2008 Woodie Awards
The musical Urinetown is now playing at the UCF Conservatory Theatre.
Issue date: 6/26/08 Section: Variety
Among a jungle of corrugated sheet metal, Officer Lockstock -played by the charismatic and stiff-postured Kyle Adkins - enters onto the stage introduces the audience to Urinetown, the musical, explaining that Urinetown, the place, wouldn't be seen until the second act.
Lockstock is soon joined by Little Sally, who asks Lockstock to elaborate to the audience details about the water shortage and the hard times that force the characters of the musical to pay a constantly rising fee to an evil corporation for the privilege to pee or else be dragged off to the ominous Urinetown, the place.
Lockstock then warns little Sally not to give too much away as "nothing can kill a show more then too much exposition." This bizarre opening scene actually divulges much more then plot details, revealing to the audience that they are about to see a subversive, caustic, and, most of all, fun musical dedicated to tearing down the conventions of traditional musical theater.
Throughout the show, Urinetown drips with irony the same way water drips off of Niagara Falls, featuring characters shouting out maudlin and cornball lines with a wink aimed squarely at the audience. UCF's production of Urinetown manages to perfectly capture this sense of unreality, with a creative set, manic and fun choreography, and the coolest onstage representation of a body crashing onto the ground after falling at terminal velocity you will see all month.
The innovation of the UCF's theater's presentation of Urinetown spills to the outside of the play when, during intermission Penelope Pennywise, the cynical warden of Urinetown's public amenity No. 9 - played by Amanda Wansa - stands outside the Conservatory Theatre's bathrooms and demands patrons to pay for the privilege to pee. (Although the "fees" are completely optional, it should be noted that all money goes to a local scholarship fund as opposed to the Urine Good Company).
Urinetown belongs to a new breed of musicals that have been finding their way onto Broadway in recent years that includes blockbusters such as The Drowsy Chaperone, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and most recently In the Heights, to be born from underground origins, such as fringe festivals, bachelor parties and university workshops.
Lockstock is soon joined by Little Sally, who asks Lockstock to elaborate to the audience details about the water shortage and the hard times that force the characters of the musical to pay a constantly rising fee to an evil corporation for the privilege to pee or else be dragged off to the ominous Urinetown, the place.
Lockstock then warns little Sally not to give too much away as "nothing can kill a show more then too much exposition." This bizarre opening scene actually divulges much more then plot details, revealing to the audience that they are about to see a subversive, caustic, and, most of all, fun musical dedicated to tearing down the conventions of traditional musical theater.
Throughout the show, Urinetown drips with irony the same way water drips off of Niagara Falls, featuring characters shouting out maudlin and cornball lines with a wink aimed squarely at the audience. UCF's production of Urinetown manages to perfectly capture this sense of unreality, with a creative set, manic and fun choreography, and the coolest onstage representation of a body crashing onto the ground after falling at terminal velocity you will see all month.
The innovation of the UCF's theater's presentation of Urinetown spills to the outside of the play when, during intermission Penelope Pennywise, the cynical warden of Urinetown's public amenity No. 9 - played by Amanda Wansa - stands outside the Conservatory Theatre's bathrooms and demands patrons to pay for the privilege to pee. (Although the "fees" are completely optional, it should be noted that all money goes to a local scholarship fund as opposed to the Urine Good Company).
Urinetown belongs to a new breed of musicals that have been finding their way onto Broadway in recent years that includes blockbusters such as The Drowsy Chaperone, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and most recently In the Heights, to be born from underground origins, such as fringe festivals, bachelor parties and university workshops.