MC Theatre Department prepares April 7-10 production of ‘Urinetown, the Musical’
Like many of the students who auditioned for the soon-to-be-staged musical by the Maryville College Theatre Department, director Doug James wasn’t quite sure what to make of such a provocative title.
“Urinetown,” after all, often makes the uninitiated do a double-take, and even though he fell in love with the work after becoming familiar with it, he understands such reactions.
“The first time I heard it was in graduate school, when we were required to audition for a season of plays, and I got cast in it!” said James, who directs the MC Theatre Department’s own production of “Urinetown, the Musical” April 7-10 in the Haslam Family Flexible Theatre of the Clayton Center for the Arts.
“I hadn’t heard of it until I had to audition, then I thought, ‘We’re not going to sell a ticket,’” James added. “But then I watched a version of it and read it, and I just fell in love with it. The audiences were roaring with laughter after each performance, and word got around, and we ended up selling out the run.”
James, an adjunct instructor of theater at the College, used that experience to guide student cast members who were similarly perplexed, alarmed or even disappointed in the selection of “Urinetown” as the Theatre Department’s spring musical. Because COVID-19 had effectively shuttered the past two seasons of the department, open auditions were held for a slate of possible shows, James said, and many of those who tried out for a part had “Urinetown” at the bottom of their wishlists.
“I had at least heard of a lot of the other shows, and I knew they were good, but then ‘Urinetown’ popped up, and on the surface, I thought it was going to be a bunch of stupid pee jokes!” laughed Michael Place ’22, a music major who stars as Bobby Strong in the production — his first as an MC student. “But then I read it, and I started to see the real-life applications to what’s happening in the world today, and I realized it’s a lot smarter than I was expecting — and it’s hilarious.”
The story takes place in a future in which drought and a water shortage have led to a government ban on private toilets. The Urine Good Company controls all paid toilets, and those who can’t afford the fee and choose to relieve themselves without paying are arrested and sent to the mysterious “Urinetown.” It’s a wickedly funny satire, James said, that roasts a number of more famous musicals — and itself.
“The opening number talks about how awful the title is, and every single musical number in this show is written to make fun of a musical number from another show,” James said. “So you’re going to see ‘The Bottle Dance’ from ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ but instead of a bottle, our (prop) is going to be a portable urinal. It’s intended to make fun of itself, but what’s great about it is that it’s a satire of this world in which we find ourselves.”
In many ways, “Urinetown” was a prescient production when it debuted at the New York International Fringe Festival in 2001. That same year, it was produced Off-Broadway before moving to Broadway proper, where it ran for nearly 1,000 shows and earned 10 Tony Award nominations and three wins.
“The way I explain it is that I tell people the world is really crazy right now, and this show kind of embodies it,” said Elaina Wilson ’24, a music education major who plays the role of Hope Cladwell in “Urinetown.”
“You see the fighting for control, the struggle for power, people just trying to make a difference and so many other things that have been really prevalent in the last couple of years,” she added. “We like to say it’s kind of a way to laugh about the problems we’re facing and bring some light to them.”
“Urinetown, the Musical” will be staged at 8 p.m. April 7-9 and 2 p.m. April 10. In addition to Place and Wilson, cast members include MC students Alyson Ament ’25, Olivia Cameron ’25, Caleb Fanning ’24, Lauren Gaines ’24, Connor Goins ’24, Colin Hood ’25, Eric Magee ’25, Abby Robertsen ’22 and Ryne Simmerly’23, and community members Eliza Bonneville, Bleu Copas, Lucy George, Lisa Howard, Christian Labnon, Baylor Sezate, Hannah Strong and Allante Walker.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for students and seniors. For more information or to purchase tickets, call the Clayton Center box office at 865-981-8590.
