Urinetown – 14 February 2025

First performed in 2001, Urinetown was a comedic adventure centered around a corrupt government taking advantage of its people by stripping them of their dignity and “forcing them to do their private business in public places.” Though I didn’t see the original production, when examined today in 2025, it felt chillingly relevant. It was incredibly cathartic to laugh, despite the hauntingly on-the-nose one-liners that now get a laugh for more current reasons. 

The cast at Encores did a truly magnificent job of poking fun at the indignity of how the world will end while also exposing a very raw truth that many Americans are grappling with right now— when it only takes one person to implement change, it can happen over night, unexpectedly, and just be the law of the land. As wonderful an idea as the resistance was, they were not a united front on morality, with some out for blood, others out for pacifism, and many easily persuadable depending on who was speaking at the time. This is an ugly truth that we don’t want to face in 2025– if we champion individual differences, we will never be ideologically united. Is this beautiful? Is this terrible? Most importantly, can this work? In Urinetown, though the resistance is mostly successful, it is at the cost of their leader, and the outsider who emerges to govern their land runs it into the ground out of a preference to be liked rather than to do the hard work of preserving her world. In Urinetown, nobody really listens to Little Sally’s talk about hydraulics. She might have held the key to survival, but was too young to command respect.

Standout performances from this production include Jordan Fisher, Keala Settle, Pearl Scarlett Gold, Graham Rowat (Officer Lockstock), and Christopher Fitzgerald. While Rainn Wilson gave a truly magnificent acting performance, his ability to sing is still a little questionable. Of the ensemble, Kevin Cahoon and John Yi were hilariously funny, as was Jenni Barber’s improvised dance moves when her hair piece fell off. Design wise, lighting (Justin Townsend) brought beauty to this desolate world and helped remind us of the beauty in everyone. 

The score of this show is wonderfully complex for a comedy/farce, and I found myself wishing that contemporary scores were this full and rich and textured. I don’t believe that we’ve lost our ability to laugh in the face of death, but more recent shows have lacked the nuance that makes Urinetownso brilliant. The story demands everything of its triple threat actors— physicality is a strong story-telling device for everyone on stage, no matter what their role is. Even those with very few lines have a distinctive role to play in their relation to other characters. Designers get to grapple with what needs to look real and what makes the point in a stronger way if it looks ridiculously fake. Choreography (Mayte Natalio) is a plot device. Urinetown is a top notch musical offering something for everybody; it does not get the recognition it deserves. As ridiculous as the premise and story are, the increasing relevance adds a playful darkness that balances out moments that might otherwise have been cringy.

These stories are our stories. Students sent to The Wealthiest University in the World come back with idealism and no marketable skills. Cops find it easy to kill dissenters. CEOs and senators only care about money. People who want to resist oppression don’t have feasible plans for what to do once their operations succeed (and then end up under another incompetent regime). The best way to gain power is to have a father who had more of it. Those who listen to their hearts are often led astray.

All in all, I’d say it’s a privilege to see: a beautifully fleshed out score, comedy that makes you laugh out loud, modern relevance, standout acting and singing, and a thoroughly engrossing design. As for performances of this production at Encores, there’s just a few more, Little Sally, just a few more.

(I attended this performance of my own free will!)

I did not attend this performance on a press pass.