When a friend said he had landed a part in a local production of the musical “Urinetown“, I did what most people do.  I shook my head slightly as if to dislodge some interfering muck from my ears and sputtered “Wha, what?”.  I could tell he was weary of this response. To his credit, he politely explained some of the highlights of the show. 

Urinetown is a musical farce about a future with a water shortage so severe that even the flow of urine has to has to be regulated.  Originally slated to open on 9/11/01, the opening was delayed for a rewrite.  In the story, bald political corruption and dastardly corporate greed work together against a Gotham City backdrop to monopolize public toilets and exploit the need of the masses to … pee.  When urinating in the bushes is outlawed, only outlaws will urinate in the bushes.  And if caught, violators are summarily arrested and taken to Urinetown by officers Lockstock and Barrel where they suffer the consequences of their misdeed. 

Officer Lockstock serves as both constable and narrator in this self-referential satire about the collusion of business and government.   UGC (Urine Good Company) has a government sanctioned lock on the “Amenities”, public pay toilets, and enforces their use through corrupt police on the take.  But when the government raises the fee for the use of an Amenity on behalf of their corporate paymasters, ostensibly to pay for continued “corporate research”, a rebellion begins and ends finally with a Malthusian note.

I will refrain from disclosing further details about the story.  I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed the show and heartily recommend it to friends and colleagues.