrated. I enjoyed how Officer Lockstock and Little Sally would have their humorous conversations. In my personal opinion, I think that those two characters (played by Serena Brook and Lindsey Marquardt) were the most believable. They both fit very well in the shoes of their characters. The characters did a wonderful job too, but right away I was drawn to those two.
I also thought that the stage was set up great! The Scene design team did a great job! Public Amenity # 9 showed the nastiness of what it would really look like if this really happened. The costumes were really great too, especially one of the main characters, Hope. Her outfits always seemed to support her personality.
I really enjoyed the musical numbers and the dancing. I thought that they were performed well and with heart. This play was very funny. I enjoyed the humor. Every scene had humor and people were always laughing. There were a couple twists in this play that made it interesting, like Hope finding out that Pennywise was actually her mother , when Bobby Strong dies and the ending, which really took me by surprise. Officer Lockstock stated in the beginning to Little Sally that this wasn’t a happy musical and she was right. There is death, deceit, and humility just to name a few things that are present in this musical.
In the end, after Hope takes over her father’s company and lets people pay for free, they run out of water. When this happened, the lighting bronzed over the stage making it appear to be a desert which was a nice touch. I did have a problem hearing some of the characters speak when they were turned away from me. But other than that I was really impressed with Urinetown

I also saw Urinetown Wednesday night, and walked out at the end thinking it was fabulous. It too was my first time seeing a college play, but to be honesty, when I came and heard it was going to be about 2 hours long I just wanted it to be finished as fast as possible because I still had some homework to finish that night.

Right when it started with Serena Brook, who played Cop Lockstock’s entrance I was able to relax and enjoy the musical. It was such a great way to start off the musical because it really engages the audience into the performance, keeping them interested. Even before her first lines you had no idea that she was going to be the narrator of the show. First off what I think was really imaginative about having a narrator, was that I have never seen one in a musical before. Second, that was the narrator wasn’t just narrator for the musical, but also a big character in the story. I loved seeing Cop Lockstock towards the end of scenes simply come right out of the frame of the main setting and down towards the audience narrating to not just us, but to another role in the musical, Little Sally. I felt like I was being read the story in a book from a parent, (which I think is a good thing). By having a narrator like this I think really made this performance reach out to the audience, which is very unique to see in a musical.

Also, all the music (including the singing) and dancing I was very impressed with. Especially the big dance off the characters had in the end of act one. It was choreographed very well and was so much fun to watch. The actors all had awesome singing voices and I enjoyed hearing them all together as a chorus.

I also thought the costumes were great and very well designed. They were all so unique for each of the characters and I could really tell what their personalities were like right from when they came on stage. And I think that is very important for the audience to notice right away about a character.

Like what Mae Martin stated, “musicals are happy”. That is how we usually think of them as. But this one didn’t have such happiness to it. This is what makes Urinetown stand different from other musicals, which I love to see. Stepping out of the of the boarders and maybe breaking some of the rules with musicals is alright, however don’t get me wrong, it still portrayed being a musical very well, but just not your usually musical. Well Done!
I recommended seeing it for good laughs and great entertainment, (and dont let too much homework stop you from going).

Last Saturday I saw Urinetown at the UMD theatre. The show was directed by William Payne. Urinetown was very unique throughout because it kept referring to the fact that it was a musical. It was also very different because of the costume designs, and the type of dancing that was involved.
The characters that were in the show knew they were in a play and kept reminding you of this. There was a cop who was also the "narorator", which is hardly ever done, and added a light humor throughout the show. It was very interesting to see a play done this way.
The costumes were very interesting because of the colors and the styles. there was a big difference between the poor people and the rich. the poor people had very warm color tones, and the rich people had sharp cold colors. The character Hope was torn between her fathers views (a rich man) and her love interests (a poor man) and you could really see her costumes were a mixture between the two different color ranges. This helped to portray the struggle of her own beliefs.
The dancing in the show was fun to watch because it also seemed to be making fun of the fact that it was a musical. the production showed a wide variety of different dancing in a comedic way. Uninetown ranged from gospel, to jazz, to folk, to swing all in the same show. It was very humorous to see all of these different types of dances done one right after the other.
Uninetown is very unique, and amazingly fun to watch. It has elements of many other types of musicals and plays off of them all. I definitely recommend it.

When I initially saw the musical Urinetown, I didn’t spent a whole lot of time focusing on the costumes. I simply took them as they were – the poor wore ragged outfits while the rich were dressed in fine, fancy clothing. However, after I saw the production, the costume designer came and spoke to my Introduction to Theater class and explained the costume design process, which was way more complicated than I anticipated. Looking back and thinking about it, it’s apparent that a lot of thought went into creating the costumes of the performers in Urinetown. Those costumes gave the performers more than just something to wear; they turned them into characters and helped to tell the story.

Probably one of the most noticeable ways in which costumes helped the storyline was what happened with Hope Cladwell’s outfit. When first introduced, she wore an over-the-top, shiny and expensive-looking dress with far too many accessories, which went along perfectly with the way she was portrayed – a complete airhead and daddy’s girl. By the end of the performance, when she was allied with the rebel poor, her outfit had regressed into a plain blouse and skirt. Even if one hadn’t seen the performance, and instead snapshots here and there, they would be able to realize she was a changed character from her first entrance.

Other little details helped the characters and storyline as well, and one that comes to mind is Miss Pennywise’s outfit, where her slip showed through the slit in her skirt. This was not only a reminder that she was one of the poor and didn’t have a lot of extra money to throw around on clothes, it gave the unconscious impression that she may have slept around a little. Sure enough, later in the musical it was revealed that she had a one-night stand with Cladwell B. Cladwell, resulting in his daughter Hope. Each of the outfits of the rebel poor had equally as much thought put into them, resulting in a group of individuals with stories behind them instead of a faceless group of people. For the performers in Urinetown, the costume designers did a fabulous job in coming up with outfits that created characters and told their stories.

Last Wednesday, I saw the UMD production entitled Urinetown. This is the second college theatre production I have ever seen and I was thouroughly blown away by the performance. There was many aspects of the play that were so well played out and organized. First of which was the scenery and set design. There is two main settings in Urinetown, one being the poor part of the town, including Public Amenity 9. The design was well thought out here because of the missing bricks in the bathroom and "poverty-like" living conditions and atmosphere. The second main setting was the office of Caldwell B. Cladwell, the Urine Good Company headquarters. This setting was extremely eye catching and elegantly displayed as a very wealthy company with the elegant stairwells and sculptures, as well as the big UGC logo that dropped from the ceiling.

Another aspect of the play that i found particularly well presented was the costumes and attention to detail. The rich people were perfectly represented with their very elegant and extravagant business suits. The poor folk, or rebel's costumes were also extremely well thought out with all the tatters and tears, but not only that, it was the use of bright and clashing colors that perfectly represented the lower class of society in Urinetown.

The actors in Urinetown did a fantastic job of catching the very soul of their characters, which i believe is the most important factor in deciding whether or not a play is worth seeing. The rich folks, Caldwell in particular, captured the very conservative, and often bitter personalities of the highest class of people in Urinetown. Hope Cladwell I believe captured her characters personality the best. Mainly because her's was the most difficult to capture. She starts out the play much like her father, which is taking being wealthy for granted and more or less being ignorant about what's really going on in the poorer parts of Urinetown. This all changes when she meets her lover, Bobby Strong. She slowly realizes whats really going on in their city, and she makes it very evident and clear that this is whats going on. Costume design is also evident in this transition. Hope's costume at the beginning is very elegant and much like all of the wealthy people in the play. Toward the end, her costume is elegant, yet it is much more like the costumes of the poor folks.

Officer Lockstock was another fantastic representation, because she often makes the transition between narrator and actor in the play, and she does so very well. Miss Pennywise also does a very nice representation, mainly because even though she mentions her fling with Caldwell in the first act, she does not make it evident that she is in fact the mother of Hope. When she does this in the second act, she does it in such a way that even if you saw it coming, i think it would surprise you.

By far the most intriguing part of Urinetown to me was the way that they used extremely dry humor to make fun of the play throughout. I enjoyed this very much because of my dry sense of humor, but also, a play that can make fun of itself the entire way through, while virtually telling you what's going to happen, and still manage to have a very suspenseful and attention-grabbing ending is amazing. In the future I would really enjoy seeing more plays like this. All the spontaneous breaking into narration and these dry humor seqences keep your interest in the play, even during the less interesting parts. This made for a spectacular and completely new experience in theatre for me.

The other night I attended the play Urinetown, and to be honest I really didn't know what to expect because of the name and also because I had never been to a musical. When I got there I really liked how the stage was set up and I had a really good first impression of the play, which is huge for me. If I don't think I'm going to like the play I need to be really impressed with it in order to like it. When the cop came out right away and started to tell about the story I didn't know if that was normal in musical's or in plays in general. After that I really got into the play. It all seemed to flow from the start. In that first scene at the toilet I thought Bobby Strong did a good job of establishing himself as a strong individaul and one that is a leader, which he shows throughout the rest of the play. I wasn't sure how much singing and dancing there was going to be, and to be honest I thought there was going to be more. I was pleasently surprised that there was a good amount of acting, and there was a good mix of singing and dancing as well. I thought the singing was excellent, I'm not Simon or anything but it was really well sung throughout the play. As the cop stated right away this wasn't going to be a happy musical and I didn't really know if I should believe that or not, and at the end I realized it was true. The play write was really good I thought and it kept me interested throughout! Over all I thought the play Urinetown was a good one. I am glad that this was the first musical that I went to because now I am interested in going to more of them. I can't wait to see next play that comes out at the Marshall Performing Arts Center!

I recently attended the play "Urinetown" and I found it to very comical, and entertaining.
Although the title isn't appealing, I was very impressed by this play. The characters did a wonderful job representing their characters, and I also found the costumes very fitting for each character.
First of all, each and every actor carried out the roles they played so strongly. I especially enjoyed the narrator and Little Sally. They added to the comedy part of the play, and they also kept the audience up to speed on what was going on. The rest of the cast did an amazing job playing out the comical parts of the play, as well as the more serious parts. Over all, I think the cast made the play so enjoyable and kept my interest the entire time.
Also, I really was drawn to every single costume each character wore. They were put together so well; not too busy, yet not too simple either. The colors drew my attention right away and I found myself staring at each costume towards the beginning of the play. The costumes definitely played a key role in making this play as great as it really turned out to be.
Ultimately, this play was excellent!!! I really enjoyed the lesson of the play, and the different comical parts along the way. And I thought that the cast and the costumes made this play so energetic and exciting. I very was impressed!!!

I stayed for the question and answer session after Urinetown, and found it very fascinating to see all of the cast and crew sitting together, representing how many people and how much work it takes to put on a musical.

You really don't think about the stagehands running around backstage, moving sets on and off and making sure the acters have their props. But they work just as hard as the acters. If it hadn't been for all of the behind the scenes people, the show wouldn't have been the same, and it might not have even happened! I would really like to congratulate the entire cast and crew on a smooth show that had no noticeable glitches.

Also, it was interesting to see the cast as they are in every day life. Their characters' personalities were gone, and their real personalities were renewed. Some of the cast members even came out without their costumes on, and I had a hard time recognizing them! This just goes to show how well they acted onstage. They created a make-believe world for 2 hours that really seemed real!

One question was interesting that came up. Someone started to ask a question about what happens if someone gets hurt or sick during the rehearsal and show time. Before the student finished asking the question, the whole cast started to laugh! Apparently they don't have understudies in college theatre! I was really surprised by this! That really leaves the cast in the lurch if something does happen to one of them. I also learned about the Socialist Malthus, who predicted the degradation of society. As a whole, I think the question and answer session was really interesting and helpful for me to understand the musical. Maybe I'll start staying when other plays or musicals have Q and A. It's worth the wait!

I agree that the question and answers was a once in a life time opportunity for this play and well worth it. I was amazed at Bobby Strong's, Brian Kess, singing voice. There were parts where I was truly amazed by his ability. Not only that but he was also a really good actor. The narrator Officer Longstock, played by Serena Brook, also had an amazing voice. She really kept the audience interested by making the narration lively. Watching this production really made me wish that I was even half as talented as some of the actors. I wanted to get up there and sing and dance. It was also a very good experience to have Ashley Woods come into our class room and talk to us about her creating the costume designs. I enjoyed listening to her talk about how she thought each costume out and then seeing it in person was truly amazing. I just feel like having this intro to theater class is really broadening my experiences and opening new doors for me. I can't wait for the next musical to come. I really love musicals now and I can't wait to see more.

Urinetown was the name of the musical I recently attended. Although the title is obviously strange and somewhat unappealing the production was MARVELOUS, and you would never guess it’s underlying message is about sustainability. I have not seen many musicals, none at the college level, and I was utterly impressed by my peers’ performances. The storyline is stereotypical and cheesy, but the characters were strong and made it work.
The setting as “Here/ Now” in Urinetown, after a twenty-year drought, played out a subtle but major moral of the story about how we are not living sustainable and we need to change what we are doing or else we will end up like this, in urinetown. It is great to see this topic appear in the theatre. Perhaps it reached the public more effectively.
The story is full of witty humor and hilarious choreography all acted out perfectly. The idea of paying to pee is very scary and funny at the same time. The witty, “Urine Good Company” or “UGC” founded by the seemingly stereotypical, greedy, selfish corporate executive, “Caldwell B. Cladwell” (UMD acting Senior Dan Bigwood). The idea of installing public pay toilettes all over the city to profit from basic human needs and keep the pee of the streets after the infamous “stink years” is fantastic. Bigwood’s singing and dancing skills were great. The mannerisms of the corporate staff were hilarious. The Bunny joke was a little strange, and yet it fit in somehow.
The narrator of the story, “Officer Lockstock”, a classic stock character played by Serena Brook, was an interesting method used to help tell the story and remind you, almost constantly, that you were sitting in a theatre watching a musical about peeing, which then made me need to pee. Although intentionally cheesy, Officer Lockstock was paired well with another stock character “Little Sally”.
The obvious love story didn’t have a typical happy ending, which was a refreshing change of pace, even though the ending was on a positive note.
The scenery and costume was right on for the industrial theme. The lighting made the colors of the costumes pop even more. The attention to detail through every aspect of this performance was very noticeable and added the right touches to the production. Overall this production was fantastic.

I went to see Urine Town in the marshall performing arts center on Wednesday October 24th.
Everyone has to pay to pee and if they revolt and pee for free they are sent to Urine Town (they die). When the daughter of the evil Mr.Claudwell, who is the owner of Urine GoodCompany (paying to pee but saving water), falls in love with Bobby Strong, one of the poor people, a revolt breaks out when Bobby realizes that is shouldn't be alright to have to pay to pee. They end up kidnapping Mr. Claudwell's daughter until he lets them pee for free. Bobby ends up getting caught and sent to urine town(thrown off a building) and then Mr.Claudwell is sent there as well. His daughter takes over and most of the people end up dying anyway because of the lack of water. It is very humorous but tragic ending. I wasn't sure whether to laugh, cry or a little of both.

I have never seen a play like this before it was so ironic, it made me laugh but at the same time it was very sad. The fact that urine town was their town was so ironic and it brings up the fact that we kind of create our own hell, even in the world today. I also thought it was extremely ironic that no matter what they did, payer to pee and save water, or pee for free and lose all their water, they were in trouble.

Although the title was unappealing, I enjoyed the play very much. The actors did a wonderful job staying in character and representing who they were in the play. I found my eyes wandering quite a bit but there was always something or someone very interesting to look at, everybody was always doing something. The costumes were also beautifully put together, they were very vibrant and really displayed the characters status well.
All of the songs were extremely entertaining and the choreography was perfectly fit with the music. I think my favorite was the cop song, and when the cops did the little hitch-dance with their legs it struck me so funny it was hard to stop laughing. The songs were so poetic in a very comical way, it made you really want to listen closely to what they were singing because you wouldn't know what to expect next.
The dances were very well put together, matched the music and even had comedy mixed in with them. I thoroughly enjoyed all of them. My favorites were the cop song, and the holy one when bobby went off like he was at church preaching away and singing like a holy choir. It was hilarious!
I thought it was extremely clever how they had the main cop and little sally talking directly to each other about the play, it added much uniqueness and it was comical as well.

The set and lighting also looked amazing, very pleasant to look at, and it was so clever with the lift bridge thing when bobby died and then came back up to sing every once in a while when little sally was describing what he had said. It seemed that the stage was used very well, it didn't seem like there was any empty space or places that looked awkward.

I really enjoyed the play and i would definitely see it again.

I attended the question/answer period immediately following the play and it was very interesting to hear not only what the actors had to say but all of the crew members as well.

It was crazy to see all of the actors come out of their "characters" and to see their actual personalities. It was also amazing to see really how many people are working on this performance, all the tech and crew members really brought this all together. Communication must be amazing when all these different people are working on this one play in so many different areas it is so impressive to see it all put together. They must feel an amazing sense of accomplishment for bringing it all together.

Listening to all the questions being answered You really don't realize just how many people are back stage, working together and really how much work it takes for everyone. I was so impressed.

Many questions were asked about the hardest part of play. Everyone didn't really seem to have an answer for that because there are so many different aspects to "parts of the play." Each scene is more or less difficult for different people. If you think about it there really is a lot to even just one scene.

I think it was very beneficial for me to stay for the question/answer period, i got to see how many people were actually a part of this production and how hard they all worked. It was an amazing play.

Urinetown has a great deal of smart comedy which helped to make the topic light and funny. It also had a great deal of strong stock characters. The acting was also impressive because it was a different kind of acting.
The comedy of the show was very smart, dry, and clever. There was a lot of sarcasm throughout the show which isn't as common for the basis of a play. The play on the words and characters made you really want to watch and laugh with the people in the show.
The stock characters really made fun of the fat that they were stock characters, which was hysterical to see. They all had one trait that was very emphasized and they were one dimensional. Bobby strong, was an example of this. he was the hero of the show and one of the main characters. His name even sums up who he is. Hope Cladwell was another stock character. she was sort of the damsel in distress, who had hope for the future, thus her name.
The acting was unique because not only did the actors have to accommodate their role, but their role within their role. Meaning that they had to play their character, and play of of the fact that they were a character. This must have been hard to perfect, but they definitely did.
Urinetown is a very unique show all around, all aspects of the show make it very enjoyable to watch and the light humor and sarcasm really make it quite pleasant.

I thought Urinetown was amazing. The acting, the set, the costumes, and the singing were all great.

The acting was phenomenal. The actors when constantly in their characters no matter what was going on. One great example of this is Little Sally. Every time I looked at her she was playing with her doll, or fidgeting, or just gazing off exactly as a little girl would.

The set was designed very well. It was simple, yet complicated. There weren't many pieces of the set and by using one thing for two purposes was very smart. The details like the brick and paint and signs made it look well put together and as if it was a real building or public amenity.

When we were presented the costume designs in class I was not impressed. They looked normal and boring. When I saw the costumes in person I was in awe. The colors and different varieties were perfect. Every costume fit the character and their personality.

I loved all of the actors voices. You could tell that this was a huge consideration for casting each character and I thought they all had beautiful voices.

The storyline, the comedy, and of course the narrator were great in this play. The narrator added yet another form of comedy and it helped us understand the story better.

I really enjoyed this musical. It exceeded my expectations in every way. I would love to see this play again and definitely plan on it.

The UMD production of Urinetown is worth attending. The story line, acting, and design were all very well done. The plot was very interesting, I never found myself bored with it. There was always something going on, if not multiple things. Many different types of music and dance were incorporated into the play. Every act provided a new style of singing and dancing. They preformed traditional musical style as well as gospel and much more. The actors all found ways to become their characters very well. I felt that the best example of this was Little Sally. Just by watching her movements, you could tell she was a little girl. She never stood still and was always fidgeting. She also did well at using a different tone of voice to show her age. The entire design team did well at telling us the things that the actors couldn’t. The costumes showed us which characters belonged to the rebel poor and which belonged to the company. The scenic designers showed us where each scene took place. It could be easily identified if it was in the UGC building or public amenity number nine.
Urinetown challenges the audience to look at their way of life. The message behind it is that your way of life, or the way that you think is right, may not be. It looks at water conservation and the fact that it is not an unlimited resource. The purpose of this is to change the way people think. The audience is expected to change the way they use their resources.

I attended Urinetown two different times within the same week. The first time with a friend and then the second time with my family. The very beginning of the show was pure entertainment from every type of heard and visual aesthetic I can think of. From the moment the curtain went up on the show you knew instantly that your eyes would not be bored.
Ashley Woods costume designs was one of the first amazing and interesting part of the show. From her drafts of what the costumes where to look like was at first a little confusing. Since the play is set in the here and now her drafts of the costumes look to be a bit from other older musicals that are defiantly not in the present day. After the curtain went up though, everything seemed to make sense. From the dirty gauchos to the cute baby doll top this made the setting defiantly in the here and now. There is no other play that I would see with costumes quite like the ones in Urinetown. You could tell that down to almost every inch of the costumes of the rebel poor were hand-painted and “scuffed” up a bit to give it the proper texture and mood to project the kind of people each one of them were. And then the rich outfits were wonderfully sleek and the color pallet of blue, green, and dark colors was a very good idea. These cool colors really contrasted the warm and textured colors of the rebel poor which always subconsciously enhance the conflicts between the opposing parties.
Another thing that needs to be commented on was the choreography of the show. Other than Broadway shows the choreography brought so much more “wows” to the show it was amazing. You can tell so much that the cast worked and practice very hard on being synchronized with the choreography. Everyone was always, I mean always together and every action was so sharp and amazed everyone I was around both of the nights.
It is very common for the energy of a show to be a little bit less as nights go on. But the two productions that I attended were within the same week. Both of these productions had two very different sizes in terms of audience but It was very well adapted by the cast. Each performance felt like opening night with so much energy that drew the audience in. Overall the play was a joy to see.

As stated earlier, I attended "Urinetown" on Wednesday October 24, 2007. As I have discussed, this play had a huge and significant social message, and also had actors that were believeable and added life to the characters. Aside from the musical's phenomenal message and actors, it also had a fantastic scenic deisgn that helped enhance the performance. With the thrust stage configuration, and wonderful set design, the musical came to life.

First, the thrust stage configuration added life to the play, and made the audience feel like they were a part of the show. The thrust part of the stage that came out into the audience had little steps with different heights and sizes. I thought that this was very interesting, and gave the actors the chance to move across and around the stage with more versitality and in unusual ways. An example of this was when Hope Cladwell and the rebel poor were sneaking into her father's office to strengthen the revolution. The actors were able to slink low by the sides and edges of the stage which made the play more believeable and suspenseful. Overall I think the new designed thrust stage strengthened the performance and helped the audience feel closer to the actors.

Second, the set design was done very well. The scenic designer was student Lauren Meister, and I thought that she did an excellent job. The set was very versatile (i.e. the moving staircases to create Cladwell's office, and the public amenity that could be wheeled on and off stage). The set also created the right feel of the environment. Whenever there was a scene with the rebel poor, the set reflected the mood and lives of the poor people, whereas when there was a scene with Mr. Cladwell, the audience got a sense of glamor and richness just from the set itself. The set was wonderfully designed because of its capability to work well with the scene changes, and because of the believeability that it posessed.

Overall, the scenic design is almost what defined "Urinetown." Without the set that was provided, the musical would have lacked a key and needed component. With its thrust stage configuration and wonderful scenic design, "Urinetown" doesn't disappoint!

I have a few comments reflecting one of the blogs for Urinetown. It seems that overall everyone enjoyed the musical and thought it was great. There was a blog that mentioned the person’s favorite characters, those of which were Penelope Pennywise and Little Sally. I would agree with this person in that these two actresses did a great job, but I have a different favorite actor in the play who I thought was incredible.

Bobby Strong was the actor that I thought was the best. This guy could do it all; he was in my opinion the best singer in the musical. His voice was great and just flowed real nice. I think that everyone would agree that they could listen to this guy sing. However, it wasn’t just his singing that I believe made him the best character in the musical. I also thought he did a great job of just acting and making the musical even better. His movements flowed so well that your eyes seemed to always be on him.

I do have a criticism of the musical though, and it’s nothing that has to do with the director or cast of this musical, it’s the playwright of this musical. The criticism I have is that Bobby Strong should have never been killed and taken away from this musical. I was very disappointed when they killed Bobby mainly because I believe he was the focal point of the musical and the best overall singer. I think that in doing this the playwright took away what could have been a great ending with him still alive. I believe that the ending was not that good, it didn’t end with one big giant great song and that disappointed me. I would have liked to say Bobby stay alive and everyone do one big song at the end of the musical with him being the focal point. I still think that this was a great musical, however, that is the one thing I would have changed about it if I were to write it.

Going to see Urinetown I was not sure what to expect. I have a lot of friend’s trough in the theatre department and I was listening to all their comments. A lot of them had a lot of positive things to say about it. I was going into it thinking that this was going to be a musical to remember. I have to say though; it did not blow me away. Granted it did have some high points I though most of it was a little dull. A high point in the first have was the song privilege to pee. Martha did an amazing job with this song. I can see why she was nominated for an Irene Ryan award. A second high point in the first act was the song Don’t Be the Bunny. I think that Dan has a really good voice and pulled the song off really well. It is easy to see that Dan was also a nominee for the award also. Everyone in the song genuinely concerned about what is happening with the town.
In the second act there were also some high points in the second act also. The fist high point was the song Snuff That Girl. I think that the dancing was well choreographed; it was simple but yet entertaining at the same time. It was nice to see some of the other characters sing besides the main ones. A second high point in the second act was the song Run freedom, Run. This song really got to show off Brian’s voice and this was a great song to listen to. One thing that got old was a joke that was with Old Man Strong about him not shrinking on a day to day basis. This joke got a little bit of a laugh the first time it went through. Every time after that the laughs just came few and far between. I had heard that this play was really funny listening to some of the comments people had on it. I thought it had some funny moments but I was expecting a lot more. Overall I think the acting was good the singing was better I just think that the actors just did not have a whole lot to work with. I think the story line was weir and the actors were not sure what to make of it. Urinetown is not the typical structure of a musical and maybe that is what I didn’t like it.
As for the production side of the show, I though it was just okay. I thought the costumes didn’t look like they were for poor. I think that normally poor do not dress with bright colors and they are dirtier. It looked like some body went to ragstock and bought a lot of clothes ripped them and threw them on some actors. I think I would have put them in darker colors and have them look like you would not even want to shake hands with them. On the other hand I really liked the Costume for Caldwell B. Cladwell. He looked really nice and it actually looked like he had a lot of money. As for the set, I was confused. I did not see how the set played with the story line and had a lot to do with the play. Some pieces of the set just seemed unused and they were just put there to take up space. The set did have a high point thought. The hydraulic life they used to have they characters fall to their death was cool. It is something that you don’t see everyday in a production. All in all I though that Urinetown reached the bar, it just did not surpass it.

Urinetown was done very well on every level. Every aspect of the play seemed to embody its central theme of limited resources, and what life (in its most exaggerated form) might be like once those resources are nearly used up. I love the theme of this play because even the most intelligent people will take one extreme side on an issue because they think they are right. What these people don’t always know, or want to know, is that there usually is no one solid, perfect solution. There is always some gray area.

Urinetown’s theme was perfectly captured by the performers and crew. The scenery was spot on, the costumes easily served their purpose, the actors’ performance as a whole were phenomenal. My class got to talk to the set designer, so I was informed that a good part of the set was comprised of recycled parts from other plays. Even the musicians had an unconventional twist. Rather than playing in the pit, they were placed behind the set. Their visibility added to the fact that the viewer is supposed to remain aware of the performance that is being viewed. We are supposed to be engaged and thinking about the central message.

The message of this play is very unique and intelligent. The plays purpose is to force the viewer to examine our habits of thoughtless consumption. This is paired with the message of compromise. I think this is a very important message. This is an intelligent message. The truth of the matter is compromise is often the best way to solve a major problem. For example, there is no way of significantly decreasing oil consumption, but through science and education we are attempting to decrease our consumption. The message is very intelligent because it does not suggest a black and white world. As lazy people, many of us would like to simplify issues, clump everything together, and take one definite stance. As I have said, compromise is the only reasonable answer.

As I was looking through other people’s blogs, I discovered that something I did not bring up in my last blog was the question and answer period that I stayed around for after the show.

First of all, thank you to the cast and crew for giving up even more of your time to answer our questions. It was a very informative session and was well worth the wait. I especially enjoyed the bright attitudes that everyone still maintained after finishing the exhausting performance. It was easy to ask you questions as your faces and attitudes were very welcoming.

The answer that was the most intriguing and surprising was the one referring to what happens in case of an injury or illness. I have assumed that there is always an understudy for each character, which is probably due to all the movies I’ve seen referring to this situation. What I came to found out is that in a college setting, there usually aren’t numerous understudies available at the drop of a hat. I was even more surprised to discover that the play’s choreographer, Rebecca Katz-Harwood, had to fill in for a performance one night after an injury occurred. I applaud her and the cast for being so flexible and allowing the show to go on!

As well as getting our questions answered, we got to see the personalities of the cast really come out. This is something that we do not get to see when viewing the performance. It was great to see a lot of the cast answer the questions rather than just the major characters and the director. Also, hearing the crew’s point of view regarding the hardest scenes to set up, and the “stairs of death” was very interesting. It definitely made me have more respect for the crew’s hard work.

Thank you again for the great experience. I definitely look forward to the next performance that UMD theatre puts on.

I went to see the musical Urinetown. My initial reaction was, “What an immature approach to address a message of increasing importance.” The underlying message of the play was sustainability. The message was reinforced with the clever marketing of water conservation groups, which set up informational displays in the lobby. Upon accepting the play as a total farce, and putting aside my distaste for corporate demonizing, I laughed. I thought the musical was fantastic. It is set in a town which is in the middle of an extreme drought and the lack of water has lead to rationing and having to pay to pee. Bobby Strong, the musicals male lead, takes a stand against the ‘evil’ corporate empire Urine Good Company. UGC is blamed for the water shortage. The have nots, the rebel-poor, become only more agitated with the frequent rate hikes at public amenities and brutal punishments for not obeying the law. Eventually rioting and hilarity ensue. The numerous musical numbers were a high point for the performance.
The singing was great and the dancing was spot-on. If for at any moment you forgot the central theme, you could sit back and enjoy a review of musicals from the past century. I distinctly recall hearing melodies and seeing similar dances from West Side Story and Fiddler on the Roof. The musical never let you forget that you were in fact watching a musical. The narrator, Officer Lockstock, often times mentioned it to the curious and whip-smart Lil’ Sally. These two characters routinely appeared to set up upcoming scenes and explain events, many times giving the explanation, “because this is a musical.”
All the visual elements, scenery, costumes, make-up, lighting, of the performance were great. The scenery and the costumes were especially telling of the two different classes. The streets of Urinetown were dirty, the buildings were cracked and its townspeople were equally dingy looking. However, the privileged donned slick suits, shiny clothes, fancy hairstyles, and opulent dwellings. The two distinctive looks denoted both competing facets. Likewise the mostly one dimensional characters embodied their looks to the very end. The rich looked down their noses at the rebel-poor, and the poor always had a chip on their shoulder.
When all is said and done I had an excellent time watching this musical. It was entertaining, funny, and the music was an absolute delight. I would definitely recommend this musical to a friend.

I would like to touch on the big picture of, "Urinetown." The play doesn't even take place IN "Urinetown." "Urinetown" is a symbol of how we, "create our own Hell," as said by Hannah LaVelle. I think this is a very good point, because none of the characters had ever been to "Urinetown" before, but they knew that they did not want to be sent there. For all they knew, "Urinetown" could be quite heavenly. Did they know what this place was really like? I may have missed something but I think it brings up an interesting point.

The irony in this production is quite astounding, because the play is about a very serious matter. The concept is horribly disturbing. One day we may all have to pay to pee! Or maybe pay to breathe! These are tasks we need to perform in order to survive, and what if one day we weren't allowed to do it for free? If one sits down and really thinks about the concepts and subject matter that "Urinetown" represents, one could find themselves quite sad. But, it's a musical, and musicals are happy right? Well, it is made quite clear to us that this was no ordinary musical from the start. Anyway, the ironic part is that these matters never really phased anybody in the audience. The play was too funny to be sad. That is the beauty of this production. We are aware of how serious the subject is, but the play is so hilarious and lite that we don't care! And I think that's essentially what the playwright was attempting to do.

I still find myself amazed at how well the actors and actresses stayed in character when the focus was not on them. I often found myself watching Little Sally in the background as she kept her eyes wide and playfully held her dolly. Also, the poor folks kept miserable looks on their faces throughout the entire play. This takes concentration and great acting ability, which all the actors and actresses had in, "Urinetown."

Urinetown was a uniquely amazing musical. It touches on the topic of sustainability. Its very interesting because it talks about how resources aren't going to last forever. If you are looking for a feel good show, don't go see this musical, in fact it says it isn't a feel good in the actual play. It takes a different turn in being that everyone dies at the end.

The stage setup was perfect for this performance because it was a combination of thrust and proscenium, which the UMD theatre is "famous" for. The scenery was done phenomenally. It was great to hear that many of the props and flats used were pulled from other shows. Everything in the scenery area was done so fluidly that it appeared as though it was designed specifically for this show.

The costumes I felt were done well too. It is really cool and probably easier for the costume designers when one is able to take average clothes and modify them without investing too much time into sophistication. It was really easy to see who was a rich character and who was a poor character. The colors were appropriate too because it was easy to see which characters were meant to stand out. Bobby Strong for example stood out really well as compared to the chorus line.

I'd like to first make a comment on Mae's post. I think that the people in the town actually WERE in Urinetown. Throughout the show, everyone was worried about being sent to Urinetown and when we find out that Urinetown was actually not much different than Hell, little Sally makes a comment that the people already were in Urinetown. If Urinetown is hell and the world the people were living in was hell, then in a sense, Urinetown is hell. A little complicated, but that's half the fun. However, no matter where Urinetown is, we do know that it is a place no one wants to visit. However, the town that Bobby Strong lived in is not a town I would want to visit either.
I really loved Urinetown because it made fun of the goals of other musicals. Urinetown had the typical characters one would find in other shows. THe ones who made this mocking of other shows clear were Officer Livestock and Little Sally. The reminded us that we were wathing play. During the show I was looking around and noticing people who had obviously never been to a show before therefore not understanding the humor of Livestock and Sally.
I thought the scene design was terrific. The bricks and the building in the poor parts of town look old, beaten down, and just plain gross. The lighting also added to this.
It was clear that the cast and crew worked hard because everything was precise and if any mistakes were made, I did not see them. This was a show that everyone could have fun with and be more flexible with their different characters. In fact, during the first UGC scene, my attention was not focused on Cladwell and his daughter, I was watching the UGC staff walking back and forth. I grantee that I watched every individual character specifically for at least one moment in the entire show. The cast was terrific and the running crew moved the set pieces into place very smoothly.
I do hope that everyone who participated in the show had a good time putting it all together because I think I speak for all audience members when I say that the performances were well worth watching.

I would like to comment on Alex Schmuck's comment because I agree with him. I had said in my own comment that none of the characters knew what "Urinetown" was like. However, Little Sally brought up a very interesting point when she said they were already in "Urinetown." Like Hannah LaVelle had said, did the character's of "Urinetown" create their own Hell? And were they living in this Hell that they had made? As I try to attempt to explain the irony I noticed in this production, I realize that this play is extremely complex, but only if you let it be. The play was so funny that I'm sure the audience didn't stop to analyze the concept of sustainability. They didn't need to, because "Urinetown" was meant to be hilarious and deep but shallow. I've tried to explain the big picture I saw when I watched this play, but my point is that the cast and crew did an absolutely amazing job at putting on this hilarious show that confronts a serious issue.

I thought it was very interesting listening to the cast and crew after the October 24th show during the question/answer period. It was really cool to see the actors and actresses out of character because they all did such an amazing job at staying in character during the play. I almost expected them to still be in character after the show. That's how natural they all seemed during the show.

As I've said many times before, this production was an amazing display of talents. I've always enjoyed UMD theatre productions and I always will!

Urinetown. When I first heard the name of the musical, I was instantly interested yet a little disgusted. After seeing the musical, the name fits perfectly. Through the scenery and costumes the Urinetown theme was portrayed excellently.

The production utilized the thrust portion of the Marshall Arts Center. Although the scenery didn’t come out onto the thrust area, the actors still used it and made it seem like there was a surrounding town. For example, when the Officer Lockstock and Sally talked it was usually on the very front of the thrust, but it made it seem that the town and scenery from the proscenium extend to where they were. As for actual scenery, there were 3 main scenery changes. One was for when they were in Urinetown and because the town is very poor and dirty, the background reflects this. All of the buildings and the restroom are made of brown brick. It makes it seem like there is dirt all around the town and it’s unclean. Also when they are in the Secret Hiding place, it is shabby and a sort of cheap area. This is contrasted to the UGC, where the scenery is large and elegant. They used the big staircases and oversized desk to show their wealth. The scenery helped the audience imagine the different scenes.

The costumes also supported the production and the audience’s vision of the musical. The poor group of people wore beat up and soiled clothing. A lot of their clothing had some brown in it and none of it fit, all of it was oversized. Also their hair wasn’t put together and was all over the place, like they hadn’t showered in days. The rich group wore suits and nice dresses. The clothing was a lot more put together and they looked well-dressed. Their hair styles also differed because the men’s hair was slicked back and the women’s was done in pony tail or nicely brushed. These differences in clothing and hair styles helped give the distinction between the poor and the rich.

"Urinetown” is not your typical musical. It is a modern marvel comprised of social issues, love in the wrong places, environmental issues, big bad corporations, revolution, comedy and tragedy. Overall it is balanced perfectly with comedy, crises, love and hate and the climax. The ending is fairly unexpected and unconventional, but it worked. Having the main character die and keep the story going with a decent ending has got to be a difficult task for a playwright. After Bobby Strong dies I did find myself a little antsy and bored however, but I am not sure that I would want to change it. I think it would have been too predictable otherwise.
The attention to detail in this production was fantastic. The characters were presented perfectly by the actors. The hair and make-up of the characters greatly complimented their costumes and set. The lighting design was also a great compliment.
The set construction and “green” aspect of the set was also great. Materials such as stock wagons, ply wood and other previously used materials were used in the construction of this set, which compliments the message of this story immensely. Overall the production was fantastic and I wouldn’t have changed a thing!

My fist blog was my impressions of the play and some of them were good but some of the play I was just not that impressed with. After reading through some of the other blogs a lot of others really liked the show. I am really glad that others liked the show. There is so much time and creativeness put into the show that I want to show some grattitude. The actors did do a wonderful job playing the characters. Little Sally did a good job playing the little kid. I actually did believe that she was a little kid and not a college student. All of the actors in the show are extremly talanted and that is what is best about a UMD production. I would not like to be a directior becuase I would have such a problem casting people in the parts because there are so many talanted students.
One thing that I totally over looked when doing my blong is the overlying message of the play. That is that we need to respect what we have here on this earth. Using the resources like we do is going to get us into a lot of trouble in the future and we need to start conserving now. Urinetown gives this message to its viewers is a light and funny way. It is nice to see this message in some thing other that an informational package or a video with a bunch of boring facts. I think that if more people were to see Urinetown people will start to think more about what we are doing to the enviornment.

I went to the play Urinetown Wednesday night and Friday night. The first time I went to the play i really did not know what I was to expect. As I watched the play I was very much impressed at how wonderful all the actors were. The play is very well written and proves a point about our supplies and even our environment. Not all things last and it's how we react and use our resources that will help us out in the end. And when I that many of the props were pulled from different shows just proved to me that the crew and actors did an amazing job and making people believe that they were only made for one purpose, Urinetown. The stage fit perfectly for the performance. The infamous UMD theater stage with the combination of thrust and proscenium. It added so much life to the play and made the audience really feel like they were experiencing the troubles the people had in Urinetown. Every aspect of this play was covered amazingly by the cast and crew. The main moral of this play I believe is unneeded consumption. I the people had just saved and used their resources wisely they would not have had to go this far. I feel that this play is an down right perfect performance to prove this. I feel that everyone whose anyone should definitely go see this play! What a wonderful job on everyones part and I would love to see it again!

I would like to agree with Kristi's post, Serena Brook did an amazing job! Every aspect that her character was supposed to have she preformed it without hesitation. Not only did she do an amazing job but Bobby Strong did as well. He has an amazing voice and captured me into the play the most. His movements on stage were perfect and he really made his character come to life. Good job to everyone who acted in this play or helped out in anyway. It was a perfect success!

I'm going to have to go ahead and agree with Bonnie's first statement above. She said that the stage fit perfectly for the performance, i thought the stage was awesomely done! The broken down wooden bathrooms game a good feel of poverty and then the transformation to the rich office was good. I love the striped suits that the wealthy actors wore, I want/need one of those suits :) One of the coolest things i noticed about the play was that it was a comedy and a tragedy at the same time, i thought that was kind of cool how they did that. To once again go along with my first blog i have to say i love the show!

After reading more into what goes into a play and what can affect the performance of a play I think I can evaluate this musical a little more. Not as much the sing and acting but the lighting and the little things that made this play what it is. When I saw the play I didn't really notice the lighting as I was watching it, it took a while for me to realize that it was well done. It helped change the mood through out the play. For example right away at the toliet the lighting was mainly on the actors, there wasn't much background lighting beside a dull color. This gave the affect of it being a depressing place and a hopeless place. Then later on at the same place when Bobby was starting the protest the color started getting brighter, it turned into like an orange glowing color. This made the play seem so much happier and it seemed like they were going to change the way the cities toliets were run. Not only did the light play a big role in the plays success but the costumes and the scenery did as well. The costumes fit well for both ends of the society and were well done. Also the scenery was done well. It was only like three or four main pieces but they were all able to be moved to change the scene very quickly and the scenes all looked different. So not only was the singing and acting done well, the lighting, costumes, and the scenery also was great! It really helped the play become what it was and be a success!

I went to the production of Urinetown a few weeks ago. From what I herd I knew it was going to be a play I wouldn’t want to miss. The only thing I wasn’t sure about was that it was a musical. Personally I’m not the typical person who would go to theater productions but when it was over my mind was changed about musicals. I haven’t been to many plays, let alone musicals, but this was by far the best production I have been to. The way the actors got the audience into the play was phenomenal. They were in a way making fun of the play by Officer Lockstock and Little Sally describing what’s going to happen or what did happen. One thing that surprised me at the very beginning of the musical was when Officer Lockstock walked to the stage from where I walked into the theater. I honestly thought it was a real cop until she stepped on the stage and started talking.
In a social perspective I believe the playwrights intention was to get a laugh out of the audience. One of the funniest parts of the play, in my personal perspective , was when the lower class people were in their secret hideout and everyone was looking for them. The hideout was at the back of the stage where everyone was looking and someone asked where they think the hideout was. Right as they were done saying that, a neon light that had an arrow pointing down where the hideout was lit up. I believe that was another way to get a laugh out of the audience. Officer Lockstock and Little Sally were the narrators of the musical and that also had a lot of insight on how it was supposed to be humorous.
Another thing I didn’t realize was what happened behind the scenes. For example the band playing in the background, the people coming out to rearrange the stage and all the people that made the costumes. These are all things I haven’t thought of before going to a play. I guess I didn’t really know what to think about it till now and I have been behind the scene.

I have not attended a play in nearly 6 years. And I could not have broken my dry spell on a better UMD production.

I really enjoyed everything about the production. The stage set was great. The scene changes were superb. The lighting was where it needed to be every time. And let's not forget about the cast. I think the cast did a tremendous job.

I especially liked the narrator of the play. Officer lockstock I believe. I enjoyed the way she projected her voice so everyone could hear, but couldn't tell that she was yelling. It felt like I was in the front row. Good job. Little Sally also stood out for me. She did a very good job portraying her character. And last but not least I enjoyed the old man... I thought he was really funny, and his actions were even funnier.

Overall, I would see it again if I could, but I am glad to just have the opportunity to see it once. Great job, the playwright would be proud.

I thought that the play Urinetown was really creative. It was actually the most creative theater piece that I've ever seen. Comedy, that's what I loved about it! Before seeing the play I thought that it would start off with a normal town where no one had to pay to use the bathroom and then lead into having to pay... and then leads deeper into the issue just like it did.

My most favorite character would have to be Officer Lockstock. She had humor. An excellent actress! I especially loved the line when she said nobody could touch or kill her off the show because she was the cop/narrator, and that if they did then there would be no show at all.

I would have enjoyed the play more if I had taken the time to go use the restroom before the play started. And about thirty minutes into the play I had to get up, make my way through people and go use the restroom, which was embarrasing on my part. Never doing that again! Lesson learned! But overall, the play was awesome! I've never been a big fan of plays but seeing Urinetown really encouraged me to go see more.

I’d like to talk a little about the actors in Urinetown and the roles they, or more accurately, their characters, played in the overall scheme of things. It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve seen that musical now, so I apologize in advance for any incorrect information. Two and a half weeks later, the three characters that first come to my mind when thinking about the performance are Little Sally, Miss Penelope Pennywise, and Bobby Strong. All are obvious stock characters – the co-narrator/little girl with a doll, the deceitful cheapskate who has a change of heart halfway through, and the hero of the story.

Little Sally had an awful lot of lines for such a little girl, as she pointed out to narrator Officer Lockstock near the end of the performance. Sally’s color commentary and status as a supposedly innocent little girl gave her the ability to ask things like, “Are you going to tell them about the importance of saving water now?” and “Can we do a happy musical next time?”, things that wouldn’t quite make as much sense were they said by other characters. Her clever antics helped move the narration along, and remind the audience that Urinetown wasn’t your typical performance.

Miss Pennywise’s role was to taunt the rebel poor despite the fact that she herself wasn’t much better off, to “help” give Bobby Strong another reason to turn against her and Urine Good Company, and to deliver the classic surprise twist near the end when revealing she is Hope Cladwell’s birth mother and saving the day. When skimming through the blogs written so far, I thought that she was one of the more overlooked characters in the musical despite the important roles she played, though since so many other characters had important roles as well it’s easy to see how that happened.

Finally, Brian Kess did a phenomenal job in portraying Bobby Strong, everybody’s hero. As someone mentioned above, even his name plays off his role of the hero. Of course, Bobby had to die after trying to save the day by bravely facing the leaders of Urine Good Company alone, because it’s common for heroes to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. After his death, Miss Pennywise, the secondary hero in disguise, took over by saving Hope and helping lead a brigade into Urine Good Company, which ultimately resulted in the overturning of Cladwell’s regime.

The musical Urinetown was a great experience for me. I attended the first Sunday performance with my roommate, who also loved it.

I think that the actors provided very believable characters in Urinetown. The main reason this stood out to me the most is because the characters are all one- dimensional. If the actors did not focus on the main trait of their character, the play would not have been as exciting. My favorite character was Little Sally. She did a great job of acting in the way that a little girl would. Her costume, hair, and makeup were also done in a way that supports her character type.

Along with believable characters, a good scene and costumes were other strengths of Urinetown. The scenery complimented the costumes in that the colors were a little dull, so that the bright costumes stood out more. The costumes reflected the characters very well. The richer group of people had clean costumes with tons of sparkles and ribbons on them, while the poor group of people’s costumes were torn, and ragged looking. At the same time, the costumes and scenery did not detract from the characters. If the scenery were brightly colored and more detailed, the costumes would not have stood out as much. I think that all elements of the production complimented each other and created the best performance that it could have.

It is a shame that this play is done showing at UMD, because I would have recommended anyone who has not seen it already to take the time to!

The production of Urinetown by the UMD Theater was for me decent. I did enjoy the plot and message the play was trying to convey, along with the witty humor and wonderful musical numbers. Although I also thought that there were some points of improvement.

First off I must say that I truly enjoyed this play, I especially liked how the playwright wanted to make it apparent that we were watching a play. The costumes were great and fit with the play well as well as the actors in the play. I thought all of the actors did a very good job on this production, and this really brought the play to life for me.

These points aside there were a few things that could be improved, mainly with the scenery. Overall I thought that the scenery fit very well with the play, the old decrepit brick buildings and such. I also liked that most of what was used in the play was recycled from some other play or source thus strengthening the message of sustainability that they play was trying to convey. Although I did think that some parts of the set needed to be improved and developed a little more. First thing that came to mind for me was the stairs used at the UGC, I thought that they just didn’t fit well with the rest of the set. I think that the stairs were necessary and should stay in the play but something needed to be done with them aesthetically, such as painting them black or something to give them a little more classiness resembling the UGC. My last critique is the background of the set; although I did enjoy the chain link fence background because it gave me a feeling of a prison, I think that it needed a little more to also make it feel like part of the city structure.

Overall I found this to be a very compelling production and would recommend it to anyone. I just had a couple of ideas to improve the experience for me; otherwise it was well worth seeing.

The other evening I had the opportunity to get out of the house and go to the production of Urine Town, which was being put on at The UMD Center for Performing Arts by members of the UMD drama department. With a name like Urine Town, a negative review was practically poised to write itself. Urine town: I just couldn’t get the bad taste out of my mouth. Urine Town: It wasn’t just the name that smelled like a back alley in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Urine Town: As soon as the curtain dropped, I swear I heard the sound of a toilet flushing. Those statements couldn’t be farther from the truth. The production was nothing short of spectacular. The piece itself, as it was written, was amazingly creative, and UMD’s interpretation brought something more to the table, enough to elevate it to having the distinction as not only the best play that I’ve ever seen but probably one of the best creative performances of any kind that I’ve ever witnessed. That includes television productions (if you’re one of those people that scoffs at all the material that the world of television produces, you’re nothing but a pretentious bore riding a bandwagon loaded with other brainless pseudo intellectual wannabees into a cardboard hell where everyone shares the same weak opinion) and the big screen. That is saying a tremendous amount for me because I devour movies of every genre like flames eat rich actors’ homes in California. Stop crying. They’ll catch better rays at their second homes in Cocoa Beach.
Now, staying in theme with the mention of hell earlier, I’m going to commit a cardinal sin (If you’re a curious, godless heathen in need of a definition of a cardinal sin and the gravity of its nature, please see the Holy Bible. You can steal that from any of the local hotels.) I’m going to make a comparison between Urine Town and the play that no one will ever manage to pound a stake into: The Rocky Horror Picture Show. “Oh no!” I can hear you screaming. “He’s only seen one play like everybody else in America!” Not true. I’ve seen a my share (I can’t remember the bad ones). I just don’t usually like them as much as movies or television so I generally don’t choose them as often, just like everyone else that you know that doesn’t lie. The similarities are definitely there: both are extremely strange. They developed over time like a rolling snowball: And I expect both will have an extremely long shelf life because of their campy nature.
I would love to sneak into UMD’s production of Urine Town in a long flasher-like trench coat and steal a taping of it. Not to try to sell it for profit but to present it to my friends that will probably never know how entertaining a play can be. I could break down the individual performances, the set design, the timing, and other nuances that define the quality of a production, but there is no need. Everything was top notch. I have nothing more to say but club your most skeptical friend that is capable of appreciating good art with a ball pean hammer: throw him over your shoulder and wake him up at the start of act one. He’ll forgive you for the stitches later.

When I wrote my first web blog concerning the musical “Urinetown,” there were not many other comments up yet. So I decided to wait a while to see what other people had to say about the production and their opinions in general. I was amazed to see how many comments were posted about this play. There were so many that I just had to browse around and I found that I remember some things I didn’t before, and I noticed that many people were in agreement on many aspects of the play.

I too have never seen a musical quite like this one. At first I didn’t really think about it, but someone else’s comment totally caught my eye on this thought. I thought back to how many musicals I have saw over the past years and I couldn’t even compare “Urinetown” to any of them. However, this was a good thing. It was certainly quite the experience the see such talented work about a play that sounded quite odd. However as I stated before, I was quite amused and had nothing but good things to say about it afterwards.

The night I saw the play (Wednesday, Oct. 24th) the audience seemed very entertained by the play. I noticed that there was a lot of applause between scenes and after the musical numbers. The audience seemed focused on the play the whole time. When the audience wasn’t laughing, they were strictly focused on what was going on on-stage.

Another comment also stuck out in my mind when reading them over. Someone said that without all the jokes and humor this play would have been nothing. I completely agree with that statement. I don’t know how you could make a play so interesting that involves the issue of conserving water by having a tax to go pee. I mean that seems kind of ridiculous to some people right?! Could you imagine? This play definitely strived on all of the humor and jokes that were involved.

I was impressed that a lot of people noticed a bit of a “hidden message,” within the play. There were many people who commented on this which I thought was kind of interesting. Throughout the play I felt bad for the rebel poor because it was hard for them to afford to go to the bathroom, when it’s something you have to do. If you went to the bathroom in the bushes or somewhere else and you got caught, you went to Urinetown a.k.a. getting thrown off a building! This seems harsh to me. However at the end when the rebel poor eventually win this battle, water shortage becomes more of a problem and people start to suffer. So was it really worth it? That makes me start to think was Caldwell B. Cladwell so horrible after all? You have to think when issues such as water shortages arrive, what should one do? I didn’t think a play entitled “Urinetown” could possibly make me think so much. I mean is this honestly what the world is coming too, I would hope not!

All in all this play was amazing and I really enjoyed reading what other people thought about the experience they had when they saw it.

Urinetown is the first production I have seen at the UMD Theater and I am happy to say that it was a very enjoyable experience for me. I attended the Wednesday showing and it seemed that everyone else in the audience enjoyed it just as much as I did based on their positive reactions and enthuastic applause at the end of the show.

I really liked the whole concept of the play because it related to issues that are around right now. The water shortage isn't necessarily a problem for us here in Minnesota right now, but in other parts of the country they are experiencing drought and this does affect them. It was very creative how the writer was able to take such a serious issue and turn it into a comedy that people of all ages could relate to. I give the writer of the play props for this accomplishment.

Another thing I really thought went well for the play was the costume and set design. After hearing from both designers in our class I had a different perspective than I normally would. I paid attention to the little details, especially how the costumes changed throughout the play according to the changes in the character. For example how Hope Cladwell's outfits became more plain after she started hanging out with the rebel poor. The set design also amazed me for the fact that it was so transitional. I had never seen a play that the set changes went so smoothly.

Altogether I thought this was a very enjoyable play that had great music, great acting, and great designers working on it. I would definately consider seeing this play again if it were to ever present itself to me.

I saw the musical Urinetown at the Marshall Arts Center on October 24, 2007. It was very well preformed and had an interesting plot. The musical portrayed two sides of a town; the poor and the rich. The poor could barely afford the water costs to use public restrooms, while the rich controlled the water supply. Meanwhile, there is a love interest between Bobby Strong, form the poor side, and Hope Caldwell, daughter of the owner of the water company. Part of what made the musical so entertaining was the comedic aspect. They were making fun of musicals and the clichés that go along with them. They also incorporated aspects from other popular musicals. I thought it was interesting that a main character died, but that added surprise to the plot.
The actors were wonderful and portrayed believable characters that were very likeable from the beginning. Each one was unique and the actors seemed completely immersed in their character’s life. Officer Lockstock was a character that provided a lot of comedy. She made most of the jokes towards the musical itself and the plot. Along with her, Little Sally complimented this humor with sarcastic remarks. The character that surprised me the most was Hope Caldwell. She was proper and naïve, but sweet in the beginning. Then in the end, after Bobby died, she went a little crazy, but that made her all the more interesting and likeable. I was impressed with the singing and dancing, as well. The main characters had great voices, as did the company. There was a scene towards the end when the poor all sang and danced and I thought it was well choreographed and it looked awesome.
The costumes added a lot to the musical. It was easy to distinguish between the two classes, and even the smallest accessories proved the point of which class each character belonged to. The colors of each class’s clothes suggested something about each character. I noticed that the time of the play was now, but it almost seemed as if it were in a different time because of the nature of the plot. But the costumes were in between. The poor obviously were wearing types of ‘street fashion’; evident with the boots, leggings, and pants they wore, but ripped, worn, and ragged. The rich had perfect clothes and hair, while the poor wore rags and everything about them looked dirty. The lighting during the scenes with the rich was very bright and crisp and the lights dimmed and turned other colors when on the poor side of town.
Overall, I thought Urinetown was a strong production. They music, singing, and dancing was excellent. The plot and the humor were amusing and entertaining. I thought the musical was well worth attending.

On October 24, 2007, I saw the musical “Urinetown”. It was not at all what I expected from the title, I thought it would be much more risqué than it ended up being. However, it had a really great story and wonderful acting by the whole cast. When I first walked into the theater I had a feeling that “Urinetown” would be just as its name might portray, a “raunchy comedy”, aimed more toward the adult crowd. I could not have been any more wrong. It has the ability to make any generation laugh, and does so in an appropriate manner.

The play was about a society that has gone through a 20 year drought, and does not have enough water for all people to use in a private bathroom, so the people must use “public amenities”, and must pay a fee each time they do. But as fees go up, and money goes down, people begin to not use these amenities which are run by corporations. And if they don’t pay the fee, or use outside facilities, they are taken to “Urinetown”.

Brian Kess does a great job as Bobby Strong, the protagonist trying to overthrow the corporations, and use the water when they want for a fare price. Dan Bigwood plays Cladwell B. Cladwell, The owner of the corporation. Dan does an amazing job as the bad guy just looking to get rich quick, and doesn’t care how. Bobby Strong’s loved interest is played by Jenna Kase, who also does a wonderful job in the second act with “Follow Your Heart Reprise”, and also does a great job playing Hope Cladwell, the girl caught between her father and true love.

It was wonderfully acted the whole way through and is a must see for anyone who has a sense of humor, and wants to learn a good lesson, while be entertained.

I agree with the comment that without all of the jokes that the play would have nothing. Of course this is true because who wants to see a play about paying to pee on a serious note?? With singing and dancing added in too. Without the jokes it would just be boring talking, singing, dancing about paying to pee. Not interesting at all. The jokes do make the play, but I think that the point of the playwright was to make people laugh. He probably wouldn't have written the play if he had no intention of using humor. However, I think this particular production had amazing acting, singing, and dancing and probably could have still made a great show, even without humor.
Also i think a lot of plays strive off of humor, and that's ok. Sometimes humor is the basis of a play, like (obviously) a comedy, and they are usually wonderful plays, as was Urinetown.

After seeing the production of Urinetown I thought it was very worth while to go. The scenery and costumes were very well thought out and that what I thought made the play worth seeing. The singing and dancing were also good but I’m personally not into that. I mainly looked at what the plot of the play was, how the costumes portrayed the characters, and the scenery.
First off, the plot of the play was very well thought up and very humorous. The way people had to pay to pee was hilarious. It’s crazy to think someone would come up with a play where you have to stand in line everyday to use a public toilet. If someone gets caught peeing in the bushes they have to go to jail. During one point in the play one of the old guys waiting in line to pee decided he was going to just pee in the bushes and the police came to bring him to jail. As the play went on Bobby Strong, was related to the old guy that got caught peeing in the bushes, talked about how he should have done something and as he was saying it, the old guy come out in the corner of the stage and had a green light shinning on him, to make it seem he was replaying the scene. I thought that was a hysterical part of the play.
The costumes were well done and really displayed the characters and how they were supposed too be either rich or poor. The poor class people’s costumes were dull and boring to make it obvious they were poor. That was displayed very well. The rich class people’s costumes were very sharp and professional looking. The costumes really reflected the scenery behind the characters that were on stage at one particular time. The scenery behind the poor was basically just a rundown bathroom with bricks missing off the walls. When Mr. Cladwell and other rich people would come into that particular setting they would stand out the most because of their costumes. Same goes for the poor class people going into the Urine Good Company building. They stood out because they were dressed poorly to be in a big business type setting.
Overall the play was very well written along with the costumes and scenery. I would highly suggest this play to people who don’t have a good understanding on musicals. I personally didn’t think I would like it because it’s a musical but it was nothing I expected.

Having attended UMD for over 4 years has lead me to believe in a stronger cast from the theater department than what was presented. The hype that was built up lead me to believe this would be somewhat of a successful musical, in which this one could have been. It was a bit lackluster, while I cannot pinpoint a certain missing element concisely.
I was brought to the attention later that the rehearsal for Urinetown had been going on since the first day of school. This may have been the problem. The cast just lacked life, and I didn't get the feeling of butterflies in my stomach that I love from live entertainment.
On the other hand, the singing was impressive and Sally had a perfect voice for the part. The cop that spoke to Sally was magnificent and she deserves mucho credit for her performance. Bobby Strong didn't over act, and I was choosing him as my hero by the end of the play even though his demeanor was a bit lethargic. I applaud the set designers and costume designers, because the costumes were key. I paid a lot of attention to the dress of these characters. Overall, a good show.

A little bit ago I attended the UMD production of Urinetown. I was exposed to a lot of hype before the production. Having heard talks from the director, the set designer, the costume designer. It sounded in theory like it was going to be an amazing performance. So as the curtain rose over the stage I was immediately taken back. It was nothing like the hype had proposed. I was aware that the production poked fun at the fact that it was in fact a musical but in actuality in my opinion it didn't work. I have seen quite a few theatrical performances all around Minnesota from many different genres but this one just didn't sit well with me.
Don't get me wrong, the cast did a great job. The performers acted very well in their characters. The set and costume designers portrayed the theme of the production very well. The technical points of the production overall were good. It was the actual script that I didn't care for. The way that Officer Lockstock and Little Sally addressed the audience to tell us what was going on in the plot, as if we weren't able to catch the plot on our own. Also, the humor that was used and the puns that were made all seemed the same. I felt I was being told the same bad joke for two hours. I also didn't like that the orchestra was on stage. The sound quality lacked from the orchestra being in the back corner of the stage, the music didn't flow to the audience evenly and it was distracting. On the other hand, overall I believe that the UMD theater department did a good job of putting on this performance.

Urinetown!! I have to disagree with the statement from above. I loved the play and have never seen anything like it. Granted i've only been to a few play but still i felt that all the performers had fun with this one. The stage set up was almost inbetween a thrust and persimium which i kind of liked because then the band was set behind the scene and was out of the way. Sometimes with plays the band can distract me. All of the stock characters played there part up to par, I guess that means everyone did good because they could all be considered stock characters due to the cliche part. This is what made the play even better in my mind because you at the middle of the play you started to get a feel for exactly what the character was thinking or going to do next. All in all i'd give the play a 9 out of 10 mainly because of the humor involved!

I have to agree with everyone who thinks that the costumes were great. They really portrayed the characters. They poor people wore dirty raggy clothes and the more powerful people wore nice suits and pretty dresses. Like for instance, Hope Cladwell, she always had on clothes that suited her personality. Bright and colorful. I also have to agree that the characters were very belivable. After reading other people's blogs I noticed that some people mentioned Little Sally. I thought she was one of the most believable actors in the show. For being an adult, she sure protrayed a child well, this just shows how great her acting ability is. Again...two thubs up for Urinetown!

When I went to see Urinetown I dragged my brother along with me so that I had someone to use as a sounding board for this play experience. My brother’s like a cartoon dog, complete with three enormous fingers on each hand, I got him there by telling him that it would be kind of like the Terminator, but with football and a few cheerleaders. I was afraid that he’d get upset at a name like Urinetown. He’s huge, the last guy you want to make angry. Once the play was underway we got settled into the theatre motif. He studied the play like a dime store novel detective.
My bother said “They’re lip-syncing all of these songs. Did you notice that?”
“No, Bob. They’re not. This is all live.”
“I think you’re wrong. They’re too…on the money. Just watch their lips for a moment. I think I saw that cop lady screw up.”
“They’re not lip-syncing, Bob.”
He continued to scrutinize.
After the first act my brother finally realized and said “They’re not lip-syncing. Can you believe that?”
“Yes, Bob, I can.”
He then said. “They must be from the East coast.” ” No they’re from UMD” “No way “ he said. Then he got out his program and searched it like a child looking for his last piece of Halloween candy.
It didn’t take long before he was having a great time and loved how funny the play was, so I kind of did hit him over the head with a ball peen hammer and he thanked me for it.

As I look back on the play Urinetown, I realize how well the play was presented along with its great narration.
Officer Lockstock did a wonderful job playing her role as an officer and explaining the play in between different events. I felt that her explanations helped to keep the audience informed about the plot of the play, and it also helped to explain anything the audience didn’t notice.
Also, Little Sally also brought a great personality to the play. Her innocent character went well with Officer Lockstock's rather harsh character. I also found it interesting how Little Sally was supposed to be naive, but she actually had some rather deep observations for such a young girl. This helped to further inform the audience of the play, and also showed what type of characters Little Sally and Officer Lockstock were.
Ultimately, I really enjoyed the conversations between Officer Lockstock and Sally. Their conversations contributed quite well to the play and production.

Urinetown is a play that I never thought I would have gone to if it weren’t for my Theatre class. Who goes to a play with a title like that? Even Officer Lockstock said that it was odd, but I’m glad that I gave it a chance and went anyway.
I’ve never gone to a play like this one before. The characters were very different from each other, and the actors did a great job of doing their part to make each character just as strong as the others. The only person that I thought could have done a little better was Bobby Strong. For some reason, there were a few moments when he was onstage where it seemed like he was a little awkward. Little things that many people probably didn’t notice and maybe I’m just a little picky, but there were moments that seemed a little choppy. The main thing I noticed was his hands. There were times where he just didn’t seem to know what he was doing with them, they would be stuck in an awkward position, and at times he just seemed kind of stiff. One moment that I think sticks out is the scene with Bobby and Hope out on the street at night confessing their feelings for one another. That was an interesting scene, so I can’t say that there weren’t other awkward parts, but Bobby seemed to be not quite as relaxed as Hope. But as far as portraying the character well, the actor did a good job. Despite the little quirks that I picked up on, overall I think he did a pretty good job of portraying Bobby Strong. And I have to add that I loved his voice, it was just the type of voice that I would have seen as belonging to Bobby. It just proves that strengths in one area can make up for small weaknesses in others.

When I saw the play Urinetown I thought it was an exceptional play. It was a comedy but it also shows a truth about society. I believe the playwright's intention of the play was to reveal this truth to the audience. In the play the towns people are forced to pay to use the bathrooms by a company owned by Mr.Cladwell, because of a drought. For the majority of the play it seems that Mr.Cladwell is the "bad guy". But why wouldn't he be the "bad guy"? He is forcing people to pay to use the bathrooms, he hasn't made any advancements in technology to better preserve water so the towns people don't have to pay anymore, he loves money, and he is sending people to "Urinetown" (killing)if they go to the urinate outside instead of in the bathrooms. As we find out later Mr.Cladwell is an important part of managing our limited resources, even though it seems he is a "bad guy", because when the towns people over throw him and make it free for everyone to use the bathroom, in a short time they use up the low supply of water they had. I believe the message the playwright was trying to get across is that all the resources we have are limited and if there isn't someone there to help regulate how they are used we will eventually run out of some resources. I think by making Mr.Cladwell look like the "bad guy" and then showing how without regulation people will use the resource as much as they want without thinking about the consequences, was the best way to show this issue about our own society.

After reading over a few of these posts I began to think about how similar this play was to the film Metropolis. If anyone has seen Metropolis there are a few uncanny similarities; the class battle, the one single “ruler”, the revolutionist, and the sympathizer. In Metropolis there is the working class and the ruling class, the workers work in factories underground while the ruling class do whatever they like above ground. In the film there is a female character that meets a man from the ruling class and he then eventually sympathizes with the working class. The female character then leads and uprising against the ruling class that ends in the working class’s city being flooded by their own device, the sympathizer then reasons with his father, the ruler, to help the working class even though they revolted against him. In the end the lives of the working class are bettered and everyone lives happily ever after and so on. In Urinetown we see much of these similarities between these two storylines, for one these plays are both visions of the future. Some other similarities are in the characters; Bobby Strong is the revolutionist, Caldwell B. Cladwell is the ruler, and Hope Cladwell is the sympathizer that is supposed to try and bring the two feuding parties together. Although in Urinetown after the revolt things do not get better, but rather worse because of over consumption of their scarce resources. This can also be compared to Metropolis when the working class destroyed their own city during the revolt. In the end the play tries to teach us that we need to both conserve and have someone regulating consumption so that we do not consume uncontrollably.

I went to "Urinetown" on opening night, and it was the best musical I have ever seen. The spine of the play was clever and engaging, and my stomach was sore afterwards because I laughed the whole time. I walked away from the Marshall Performing Arts building with
a smile on my face that lasted for hours.

The purpose of the production was to entertain, and it also included a subtle
environmental message at the end of the show. "Urinetown" made fun of itself through out the show, and never let the audience forget that they were at a musical.

This concept was done effectively, and it allowed the audience to think about the production rather than feel
as the characters were feeling. The sensational nature of all of the stock characters in the musical reminded you that you were in a theatre, in case you had forgotten. The fact that the orchestra was visible instead of hidden in the orchestra pit also added to the
feel of the show. The music in the show was big league. Jenna Kase and Brian Kess had amazing voices. Their duets as well as solos were awe inspiring, and I had to remind
myself that I was at UMD, not Minskoff Theatre in New York. The costumes were an all-you-can-eat buffet for the eyes, and one would have to go to this show more than once to really take it all in. The actors and actresses were unbelievably believable in a fabricated kind of way. Even though the serious message at the end of the show wasn't
very long or detailed, it still got the message across and forced the audience to think about how they impact the environment. Overall, this musical was outstanding.

As discussed in some of the earlier blogs, this play is written and performed in the Brechtian technique. This is an important thing to consider when looking at the acting choices made by certain actors, especially Serena Brooks who played Officer Lockstock. This role was unique because Officer Lockstock was part of the story line of the play as well as the narrator. Because of her role as the narrator she was the one who was most often breaking that fourth wall and reminding the audience they were watching a play. At first Serena’s character choices seemed a little bit over the top and too much even for this play. She seemed to over exaggerate everything and always at full speed, in other words it didn’t feel like her choices left any room for variation, it was all the same. But as I look more at her role in Urinetown I start to understand a little but more about why she did the things that she did. Like I stated above, she was character who most often broke the fourth wall and in a way brought people out of the play and because of this I can see why she was very over the top. She wasn’t supposed to be realistic; in fact I don’t know if it would have made much sense if she had been. Her character had to be big all the way otherwise she would not have been as effective at getting the point across as she was.

attempt 4 to post blog..

I went to see Urinetown the night most of the class did. I had heard good things about it, but wasn’t nearly expecting the quality and energetic show I saw. Knowing I would have to write a review of the show later on, I sought to look for flaws. You know it was a great show when the worst thing I could complain about was the mike on Bobby Strong at the start of the show. It was sticking out from the back of his head and somewhat distracting. Of course, not everything can be expected to run perfectly each and every performance, and the crew did have it fixed by the next scene.
Now that there’s nothing for me to complain about, I’ll try and just touch upon the great attributes of the musical. Specifically I’d like to discuss design aspects of the show. I could tell each and every part, from the lights to the make-up, had been put together with much thought and creativity. My favorite part might have to be how well the choreography and the lights fit together. Those two things made the characters playing the non-lead roles come up to a whole new level. An example of this was when the Rebel Poor were in line to pay, and they did this fun choreographed number. I thought it brought a lot of great texture into the show. Another example of the lights adding to the dance parts was when the characters were doing the can-can and I took note of the string of lights flashing along with it. Just all the little details kept adding to the show.
Costumes also fit well with the scenery. Each of the two groups portrayed were very distinctly separated thanks to the character’s dress and surroundings. After the show I glanced through the Urinetown program, and it hit me how much make-up and costume add to the realness of the characters. I didn’t recognize most of the characters when looking at the pictures of the cast members who played them. They had really gotten into their parts acting wise, and their appearance thanks to costume and make-up made it even more believable.
Overall I can say I really enjoyed the show even with all the stress I had going on from my day. All aspects had been really thought about, and the attention to detail in the design was lovely to see. After seeing Urinetown, it has definitely made me look more highly of college productions.

I saw the original Broadway showing of Urinetown many years ago in NYC with my grandma. I couldn’t remember everything about it when I heard that UMD was performing it this fall, but I remembered absolutely loving it. Sarcasm, a not subtly hidden message and moral and filled with theater humor. Who wouldn’t love that? (Other than your son. He doesn’t count.)
The casting of the show was really great and I didn’t have a hard time believing anyone not to be their character. I wasn’t sure how I was going to like Lockstock as a female rather than the tall baritone I had seen on Broadway, but Serena was really something else. She commanded the audiences’ attention and I completely fell in love with her line delivery. I wanted to hear her talk more and her reactions to Little Sally’s childish, yet sometimes hysterically wise and educated, inquisitions were priceless moments. Nothing compares to the reaction Jenna’s character, Hope, in the second act where Little Sally says, “And love?” and her reaction is the first outlash from her previously naive and innocent view of life. She straight up yells, with an insane tone in her voice like she wants to kill this child, “YES! AND LOVE!!”. I’m glad this got a lot of laughs, because nothing was more awkward than my boyfriend and I being the only one’s laughing at several moments in the first 20 minutes of the show. I understand that sometimes people don’t get every joke. This I can handle. But the Intro to Theater class is comprised of some of the most boring people I’ve ever come in contact with. Maybe it’s because people in the arts field are so freekin’ crazy all the time and appreciate wit and clever humor, but I was so shocked by their lack of response to the majority of jokes told. Are you an audience or an oil painting? Really, people.

When I arrived in the theater, there were people in our seats. So I asked them politely to check their tickets and sit in the right seats. I said it was no biggie and went to get a drink in the lobby. When I came back, they still hadn’t moved. Some people around me made a comment that it was open seating, so I checked with the usher. She confirmed it was assigned and I brought the message of love back to the children. They got up, but not without me sounding like a horrible bitch. I did genuinely not care that they wanted to sit where ever they wanted to, but I liked the seats I paid for and I was going to sit in them. As soon as the show began I knew I was going to be loud. There were numerous witty lines that very few people seemed to find funny, but the most exposing moment that showed that me and my friends got the humor and Intro to Theater missed by a long shot was when Officer Barrel had a mop and bucket in hand and a stagehand came from backstage, complete with black garb and headset, to take the props from him and they all acted as though this was normal. I laughed so loud at that and there were literally people from the class turning around and looking at me like, “what the hell is wrong with you?”.
I couldn’t believe it. I could actually see the joke physically going over their heads and hitting the wall behind us. Tragic.

I loved it though. The staging, the set was functional and appropriate, though as intended, not very attractive. The costumes were great and THE LIGHTING WAS STELLAR! Definitely the pinnacle of the show. Though, I will say, a close second place for greatness has to be Leigh Wakeford. He successfully freaked the crap out of me. Props to the creepy guy... and Tom Benson grabbing his crotch. Nice touch.

UMD did a very good job with the musical Urinetown. Although, taken back from the somewhat disturbing title, it was tastefully done. The plot was unique and the acting was witty and energetic, like musicals should be.
The stage set was limited but worked well since it there were only two locales and several set changes. Set changes were quick and easy.
As for the costumes, they were designed with some thought. The rebel poor were easy to differentiate from the rich. The only character who didn't quite look a part of his social class was Bobby Strong. He was dressed in a polo shirt, which you probably wouldn't see a poor person wearing. As far as Hope's costume design, it was said that her dresses got less and less glamorous the more her feelings progressed for Bobby. Since being told that before seeing the play, it was noticeable, but could have been taken farther.
All in all, the musical definitely was worth seeing. It was upbeat and the singing was very strong and impressive.

Another aspect that I thought was really neat about Urinetown was the fact that they had a different kind of narrator. Not only was Officer Lockstock a very important and humorous contribution to the performance, but she was also a very important narrator that guided the audience through the play. It was different to see a show like this where there’s a break every once in awhile to explain things to the audience, it provided a different kind of variety.
Also, having Little Sally join Officer Lockstock on her little narrative talks added even more humor to the already amusing character of the officer. Little Sally was great at making Lockstock explain certain elements of the show to her, which was a big help to the audience as well. Plus, she was good at making the officer nervous. Officer Lockstock’s serious manner was put to the test when Little Sally and her questions came around.
I liked the way things were explained by Officer Lockstock. There wasn’t much beating around the bush when it came to the topic, everything was blunt, and you got the point right away which made it pretty funny. The writer definitely did a good job with fitting the narration in, the play wouldn’t have necessarily needed it, but I think its good that it was there because that was probably one of my favorite parts of the show.

Have to pee? Have to pay? Even though this idea seems absurd to many, various nations around the world actually do charge to use the restroom especially in Europe. I thought that the playwright of Urinetown did an amazing job highlighting societal issues such as capitalism or scarcity and manipulating these ideas with humor to reach a broader audience.

This play is one that I have never seen before. Most plays that I have attended before were quite traditional and dramatic. This humorous play really captivated my attention with the projected, or "over the top" performances and musical numbers. Another major aspect that I felt that the playwright executed well to hold the audiences attention was the pacing of the play. The dialogue broken up by musical sets and narration from Officer Lockstock and Little Sally really helped bring the play back to ground zero and start up again.

I believe that the playwright really playing up the "good guys" and 'bad guys" really simplified the stock characters and helped highlight the underlying themes of this play such as scarcity and unfair capitalism.

Besides the playwright's strict attention to detail by flattening out characters and boosting underlying storylines, I felt that the production overall really made the play. The costumes were a perfect compliment to the characters themselves. Especially the UCG characters with the 1980's type business suits with the large glasses and slicked back hair really pushed those types of characters. Also most productions try to hide the stage hands when they move the sets, but Urinetown let the audience see them again to drive home the idea that this is a production. The brutal honesty of this production was quite inviting and let the audience be themselves.

After reading through other peoples comments I realized that I didn't once mention anything about the narration that went on throughout the entire play. This was a unique concept that isn't incorporated into many plays, whether it is in other plays running right now I don't know, but I thought it added a new dimention to the whole theater going experience. At first I was confused as to how the play would turn out after hearing that it was narrated and after seeing it I realized that it really helped explain the play to the audience. Little Sally's remarks towards the audience were also pretty deep and encouraged the audience to think about social issues that are affecting the nation today. A younger audience might not appreciate the humor and narration that went along with the play so I would have to recommend this play to older teens and adults, but who knows maybe younger kids would get something out of it because it does include music and dancing. The level of acting that was presented during the performance was also amazing. The actors and actresses that perform on the UMD campus are some of the best that I have seen perform this semester and I look forward to seeing more of their productions.

Urinetown was the first musical and production that I've seen since being here in Duluth. Urinetown, which was shown at the UMD Theater, was very successful. The music and singing was incredible! The actors and actresses, who were all students, did a phenomenal job!

Urinetown is a musical about the rebels who are fighting against the people of Urine Good Company, who has control over many facilities, mainly the restrooms. In order to conserve water usage, UGC decided to tax the usage of toilets. The rebels follow this rule for a time, but not forever. The rebel led by Bobby Strong decides to stop paying and decides to fight their way to freedom, against the Company and its president. Although this may not be convincing enough to go see the play, the music will. The actors and actresses did a wonderful job with the singing. Everytime someone sung, I felt a urge inside of me coming out. During the play I would have the feeling of wanting to sing along with the actors. Of course since Urinetown is a musical, I expected singing but what I got in return was something else. The music of Urinetown was very catchy and delightful. Also the lighting, sound, and scenic design were done well. Even though the stage spacing is small, the actors and actresses were able to use that space to their advantage. When looking back to the night I saw Urinetown, I can remember how distinguish the scenes were. There were designs that showed the audience where the setting of that scene was at, and the costumes were well done as well. Right away the costumes showed us who the characters were, which was very helpful. Everything was done magnificently! After seeing that play, it made me wanting more and more. It made me want to see Urinetown a second time. When that time comes when Urinetown shows again, expect to find me in the front row seat!

Urinetown is a musical about sustainability, a very prominent issue in today's world. It is a story of a city who has run out of water and is driven to the extreme of tolling the toilets.A ridiculous scenario to be sure. The musical is written in such a way that the actions are described to the audience as they are happening. This is an effort to poke fun at the fact that the performance is in fact a musical. It is supposed to be funny, right? Personally, I don't think a story about a severe drought and running out of resources is funny. Maybe the musical is supposed to be poking fun at the audience, the musical can call it's self a musical but the audience is too stupid to know that they are in fact running out of resources, and they soon too will be at these extremes. Now that just seems mean. Especially since in the end everyone in the city dies. Is the play trying to tell us that we are all going to die? So why tell us only at the end that it is all about sustainability and that we are going to die, why not tell us the whole way through and really pound it in our heads. Then they could have saved us the potty humor. Overall, the theme of Urinetown was inconsistent and inconsiderate.

I had the chance to see Urinetown on October 24th. This day just so happens to be my birthday, and when I first realized that I needed to go to this show on my birthday for my intro to theatre class, I was a little bummed. But, to my amazement, the show made this day so much better! There were so many aspects of this show that I absolutely loved, such as, the scenery, the lighting, and most of all the play in general.

I think that the backstage crew deserves a lot of credit to this show's success. The stage set was just amazing and I can not possibly think of anything more they could have added to enhance the already amazing show. The scene changes were quick, due to the fact that all of the set was on wheels, which made transitions run a lot more smoothely. Not only did I enjoy the set but also the lights really added to the show as well. Through my years in high school doing theatre, I have come to realize the importance of lights. Many times the audience does not necessarily notice how much the lights add, but with out them the show just would not be the same. During dances mainly is when I really noticed how much those lights really added to the show.

The costumes in the show were just as I expected. The upper class citizens were clearly identified by nice dressy clothes, where as the lower class citizens were dressed mainly in rags. Doing this with the costumes really separated the rich from the poor. And just as we were told in my theatre class, Hope's dress did go from really fancy, to more casual throughout the show. This technique proved to be very effective in my belief because it helped show how Hope was feeling and where she stood amidst everything which was going on.

This show was absolutely amazing! I enjoyed it so much and it added a lot to my birthday! Excellent job!

Urinetown was my first musical since high school. And in a personal perspective the play or musical was awesome. I would recommend this musical to all ages in the musical it is narrated by a stock character officer lockstock. Throughout the musical she cracks many jokes to give the audience a laugh as she makes fun the musical by saying it isn't real. You don't see that very often which is why i think this play is great and unique. If you like musicals and humor this is definately a show worth seeing Bobby Strong the main character leads a revolution against the company that controls the water source and falls in love. The unusual part is that the good guy or hero Bobby Strong dies in the end. The play/musical did not have an effect on me but I did wonder what would happen to us if we ran out of water and how serious of a situation that could be. I hope to see this play go on tour and play at broadway so that others can laugh as i did.

The overall production of "Urinetown" was spectacular. One of the elements that contributed loads to its success was the music.

The vocals in Urinetown were all very sterling. The chorus was always together and in tune. The chorus also did a good job of acting while they were singing. There was never a point when the chorus was just standing there with their arms at their sides singing to the audience. They were always moving and interacting with each other.

Brian Kess as Bobby Strong and Jenna Kase as Hope Cladwell both had bona fide voices. Their duets were in perfect harmony, and they also managed to interact with one another while they were singing. The duet "Follow Your Heart" was my favorite because the song was excellent, and the acting they did during the song was hilarious.

I couldn't belive the orchestra only consisted of eight members! Their sound was so rich and big that I found it hard to believe they didn't have a CD playing backing them up. I thought it was really clever to have a TV monitor set up so the actors onstage could see the conductor of the orchestra and be on cue that way. The blending of the orchestra and chorus was seamless. I also liked that the orchestra was somewhat visible to keep with the theme of the play.

The set design was simple yet extremely effective. Several large pieces were rolled into place between scene changes with the precision and speed of a finally tuned Rolls Royce. They formed a public urine hole, a secret hideaway, and the Urine Good Company headquarters. The scenes intentionally began with the last pieces still sliding into place. The producers were honoring the fact that the writer wanted to accentuate the point that the viewer was witnessing a play. The backstage crew did an excellent job on the overall play and the ability of how everything worked so well. They deserve so much credit. It is like an offensive line crew on a football team. The running back gets all of the credit and it’s the work of the line that helped him get all of those yards. The lighting, done by Mark Harvey, was also used to create certain confidentiality with the audience; often focusing on the narrator as she spoke candidly to the audience while the cast remained frozen in the background under soft lighting. I have learned so much about the lighting process. Mark gave us a link to a website that talked more in detail about the lighting process. Mark talked about how he needed to break out of the epic tone of the play that mocked other musicals. He used color scrolls to change the look of the stage. I also liked how he gave us the number of the light that would correspond with the color of the light. It was great to see the detail that went into this play. Overall an excellent show and everyone involved did a superb job.

I had heard that UMD had a great theater program, but I don’t think anything could have prepared me for the performance I got the night I saw Urinetown . It was unlike any other musical I have ever seen. I was extremely taken aback by the costume and design of the set. More importantly, the acting was astounding.

The show would not have been the same if it had not been complimented so nicely by the costumes and the creative design of the set. When Ashley Woods visited our Intro to Theater class, I was already impressed by the sketches she had drawn. The actual costumes were extraordinary! The way they were presented supported the message the play was trying to convey very well. The people really looked dirt poor, but at the same time the clothes they were wearing caught my eye. The costumes worn by the “rich” people were glamorous and showed a lot of contrast next to the Rebel Poor costumes. Lauren Meister also did a fantastic job at developing this set. Turning the UGC stairs into the “Secret Hideout” worked out very effectively, and it provided the audience with a completely different visual perspective.

The acting in this production was outstanding. Not only did the performers do a great job staying in character, but also their voices were phenomenal. After seeing the play, I bought the soundtrack to the original Broadway performance of Urinetown. Honestly, I thought that UMD’s cast sounded better. I thought that Serena Brook did a remarkable job at being Officer Lockstock who was originally a male’s character. Lindsey Marquardt did an amazing job playing Little Sally, a character that required a major age transformation.

Overall, the musical Urinetown was most enjoyable! Everyone involved in producing this play did a magnificent job!

The sets for Urinetown were very good sets, I'll give a few examples of why I feel this is true. First of all, the sets were very functional and convenient. Almost everything they needed was onstage already, making set changes simply by moving stairs, taking two props off stage, and then dropping down signs, backdrops, etc. Even to the point that a giant tower and a sewer were in the same place.
The set was also very good in the respect that there was a very good difference in the apparent wealth of the two main sets (downtown/Urinetown, and UGC.) They are obviously very different in the lavishness of the environment, and it shows in the set, coming down to the simplest difference of the toilet in the first set being run from a table in front, to the desk in UGC.
Although the set was functional and good at creating a mood, there was one thing I had a problem with. At the climax of the play the set became jumbled and confusing. I understand that a lot takes place, in every setting the play had seen, but there was no scenery change from UGC, to the sewers, to the top of the tower. The UGC sign was down the entire last scene, even though they were anywhere but most of the time. This was just a confusing part of the play to me.
I really thought they did an excellent job on the costumes as well. The colors added a good touch and it seemed like as Hope and Bobby became closer their colors started to slightly change to be the same color palette.

Urinetown? Who would want to see a play call that? I feel the exact same way others feel, but like the saying goes, "don't judge a book by its' cover." Urinetown was a very successful musical that was shown at UMD's Marshall Performing Arts Theater.

Referring back to Mary Owen's post, I would have to agree with what she said about Bobby Strong. It seems to me there were times when he didn't know how to use his surroundings and body, but if that was how he were to be portrayed then so be it. Overall I believe all of the actors and actresses did a wonderful job. Brian Kess did an excellent job as acting as Bobby Strong. His acting and singing were both very strong. No one could have played Bobby Strong as well as his did. Jenna Kase, who played the love of Bobby Strong, Hope Cladwell also did a wonderful job. She had an amazing singing voice which I never grew tired of hearing during the play. Serena Brook, who took on the role of Officer Lockstock, was a very good actress herself. I was always amused by her, whether she was acting in a scene or narrating. I believe all of them will have a bright future ahead of them, as well as the rest of the actors and actresses, and crew.

When watching Urinetown, I noticed how the stage spacing was organized. The stage consisted of both a proscenium and thrust stage. I felt that this helped contribute to the success of Urinetown. I felt connected to the play. I felt as if I was in Urinetown myself. It was really awesome. The stage crew and everybody on Urinetown used their surroundings of the stage to their advantages.

All of the actors and actresses had amazing singing voices. There was only one character in particular that didn't quite measure up to the singing potential of those, say Bobby Strong and Hope Cladwell. Little Sally was a good singer, but not great. There was a scene after Bobby Strong died where Little Sally told the rebels what had happen to Bobby Strong. I didn't expect her to tell the rebels through singing. It was in this scene when she had her own solo, and to tell you the truth, I was afraid of how it would end up. But Little Sally did a great job handling her own solo. She was able to hit some very high notes at times, but stayed often in her comfort zone. Even though her singing wasn't as great as others, her acting was phenomenal. With help and more experience, she will be very, very good in both of those areas.

Director William Payne did a excellent job with the production of Urinetown. All of the staff and crew did a wonderful job. I will be looking forward to the next show of Urinetown. Please let there be another one!

The musical of Urinetown was great but one of the question that is still unanswered for me is "Why and how did the town's people start paying whenever they needed to use the bathroom?" If Urinetown would have started off explaining to the audiences how this happened then it wouldn't throw people off so much like how it did to me.

It could have been better if the play started as a normal town with not having to pay when someone needed to use the restroom and then lead into the issue that cause the town's people to have to pay whenever they needed to use the restroom.

Don't get me wrong, the play was awesome, but the playwright could at least add that little explanation in there to not throw the audience off.

Another thing i really liked about Urinetown was the scenic and costume designs. The reason I liked the scene design is mainly because even though the stuff in the scenes were really big the designer made it easy to do scene changes by using the same set peace by just moving it a little and some of the set peace had multiple uses. That way they didn't have many major scene changes. Another thing that was neat about the set is that it was made from many reused parts.

The costumes made it easy for everyone watching the play to tell which "class" each actor belonged in. The rich people wore nice suits/dresses and looked clean, while the poorer people wore worn out close and look dirty. Throughout the play we see that hope is slowly changing side and alone with her changing her mind on the issues we see her close go from looking like a one of the rich peoples to looking like the poor peoples. Her costume changing with her attitude helps the audience recognize the change she is going through.

As can be seen the work by both the scenic and costume designers really help the play in many ways. By reusing parts from old set it cut the cost. And by making the set peaces able to be used for more than one thing made the scene changes easy. and the costume design made it so everyone could tell what part of society everyone belonged to.

Another thing i really liked about Urinetown was the scenic and costume designs. The reason I liked the scene design is mainly because even though the stuff in the scenes were really big the designer made it easy to do scene changes by using the same set peace by just moving it a little and some of the set peace had multiple uses. That way they didn't have many major scene changes. Another thing that was neat about the set is that it was made from many reused parts.

The costumes made it easy for everyone watching the play to tell which "class" each actor belonged in. The rich people wore nice suits/dresses and looked clean, while the poorer people wore worn out close and look dirty. Throughout the play we see that hope is slowly changing side and alone with her changing her mind on the issues we see her close go from looking like a one of the rich peoples to looking like the poor peoples. Her costume changing with her attitude helps the audience recognize the change she is going through.

As can be seen the work by both the scenic and costume designers really help the play in many ways. By reusing parts from old set it cut the cost. And by making the set peaces able to be used for more than one thing made the scene changes easy. and the costume design made it so everyone could tell what part of society everyone belonged to.

Now it's been a while since I saw Urinetown back in late October, but I think it is safe to say that it was a show not easily or quickly forgotten. As part of Mark Harvey's Intro to Theater class, we were required to attend, and I'm glad that I went, as it was a show that I might not have gone to otherwise. I usually prefer more serious dramas over musicals, but this one was definitely worthwhile.
First, I must comment on the music- I was thoroughly impressed with the vocal skills of the cast, under Tina Thielen-Gaffey. The singing was very high quality, I thought, and the sound design was a nice complimentary effect. Also, kudos to the "pit" orchestra- excellent job! The fact that they were actually backstage and slightly visible was an interesting twist, and went hand in hand with the manner in which Urinetown lightly made fun of the fact that it was a musical.
I really enjoyed viewing the detailed costumes, designed by Ashley Ann Woods. When she came to our class to talk about the process of coming up with these costumes, I knew it would be exciting to see them. It was interesting to see Hope Caldwell's costumes reflect the changes that her character undertook during the course of the play, as she becomes less part of the corporate and corrupt world she was born into and empathizes more with the younger and exuberant rebellion.
The acting as far as I could tell was really great. Dan Bigwood's portrayal of Caldwell B. Caldwell was very convincing, and I thought the musical number "Don't Be the Bunny" was accomplished in a way that got the clever message of the song across in a humorous way. Lastly, I must add that Danny Laraway did a great job in the supporting role of Mr. McQueen, as he always finds a way to make his audience both laugh and feel the emotion of the production.

Similar to Samantha's situation it has been a while since I have seen Urinetown, and likewise I believe that it was an outstanding experience. My theatre experience has been rather limited and spread out over a large portion of my life. But Urinetown was, with the exception of my recent viewing of Dinner with Friends, the best performance I have witnessed. I mean this on a number of levels, the first being the level of professionalism it displayed when it came to the execution of the play. On the night I went there were no mistakes with lighting, lines, or scene work that I observed. Flow was steady from scene to scene, which by the nature of the play itself was ever a necessity. The constant satirical viewing of the stagehands changing scenery and interacting with the players required the utmost in skill and accuracy.
Paul Brisset's has created a play which has turned me back on to the theatre world. With his over-simplification of a parody on the current status of our planet and species, he shows us the oddities and assumptions every human makes about every other human. With seemingly effortless weaving of comedy into subtle, political messaging; the audience is compelled to feel as though they are experiencing a play, while simultaneously contemplating the parallels set by the playwright with our world.

The music, though played by an unfortunately small ensemble, was likewise flawless. I was truly impressed by the capability of University students when it came to my first play viewing here at UMD.

Similar to Samantha's situation it has been a while since I have seen Urinetown, and likewise I believe that it was an outstanding experience. My theatre experience has been rather limited and spread out over a large portion of my life. But Urinetown was, with the exception of my recent viewing of Dinner with Friends, the best performance I have witnessed. I mean this on a number of levels, the first being the level of professionalism it displayed when it came to the execution of the play. On the night I went there were no mistakes with lighting, lines, or scene work that I observed. Flow was steady from scene to scene, which by the nature of the play itself was ever a necessity. The constant satirical viewing of the stagehands changing scenery and interacting with the players required the utmost in skill and accuracy.
Paul Brisset's has created a play which has turned me back on to the theatre world. With his over-simplification of a parody on the current status of our planet and species, he shows us the oddities and assumptions every human makes about every other human. With seemingly effortless weaving of comedy into subtle, political messaging; the audience is compelled to feel as though they are experiencing a play, while simultaneously contemplating the parallels set by the playwright with our world.

The music, though played by an unfortunately small ensemble, was likewise flawless. I was truly impressed by the capability of University students when it came to my first play viewing here at UMD.

Urinetown was the first live musical I have seen. I was very impressed with the costumes in the play. The designer did an excellent job in creating and designing costumes that added a very good element to the play. There was a very sharp contrast in the clothing worn by the poor people that were forced to use the public restroom and the corporate workers and senator.
You could very easily tell by looking at the actors which class they were, which may seem small but added to the large class difference that the play was based on. All of the poor people were dressed in dark colored ratty clothes. Most of the clothing didn’t fit well and was ripped. Their faces were smeared and dirty and hair was rough and unkept. Even the lighting reflected this difference, I noticed when the scene was set in a poor area the lights were more dim than when the scene was in the corporate office. The only real contradiction I noticed to the poor peoples’ costumes was Little Sally, who was dressed in bright colors, but the colors didn’t match and she also looked as if she hadn’t bathed in awhile. This is what I noticed about the poor people.
The corporate workers and senator on the other hand were very vibrant and clean cut characters. They were all very nicely dressed in clothes that made them look professional. They all had nice haircuts; most of the males had their hair slicked back with some type of product. When the scene was in the office the lights shone more brightly giving the image of a cleaner environment. They all had clean faces and bright white teeth. This was the clean cut vibrant look the corporate class gave off.
Overall I thought the costume designer did a very good job. It may just be one of the many elements that made the play, in my opinion, a very good production, but I thought it was an important one. It really brought out the class difference that the main idea of the play revolved around. I thought the costumes and lighting made a big difference in the play.

As Alex described, the "seemingly effortless weaving of comedy into subtle, political messaging" found in Urinetown was yet another aspect of the production that was impressive. If one pays close attention, and takes a glance at the program notes, it might become more obvious what the playwright was trying to get across- but that was what made the whole thing seem so effortlessly witty, and yet so hard to ignore- the fact that the dialog did not 'hit one over the head' with its message but rather hinted at it with subtle lines and humor. The environmental overtones were also accompanied by a mutual making fun of both sides of the issue, both the corporate big-wigs and the rebellion. When a message is presented in such a clever way, it is more likely to have an effect on an audience, rather than simply preaching at them. Well done! This will surely be a hard act to follow for musicals in the coming years, but is also an excellent precedent to have set

Referring to the dialogue as "efforlessly witty" as Samantha has stated is a very true statement, but that wit was derived from a difference in plot.
Normally works that parallel this one involve simple distinctions between characters and for the most part this was seen in Urinetown; officer Lockstock was a hard law enforcer, doing her job for it was her life. Cladwell B. Cladwell was the antagonist, "milking" the populace for everything they had. Hope Cladwell was the reasoning woman who valued life and equality, attempting to change the inequalities of Urinetown. But, beneath one sees how each of these stock characters have a second layer to themselves. Lockstock viewed all of those around her with a sort of comic sadness, for everyone was fighting against one another and only making living circumstances more difficult. Cladwell was also exercising a level of control in order to keep some essence of harmony and balance to Urinetown, even if he was doing so through exploitation. And Hope was innocent to the point of being naive, making rash decisions that end up being the downfall of her successful rebellion.
This is what distinguishes Urinetown from any other musical written; it shows that characters, even stock characters can be written with such very real characteristics as duality of mind and purpose. Showing audiences that nothing is as "cut and dried" as it may seem.

Urinetown was the first musical I’ve seen. Before actually seeing the play, I underestimated how interested and comical the play would be. I am very impressed with the play and just by how everything was put together. After seeing other musicals too, I think Urinetown’s performance really stands out and overpowers them. The vocals and the music just mixed in and made the performance very powerful. The actor and actress that played Bobby Strong and Hope Cadwell fitted their roles very well because they had strong and unique vocals. I think it is very effective when the main characters have can stand out from the rest of the cast. Overall, the musical performances from Urinetown are one of the best I’ve seen so far and I’d go see the play again if I had the chance.

Urinetown was a very well done production. Considering the amount of time that the scene designers had to put together the scenery they did a very good job. The scenery was very diverse and well thought out as many of the large set pieces were reverse sided and could be used for either of the three places the play was set in. Once the play began it was obvious that the actors and actresses were very talented, both vocally and acting wise. They were all very good actors and actresses with a high amount of energy brought to the stage. Little Sally did an amazing job of playing her part, until one looked at their program and saw she was a senior at UMD she seemed like a girl in her young teens. The entire play made you think about what shenanigans were going to happen next. Little Sally and Officer Lockstock kept the audience entertained between scene changes and made sure we knew all the background details for play. One of the main themes of this exchange between Officer Lockstock, Little Sally, and the audience was making jokes about the title and theme of the play itself. These jokes work very well with the play because when one attends a production entitled Urinetown there is no way to know what to expect. Overall this is very good production with great a wonderful cast. They bring an energy and excitement to that stage that allows the audience to feel involved and get into the play.

In the theater production Urinetown I really liked how the costume designers put together all the sets of outfits. With the budget they had to play with they did a fantastic job. Hope’s different outfits showed her high class and the color separation between her and the lower class citizens of Urinetown. I liked how the lower class citizens had more of a thrown together look and the higher class was put together neatly. As the play proceeded and the two main love interests, Bobby and Hope, became closer their costumes started to both become the same color palette. Bobby went to a cool blue and red, which mixed together makes purple, and Hope’s main colors were purple. They seemed to gradually be more matchy matchy as the play went on. Hope’s wardrobe went from white and clean to more of a grey tone like the lower class of Urinetown. I also applaud the make-up artists for making the characters actually look like who they were playing. Don’t get me wrong the actors did an excellent job at transforming themselves into the part but the make-up did totally transform the characters. I looked at the pictures off the actors in the program and could hardly recognize them.

Urinetown was a very unique and great musical. I had never heard of the production before it came to UMD. This musical was different because of the fact that it didn't end happily. Traditionally, musicals end happily, but this was big exception. What was enjoyable about this show was that the characters would come out and talk to the audience during the show to preface what was going to happen in the upcoming scene. There was one night where the actors stayed after to talk with the audience. This cleared up any and all confusion that occurred within the show. This was beneficial for the audience and many people stayed to ask questions.

The characters were easy to connect with in this show. Brian Kess did a phenomenal job portraying Bobby Strong. He had a great singing voice and was perfect for the lead role of this production. Lindsey Marquardt played the role of Little Sally. She was possibly the most connectible of all the characters because she kept interacting with the audience.

As far as comparing this show with other amateur productions of shows I've ever seen, this was by far the best show. The singing was right on, the acting was superb, and the choreography was great. If there is ever an opportunity for anyone to see a production of this show, it is strongly recommended.

I thought that Urinetown was an amazing musical. It is not a typical musical and I think that is what makes it so appealing to an audience. Some aspects of this unique musical I really enjoyed. I thought that the way they made sure the audience knew that this was a play was very interesting and at times pretty comical. But, I would also like to comment on the unhappy ending of the play. This was not my favorite thing about the musical. It is normally a tradition for musicals to end happily, so I think I was just caught off guard. That was probably the intention of the playwright. I was not ready for the play to end. I mean how could it? Bobby Strong had to come back and save the day. That’s just how it is with musicals, but not Urinetown. Also, I think I did not like this ending as much because I was just not ready for the play to end! Even though the ending was not my favorite, all of the other aspects of the play made up for it. I do not think that anything could have been changed to make this musical any better!

Urinetown was the first musical that I have attended and it really sparked my interest to see more. I felt that there were many interesting aspects to this musical. For instance how they kept reminding the audience that we were viewing a musical. That added for good humor. Another thing I found interesting was just the topic in general. A play all about not being able to use the bathroom. It did make for a good storyline and good entertainment.
The costume designs were great for the budget that they had. I really liked how you could see the transformation of hope through her outfits. I also really enjoyed the bright colors used. The set was also done well very versatile.
It was neat to have a few of the people who were involved in the production come talk to our class. I felt that I got a better understating of why certain costumes were the way they were. The same goes for the set.
Overall I thought that this performance was amazing it had me laughing the entire time. It also gets you to think about issues and your way of life. This play really got me excited about theatre and eager to see more plays. Good job!!!

Urinetown gave me a new prospective of musicals. All the musicals I have attended in the past have had happy endings. This was a new type of show. It talked about the reality of running out of water and having to pay to pee. People aren’t used to hearing the truth, they want to hear everything is good and that they have nothing to worry about. In today’s world people are being very wasteful and don’t realize the effect it could have on people in the future. Although the show was enjoyable, it didn’t necessarily have a happy ending. It told it how really was-the truth of what really could happen in the future. In the end the towns people realized that it is the wealthy people who keet society in order. They took control and kept all the resources still in tact. Something else that was sort of a different spin was that Officer Lockstock and Little Sally would tell the audience what was happening and make fun of it. They would make fun of both the big shots and the poor. Lockstock and Sally told the audience that the rich people like the Cladwells had all the control. But, they also poked fun of the rebellion in the lower class people. They had subtle and sarcastic remarks that fit right along with the wit and humor in the musical. This was unlike any musical I have ever seen. Urinetown was humorous and informed the audience of the seriousness of running out of resources.

The costume design stood out and I noticed each character had their own unique costume. The Strongs and the poor were dressed similar and the Cadwells and the rich were dressed similar to each other. I really liked how this idea turned out and how it showed and symbolized so much about the characters. Also, the props and the lighting was mixed in very well with the comtumes. The props and the setting really added onto with the costumes and made the show more enjoyable. One thing I was really impressed with and enjoyed was the idea that one the polices was also the narrator. It was a great way to connect with the audience and it also gave another perspective of the story besides Bobby strong and Hope Cadwell's view of the story. Overall, the costumes were great and fitted the whole play, the setting, and the time the play was taken perfectly. They also had great ways of drawing the audience's attention and making the play fun and funny to watch.

On October 24, I went to see "Urinetown" with my theater class. It was my first musical since seeing "Cates" when I was like 10. After seeing this one, I will certainly start seeing more. The thing that stood out to me, other than the Phenomenal performances by Brian Kess, and Jenna Kase, was the terrific scenery. As a class, we were lucky enough to be able to talk with the set designer, Lauren Meister. It was really interesting to see, and hear about how much work the production team puts into the set design. They explained how the most difficult part of putting it all together was the hydraulic lift. This was because the lift needed to be safe and quiet, and apparently this is not as easy as it sounds. In my opinion, the lift worked great. During the production, it added comedy and an easy fix to how both Bobby Strong, and Caldwell B. Cladwell, would share the same fate. While watching the play it was interesting to see how well they used the small stage they had, to perform such a large production. They added on to the stage in the front to get more space. Also, used some props, such as the steps in multiple ways. It was really fun to learn about, but even more fun to see performed. It was the best production
I think I have ever seen, and would recommend it to everyone!

A critic above talked about how the scenes where done so well and I have to agree. The same huge steps and platforms were used for multiple scenes just by spinning the steps sideways. This was a great idea to have the set pretty much all on easy to move wheels. The way that the designer set up the stage was clever because in order for the scene to change all they had to do was turn the previously one. It literally took a matter of seconds for the stage to transform from a business office to a impoverished town; this saved time and space. The costume design was also done well and fit the town in poverty perfectly. "Urinetown" as a whole was a very unique play from start to finish; as it made fun of other plays. The play was very funny and still my favorite play so far!

As expressed before, the play was very entertaining and still memorable to this day. However when Thomas Priebe referred to how the production “added comedy” when both Bobby Strong and Caldwell B Cladwell were thrown from a building, I was taken by how Hope reacted. As the play continued she seemed to turn into a basket case, and failed show any heartache about how her father was killed. I wish they would have added in the playwright a scene where she was saddened by it all, just to show some compassion towards her father’s existence. It just seemed odd and inhumane how she was affected so much when Bobby died, but not her own father.

In addition, as much as I enjoyed listening to Officer Lockstock and her wittiness, her facial expressions and the way she moved and shook her head back and forth, became so redundant, that it was annoying. By having a pretty prominent role in a play, it would be assumed that they would have the character be more dynamic emotionally and physically.

Although it has been nearly two months now since I had the chance to see the show still I have not forgotten this amazing performance! A musical that was filled with great lights, detailed sets, and amazing characters is hard to forget!

As far as the characters go, I loved the wide variety of stock characters. Bobby Strong, a young man who lead the rebels, was such a stereotypical leader. Then you have Lil' Sally with her big lolly pop, who is just as you would picture a little girl to be. And what would a play be with out the beautiful female who tries to change the world, Hope! Combining all of these characters together all into one performance really made for a unique piece.

I found it funny how the entire play almost seemed to poke fun at other musicals. They did not do this by specifically, but instead just everything they said was overly cliche. The narrator and Lil Sally have a few prime examples of this. One of the best examples they have is when Lil Sally asks "why?" And the answer really makes no sense, but the narrator just says, "because its a musical!" Lines like this really made for an experience that I have never had in a play before. They kept me really intrigued in the performance, but not to the point where I loose where I am. The entire time the audience was informed in some way or another that they were watching a musical, and that is something that I am just not use to seeing.

Moving on to the plot of the play, I found this to be extremely creative. The fact that the entire town has got to pay to pee is very humorous, and at the same time a little scary. Bobby Strong, the lead male, leads the rebels to revolt. Hope, the lead female, falls in love with Bobby and betrays her father, who happens to be the leader of UGC(Urine Good Company) to follow her heart. I thought that the theme was not only very funny, but also very intriguing! Nice Job!

I went to the musical Urinetown earlier this year; this musical was put on by the UMD Theatre. As I have stated before, this was an unbelievable performance. I would think that most of the people who have seen this play would have to agree with me, or that’s the way it seems to be with all the blogs. As some people might not know, there is so much work put in to make this performance happen. All that the audience sees is the result of all this work, they see it complete. However, what they should know is what is all done before this excellent performance. From the director, William Payne, to the make-up designer, Jake Neuman, so much time is put into making all this happen. I believe that the director did an excellent job of choosing his staff. I think that he chose the right people for the jobs they had. One that I especially liked was the lighting, which was done by Mark Harvey. The lighting was great in this musical; there were so many different times in this musical that I thought the lighting was great. One specific example would be the decision to do the green spotlight on the old man when Bobby would flash back, I thought this was great. Also, I would say that the sound was also spectacular. I’ve been to a few musicals, and there was one specific one where it was so hard to hear the actors and actresses when they were singing or talking. However, in the musical Urinetown, I thought the sound was awesome. Throughout the whole musical, I could clearly hear what everyone was saying or singing and it was nice and clear. There are so many other people that put a lot of time and effort into doing all of this and I applaud them. So if you missed seeing this musical, you should just hope that they do it again sometime soon because it was amazing.

When reviewing what I had previously written, i noticed that I left a couple things out. One thing that I wanted to comment on was the comedic timing. I felt that it was very well done, you could tell this by the reaction of the audience. Another thing that helped this performance was the lighting and set. The lighting helped to portray different moods and energies of the actors. Like previously said by others I enjoyed how the light was used to help show a flashback. The set was very functional and really helped make the performance come alive.
I found all the jokes and comments about how it was a musical a little repetative.
Overall it was still a fantastic performance with good acting, dancing and singing. I hope that everyone got a chance to see this performance.

Reacting to previous statements, I find it interesting to read about those who did not enjoy the script of Urinetown. Of course I am no stranger to strong opinions as we all can see, however I still think that sometimes the point of the big picture is overlooked. A point that was made was that Officer Lockstock and Little Sally's rolls were to spoon-feed the audience the plot as it was happening, they quote: ", as if we weren't able to catch the plot on our own". I completely agree with that... and that's the point. The reason for the actors in this show and the lines they say are to poke fun at musical theater in every aspect, and I mean EVERY aspect. This is simply another way to do it, on top of the other countless ways throughout the show. The fact that the plot is so out there and made obvious without the aid of the narrative is part of the over-the-top humor of it all. They are telling you things that are so obvious and almost treating the audience like toddlers which is, frankly, what some musical theater (that are not trying to make fun of their own show) does. It's almost like watching a movie that gives you too many clues and hints at what the result of the movie will be, and when the end comes everyone turns and says "I knew that was going to happen! I could see it from a mile away!". The feeling of no-surprises can be enjoyable, yes, for instance, the success rate of romantic comedies ("chick-flicks"). People love them and continue to see them even though they know the two lovers will make it somehow in the end. The funny thing about Urinetown, though, is that we have no idea what is going happen. We're not even sure what or why the heck things are happening WHILE they're happening. Not that the audience isn't capable of enjoying the series of crazy events that continue to stream on and on in this musical, but the added jab at the audience from Lockstock and Little Sally, to me, only adds to the ridiculousness that is the show's purpose.