Urinetown, The Musical, Lyric Stage Company of Boston, through October 20. 617-585-5678 or lyricstage.com
Greg Kotis first faced the challenge of pay-per-use toilets while visiting Paris in 1995. Four years later his experience helped inspire a stunning effort—Kotis's book and his collaboration with composer and co-lyricist Mark Hollman on a witty Kurt Weillish musical entitled "Urinetown" (premiering at the 1999 New York International Fringe Festival). "Urinetown" eventually streamed from Off-Broadway (Outer Critics Circle Award for best musical) to Broadway—where it won three 2002 Tony Awards (including best book and best score). The late great Lyric Stage Company of Boston artistic director Spiro Veloudos staged a strong edition in 2005. Now the company's current artistic director Courtney O'Connor is following suit with a splashy revival of its own.
"Urinetown" vividly depicts a post 20 year drought dystopia where private toilets are illegal and public toilets are subject to daily fees. Megacorporation Urine Good Company—run by both buffoonish and brutal mogul Caldwell Cladwell—actually sends scofflaws to Urinetown. If this sounds grim to theatergoers unfamiliar with this uncommon musical, be assured that much of the show's singular cleverness involves an often humorous built-in take-off rich narrative from Officer Lockstock that pokes fun at overdone exposition yet warns audience members not to expect a happy ending.
Lockstock and co-worker Officer Barrel—a kind of odd-couple bad cop, good cop duo—enforce UGC's inhuman regulations here specifically in Public Amenity #9, one of the poorest and filthiest. After tough warden Penelope Pennywise —who manages #9 along with compassionate and charming young Bobby Strong (the show's designated hero)—refuses to allow financially strapped Joseph "Old Man" Strong a one day pass on paying, Bobby's intrepid father pees in public. Enforcing the law, Lockstock and Barrel take Joseph to (as yet) unseen Urinetown. Meanwhile Kotis' alternately satiric and romantic book finds Cladwell's college graduate and fax/copy girl daughter Hope and Bobby beginning to fall in love. At the same time, a rebellion of #9 amenity users erupts with a first act finale that parodies the barricade student rebels of "Les Miserables." Later still the amenity rebels will veer between rage and calm in a terrific take-off on the "West Side Story" ensemble number "Cool."
Will the rebellion succeed? Will Hope and Bobby's romance transcend the musical's utopia? Audience members will do well to keep in mind narrator Lockstock's advisory that dreams come true in so-called 'happy' musicals and some Hollywood movies. At the same time, Pennywise and Barrel will eventually disclose some striking secrets.
Under O'Connor's driving direction, an exuberant cast proves as spirited as the amenity rebels. Kenny Lee has all of Bobby's combination of kindness and bravery. Elliana Karris captures Hope's love of her father and empathy for the rebels. Lee and Harris sing their touching first act duet "Follow Your Heart" with rich harmony. Christopher Chew catches Cladwell's comical goofiness in the uproarious "Don't Be the Bunny" as well as his unsurprising insensitivity. Lisa Yuen finds Pennywise's tenacity and her emotional conflict.
Gifted veteran actor Remo Airaldi brings heart-breaking intensity to Joseph Strong's torment and proper obsequiousness to corrupt Senator Fipp. Anthony Pires, Jr. makes the most of Lockstock's levity as narrator and coldness as the lead officer while Gabriel Graetz has Barrel's contrasting moments of feeling. Paige O'Connor is winningly vulnerable as street urchin Sally, and Kathy St. George is properly defiant as Bobby's mother.
Christopher Shin's parody-embracing choreography includes such pleasures as a fired up "Fiddler on the Roof"—recalling hora and joyous moves for the catchy Bob-dominated number "Run Freedom, Run. Stephen Bergman, stepping in for music director Dan Rodriguez at the performance this critic saw, caught the wide-ranging richness of Hollmann's score. High praise also goes to Jamie E. Howland's scenic design for an ingenious variety of toilets.
More than four billion people worldwide are now struggling with floods, droughts and contaminated water in climate change-challenged 2024. Is "Urinetown" a brilliant prescient warning or merely a light-hearted, sometimes dark musical? One thing is unquestionable: Lyric Stage makes this musical treasure really flow. Rush to its delightfully unconventional currents.