Every director has a list of productions they want to direct before their career ends, Ball State University theatre professor Michael Daehn said. Tonight, Daehn will be able to check one production off his list.
"Urinetown" is a comedy about a city in the midst of a 20-year drought. The water shortage has eliminated the private toilet, and Urine Good Company controls all restrooms.
Sophomore Tommy Bullington, who plays Officer Barrel, said "Urinetown" is a production that doesn't take itself entirely seriously.
"The show is a musical that pokes fun at many other musicals and the genre as a whole. It is very self-aware that it is what it is," he said.
People in the town must pay to use the restroom, which divides the rich and the poor of the community. If the urinary laws are broken and a person can't pay, the perpetrator is sent to a penal colony called Urinetown, from which no one returns.
The lead roles of the production will be played by sophomore Michael Warrell as Bobby Strong, a young man who stages a rally against the city, and sophomore Ashton Napier as Hope Cladwell, daughter of Urine Good Company's CEO.
"'Urinetown' is almost the perfect college play," Daehn said. "It has catchy music, is very cleverly written, has a little romance, a little fighting, a lot of comedy and actually deals with real ecological issues."
Daehn said the musical is "about a subject that any Ball State student who's ever had a few beers is intimately familiar with: the need to pee!"
"Urinetown" won the 2002 Tony Awards for Best Director and Best Original Score and was nominated for seven other Tony Awards.
"It is one of the best dark comedies in Broadway history," Daehn said. "Even those who don't usually like Broadway or think it is boring like it."
Bullington said if nothing else the title of "Urinetown" should make a student want to see it.
"Everyone usually goes into a musical thinking, 'Oh, this is just going to be cheesy singing and dancing,'" Bullington said. "The beauty of 'Urinetown' is that it breaks the stereotypes of musicals."
"Urinetown" will run at 7:30 p.m. today through Saturday. A matinee will be performed at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. The show will resume Wednesday and run through April 7. Tickets are $6.50 for students, $11.50 for faculty and $12.50 for the public.
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