I have been fortunate enough to have watched many of the public productions from students at The Arden over the last few years, and have always tried my best to get to the musicals (my first love!). Some have made a greater impact on me than others, but all have had a vitality and urgency which is sometimes sadly missing from the big pro tours. And this production of Urinetown was no different. One of my favourite musicals, Urinetown is a parody of a parody, taking neither itself nor the genre too seriously. The joy of watching this show is knowing that the writers have improved upon something which Berthold Brecht started!
The show is set in a mythical American city, perhaps we call it, just for the sake of argument, Urinetown. The city has been experiencing years of draught and a large corporation The UGC (Urine Good Company) have taken control of the limited supplies. It sounds like something which is happening already doesn't it.... but there's an added extra catch... the good citizens of the city, even the very poorest, have to pay to use public conveniences, controlled of course by the UGC and the police who are on their payroll. No-one can go to the toilet in their own homes, no-one is allowed to use the bushes, in fact, anyone caught doing their 'business' anywhere other than the state-controlled payable urinals is punished by being sent to 'urinetown'. A euphemistic phrase meaning they are taken by force to the big shiny skyscrapers owned by UGC and never heard of or seen again! To make matters worse, the greedy rich bosses and those in their pocket keep putting the charges up making it almost impossible for the poor to afford.
The hugely satirical (and intentionally so) musical mocks other musicals and other composers left right and centre, from (of course) The Threepenny Opera, right up to more modern fayre such as Les Miserables, with pretty much everything in between thrown in the mix for good measure. There's even a soaring Gospel showstopper half-way through act 2! Using the 'device' of the corrupt policeman also being the narrator, the show starts how it means to continue, as an actor, telling us that we are watching actors, knowing they are actors, despite us all buying into the conceit that we the audience are watching a show with 'real' characters in Urinetown.
The cast are all young - final year Musical Theatre students at The Arden in Manchester - and so some of the humour doesn't quite land and some of the characters become either slightly forced and false or too exaggerated. This is due, not to lack of talent (the students have this in abundance) but to lack of age and experience. (completely understandable and forgiveable).
Heading the strong cast was the highly personable and immediately likeable Ryan Davenport as our hero, Bobby Strong, with love interest provided for by the UGC boss's daughter, Hope Cladwell played (with a certain air of Audrey from Little Shop Of Horrors mixed with Marilyn Monroe this evening) by Rebecca Crookson. Officers Lockstock and Barrel were Dominic Wolff and Kloe Beswick, who worked well together although I do think a little more comedy could have been extracted from their pairing. Isabella Eades-Jones gave a solid and sincere performance as Little Sally, whilst Philip Dale enjoyed his malevolence as Cladwell, boss of all he surveys! However, for me this evening the "star" of the show was certainly Megan Davies-Truin as Miss Pennywise, whose brusque and ungainly manner concealed real tenderness, and her belt voice was just something else!
As always the musicals are accompanied by a live band, usually under the direction of Robert Purves, as was the case this evening. The overall sound was lovely, and the balance perfect. Something which wasn't acheived quite as well at my visit to the Royal Exchange to see Gypsy the previous evening! Tim Flavin was responsible for both the directing and choreography. The dance routines and the execution thereof were stunning, clever, and witty. The direction was solid, secure and catered well to the actors' individual abilities and characters with flair.
A very enjoyable and highly praiseworthy Urinetown indeed!
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 6/12/19
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