{"id":27630,"date":"2018-04-22T11:20:50","date_gmt":"2018-04-22T15:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artsknoxville.com\/?p=27630"},"modified":"2018-04-23T18:54:46","modified_gmt":"2018-04-23T22:54:46","slug":"review-clarence-brown-theatres-urinetown-the-musical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsknoxville.com\/index.php\/2018\/04\/22\/review-clarence-brown-theatres-urinetown-the-musical\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Clarence Brown Theatre’s ‘Urinetown, the Musical’"},"content":{"rendered":"

O<\/span>ne good rule of theatre: seize comic irony when it falls in your lap<\/strong>. As the audience arrived for the opening night of the Clarence Brown Theatre\u2019s production of Urinetown, the Musical<\/i><\/strong>, they had to pass by the theatre\u2019s new and still under-construction restroom facilities that sported a subtle signage tie-in to Urinetown<\/i> over its unfinished doorways. Catching the visual reference, while not essential for enjoying this supremely entertaining and exhilarating production, certainly made the point that comic satire and parody were to be a goal of the evening.<\/span><\/p>\n

As that audience soon learned, satire and parody were just the beginning of an energetic evening. Urinetown<\/i> is set in a dystopian future where a long-term drought has forced the corrupt government, in league with an even more corrupt corporation, to outlaw private toilets, forcing the residents to use the facilities at \u201cPublic Amenity\u201d stations for a fee. Those who cannot pay must hold it until they can; those that take to the alleys or bushes for relief are hauled off by police and sent to the mysterious \u201cUrinetown,\u201d the much-feared place from which no one ever returns.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lest one think the premise a tad too bizarre, this musical that opened on Broadway in September of 2001 and won Tony Awards for Best Score and Best Book of a Musical, has a nodding precedent in the theatre of Bertolt Brecht from works like The Threepenny Opera<\/i>. And, it serves as comic parody of Broadway musicals in general, particularly those that trade on excessive sentimentality like Les Miserables<\/i>, Fiddler on the Roof<\/i>, and even Chicago<\/i>. And, somewhat surprising, the work also uses comic irony to satirize socio-political movements based on a misplaced populist social conscience\u2014not that there is anything wrong with such a thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark Hollman\u2019s music is addictive, its stylistic songs and rhythms possessing hints of Kurt Weill at times. The lyrics by Hollman and book writer Greg Kotis explode with pee-centric puns and double entendres (\u201cYou\u2019re in Urinetown\u201d), with everyday language taking regular hits as well for the sake of comedy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like many of CBT\u2019s season-ending productions, no effort has been spared in making this one an overwhelming visual and aural feast, albeit one prepared in a grimy kitchen dripping with generous amounts of sarcasm. Director William Osetek<\/b> has drawn his cast and artistic crew from a combination of CBT staff, MFA candidates, undergrad students, and imported professionals. Faculty designer Christopher Pickart<\/b> has filled the CBT stage and auditorium with a deliciously gritty industrial environment in dirty colors, heavy with off-kilter catwalks and filled with shadowy soiled cloth in a suggestive yellowy color, definitely appropriate for an urban dystopia. Shadowy lighting, cut by follow spots, filled the gloom in muted colors courtesy of lighting designer Jordan Vera<\/b>. Marianne Custer<\/b>\u2019s costumes were a triumph of street urchin chic and industrial textures contrasted with satirically fine garments for the corporate elite. Dirty windows were projection screens for designer Joe Payne<\/b>; cleverly detailed sound effects and reinforcement were from Mike Ponder<\/b>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Hinting at a neo-Brechtian structure of communicating with the audience directly, the plot\u2019s satiric quasi-narration comes from the character of Officer Lockstock (Norm Boucher<\/b>) who symbolically controls the production from a steampunk-esque panel of heavy electrical throw-switches. He\u2019s joined in the narration\/exposition\u2014including self-serving ridicule of musicals themselves\u2014by the street orphan, Little Sally (Crystal-Marie Alberson<\/b>). Alberson\u2019s energetic physical comedy is one of the performance highlights of the production, illuminating a character loaded with depressing curiosity, Debby-Downer fatalism, and pesky street urchin reality.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the action is set at \u201cPublic Amenity No. 9,\u201d \u201cone of the poorest, filthiest urinals in town,\u201d run by Penelope Pennywise (Charlotte Munson<\/b>) and her assistant, the young hero, Bobby Strong (Jade Arnold<\/b>). Munson made her Pennywise a comedic and vocal masterpiece, especially with the number \u201cIt\u2019s a Privilege To Pee.\u201d Bobby Strong has his eye on Hope Cladwell (played with delicious naivet\u00e9 by Brittany Marie Pirozzoli<\/b>), not realizing she is the daughter of Caldwell B. Cladwell (Peter Kevoian<\/b>), the head of the government-supported enterprise\u2014Urine Good Company\u2014that continues to profit from the need-to-pee of the poor citizenry. Kevoian, seen last December as Fezziwig in A Christmas Carol<\/i>, wallows in some brilliant comic ruthlessness with his number \u201cDon\u2019t Be the Bunny\u201d, symbolic advice given to Hope to \u201ctoughen up.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Osetek and his choreographer, Christie Zimmerman<\/b>, have given the production a real vibrant buzz and spark via the ensemble of secondary characters that weave rhythm and punctuation into the scenes of the put-upon citizenry. Of course, driving that rhythm and punctuation is the music score handled solidly by a five member ensemble under the crisp direction of CBT faculty member Terry Silver-Alford<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of the narration, Lockstock tells Little Sally that this is not a happy musical and eventually everyone loses. But, let\u2019s be honest: that\u2019s there for the Brecht-ophiles. The truth is this is a production of top-notch performances, driving energy, and satisfying sardonic wit. For those in the audience laughing way too hard\u2014as some did on opening night\u2014just remember: you\u2019ll have to wait for intermission to use the public amenity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Urinetown, the Musical<\/em><\/strong> continues at the Clarence Brown Theatre through May 6. Performance schedule<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Correction: In a previous version of this review, the character “Caldwell B. Cladwell” was incorrectly called “Coldwell B. Cladwell”.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One good rule of theatre: seize comic irony when it falls in your lap. As the audience arrived for the opening night of the Clarence Brown Theatre\u2019s production of Urinetown, the Musical, they had to pass by the theatre\u2019s new and still under-construction restroom facilities that sported a subtle signage tie-in to Urinetown over its…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[22],"tags":[137,156,902,904,591,903,901],"class_list":["post-27630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theatre","tag-charlotte-munson","tag-clarence-brown-theatre","tag-crystal-marie-alberson","tag-peter-kevoian","tag-terry-silver-alford","tag-urinetown","tag-william-osetek"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artsknoxville.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/CBT_UrinetownEnsemble.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96TJ0-7bE","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28773,"url":"https:\/\/artsknoxville.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/27\/top-ten-most-read-arts-knoxville-stories-of-2018\/","url_meta":{"origin":27630,"position":0},"title":"Top Ten Most Read Arts Knoxville Stories of 2018","author":"Alan Sherrod","date":"December 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"By Alan Sherrod \u00a0 Over the last week, we\u2019ve taken a look back at 2018 and its memorable music performances, as well as the enlightening Top Ten lists from film critics Andrew Swafford and Reid Ramsey. 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