Bev Likes "Urinetown"!

I knew she would:

Starting the show is Tev Ditter as Officer Lockstock, whose partner is Officer Barrel (Steve Mo). Ditter is square-jawed and steely eyed, someone you expect to have just walked off the pages of a Dick Tracy cartoon. Lockstock is the narrator of the show, telling the story to Little Sally. The two make fun of both the show and of musical theater.

Little Sally (Cassie March), a street kid, wise beyond her years, warns people that this is not a happy musical, but Lockstock knows that, as narrator, nothing bad can happen to him.

Private toilets have been outlawed, and now the public must pay to use the restroom. These public amenities are run by corporate giant UGC (Urine Good Company), headed by the evil Caldwell B. Cladwell (Richard Spierto).

If citizens relieve themselves in public or refuse to pay the fee, they are sent off to the dreaded Urinetown, a secret place that Lockstock promises the audience will be revealed in Act 2.

Bobby Strong (an impressive performance by Joshua Smith), is the janitor at the poorest, dirtiest facility in the worst part of town, run by Penny Pennywise. Strong decides to start a revolution after his father, Old Man Strong (Adam Sartain), is arrested for urinating in the street when he has no money to pay to use the facilities.

Pennywise is played by Andrea Eve Thorpe, showing once again the breadth of her talent, playing a harsh, cruel penny-pincher who is hiding her own secret.

This show parodies such Broadway classics as “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Les Miserables” and “West Side Story” (among others), a triumph for choreographer Pamela Lourentzos, who hits her peak with the “Cop Song” and the Act 1 finale, both of which are stunning (and hilarious).

Costume designer Jean Henderson, whose costume design is always wonderful, hits highest marks with the “Fiddler on the Roof” spoof.

(The problem with reviewing this show is that a big part of the fun are the surprises that pop up, and I don’t want to give anything away!)

Despite the title, this show is a gem with an excellent story and songs, performed beautifully by the DMTC cast under Isaacson’s direction.