Urinetown a must-see at the Meteor
Amusical about bodily functions – now there’s an idea. Urinetown, whose all too brief run concludes at the Meteor Theatre on September 29, is, by title and content, a deliberate affront to good taste. How ironic that the need to excrete waste, one of the things that binds us together as human beings, is off the table so far as polite conversation goes.
Urinetown not only confronts that irony, it revels in it. There are song and dance numbers about urination.
Crossed-legged characters wear expressions of pain, in perpetual anticipation of relief. Lines are formed, pennies are counted. What could be more universal?
In an era when most musical theatre is content to rehash popular films, genuine satire is rare. Still more so on the local front, when the realities of the box office dictate that material be familiar to the public.
The recent success of the likes of Sister Act cannot be disputed. We like to see what we already know. If it isn’t Sister Act, it’s Mary Poppins or another revival of Rocky Horror, the local theatre equivalent of the endless superhero movies that have such a stranglehold on popular culture. Not necessarily a bad thing in the individual expression, but depressingly one note as a collective trend. There’s more to life than singing nuns, tuneful nannies or even sweet transvestites from Transsexual Transylvania.
There’s the urgent need to empty one’s bladder and the environmental impact of overpopulation. There’s the commercial and bureaucratic exploitation of these two realities. The economy and the politics of the bathroom.
A toilet tax looms in Auckland. Its possibilities have been mooted further south, too. All of which points to the contemporary relevance of a play whose Broadway debut unfortunately coincided with the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. If Osama Bin Laden’s wrath forced a solitary line change, nothing much has interfered with Urinetown since. If anything, as water tables continue to be challenged and musical theatre embraces the old cliches, material that’s at once political satire and self-referential parody, with wicked send-ups of everything from The Threepenny Opera and The Cradle Will Rock to West Side Story and Les Miserables, has grown more prescient.
The Hamilton production of Urinetown is proudly a Hamilton production. Whereas other local companies prefer to import their leading players, reflecting perhaps a lack of faith in Hamilton talent or even the mistaken belief that Hamiltonians will not turn out to see their own, Bold Theatre, the production outfit we can thank for bringing the play to the Meteor, demonstrate both loyalty and courage. The cast are all local and the cast are all magnificent. There’s a special pleasure is seeing performers with whom you are acquainted.
Veterans like Taniora Robinson, Maria Eaton and Julia Watkins confirm their reputations every time they step upon a stage. Robinson delights in a dual role, his facial antics as the sycophantic Mr McQueen a particular pleasure.
Watkins is simply the city’s best actress, a towering presence as Miss Pennywise, administrator of the ‘‘filthiest urinal in town’’.
It’s equally thrilling to be surprised by actors you had underestimated or pigeonholed. Antony Aiono, known for his comedy and writing skills, is a revelation as the romantic lead Bobby Strong, hitting all the right notes musically and comedically and managing a degree of poignancy as well. My pick of the cast, though, would be KM Adams as the narrator, Officer Lockstock, a part as good as the Emcee in Cabaret. Adams wrings every drop of ironic, post-modern wit from knowing dialogue but also sings and dances with rare aplomb. Her chemistry with Anika Hayes’ Little Sally, who is also excellent in her own right, is one of the fundamental strengths of the production.
If there were ever any questions over the suitability of the Meteor’s black box space to host a major musical Urinetown surely puts them to bed. Having enjoyed Sister Act at the Clarence Street Theatre earlier in the year, I would suggest that whatever the Meteor might lack in capacity, it makes up for in comparative intimacy and superior sound.
It’s a further vindication of investment in the space. Pleasing, too, that the problems with the car park have been overcome.
Bold Theatre’s next production, scheduled for April 2019, is called God of Carnage. Ironically enough, the material is best known for a film adaptation directed by Roman Polanski. If Urinetown is anything to go by, I’m sure the Bold Theatre thespians will make it their own.