A review of “Urinetown: The Musical,” not the place.

Last week, “Urinetown: The Musical”, after a two week run, concluded as the first production in Hamline University’s PPC 95th performance season. “Urinetown: The Musical” featured a cast of 24 actors and a creative team of 10 composed of Hamline PPC faculty, staff and students, and guest artists.

“Urinetown: The Musical” is a two-act show with a runtime of two hours, with a 15-minute intermission between each act. Despite the show’s length, the energy during each musical number was able to make you feel like you were only there for only an hour, which was shocking when intermission as the immersion into the story was broken for a bit.

The performance opened with Officer Lockstock, played by junior Asher Gettings, who serves as narrator as he and Little Sally, played by sophomore Aura Bafna, introduce us to the musical through fourth wall breaks and warn us that the show will not have a not-so-happy ending as the opening number begins.

As we move through Act 1, the audience is transported from the Anne Simley Theatre to Public Amenity Nine, a urinal under the control of the Urine Good Company (UGC), where residents have to pay a fee to use it; otherwise, it is off to Urinetown with them.

Throughout the musical, we follow the protagonists of the musical, Bobby Strong and Hope Cladwell (played by seniors Alex Bailey and Maria Garcia, respectively,) as Bobby and the residents fight against the UGC after Bobby’s father, Old Man Strong (played by Sophomore Liam Schrom,) is whisked away to Urinetown.

Meanwhile, Hope has just returned from university to work at her father’s, Caldwell B. Cladwell (played by sophomore Max Oliver-Manchua), company, who portrays the fees as a good thing and a necessity. The two protagonists later meet and fall for each other and Hope’s words of “follow your heart” led Bobby to start a rebellion against the UGC and the fees.

Later, it is revealed to Bobby and the residents that Hope is Caldwell’s daughter, and after confronting the residents, they take Hope with them as they escape the UGC and the police.

As we transition to Act 2, once again, Officer Lockstock and Little Sally welcome us back to the show and update the audience on what went down after the chase. The residents take Hope as a hostage as they hide from Cladwell and the police, as Bobby and his mother, Josephine Strong, played by senior Maggie Paoli, gather the other Public Amenities in their cause. Later, Bobby meets with Cladwell at UGC, where he offers cash and amnesty to the residents in return for adherence to the new fees.

However, Bobby refuses and is escorted to Urinetown by the cops and meets an unfortunate end; however, as Little Sally returns, we learn of Bobby’s fate and last words telling the rebels to fight for what’s right and that the time is now. To which Hope and the rebels storm the UGC, her father is happy at his daughter’s return until he sees the rebels in tow. After pleading to the people, he meets the same fate as many before. With him gone, the days of paying a fee are over, and the residents rejoice.

However, as Lockstock said earlier, the musical does not have a happy ending, as the residents enjoy using the amenities without a fee, and soon the residents’ joy fades. As the residents soon learn that despite the fees from the UGC, Cladwell kept the water supply from depleting and made sure they still had water to drink.

Afterward, the residents turned on hope, and she had the same fate as her father and many before her. As the residents come to learn that this has always been Urinetown, the place they were taught to fear being sent to, was actually the place they lived in the whole time.

Overall, “Urinetown: The Musical”, through the multitude of musical numbers, lighting and sound cues tied with satire and the occasional fourth wall breaks, conveyed a story a little too close to home but also provided a show where we can laugh at the similarities without falling into total hopelessness.

With all that being said, my rating for “Urinetown: The Musical” is a 10/10.