Urinetown: The Musical
Posted Mar 19, 2012 9:12 AM
Performances:March 28th-31st @7:30pm and April 1st @2:30pm (Gillespy Theatre, News Journal )
Analyzing structure of Urinetown.
Within this particular play there is quite a bit of activity going on within the conflict, its representation, a phenomenal climax. Among other things we have our deeply interesting characters and there want’s. Our subject matter of this production is, is quite complex and intricate, subtle nuances of politics. Now the overarching idea of this play really depends upon your own view, mine however is more off the idea of stability and anarchy and its meaning to me. The structure of this play which I will go more detail later seems to be a cross between Climactic and Melodrama.
We are faced here with a situation of severe drought within the this time period, thus everyone must pay to pee. This is what keeps the supply of water running, (no pun intended) by recycling the urine and using the water to keep everything up and running. However, we have a populous that is beyond any logical reason poor, to the point where no one can quite literally afford a pot to piss in. This creates the majority of the energy, atmosphere, and conflict within the story and the characters that are directly involved in the plot.
The main character Bobby Strong (see image below)
http://southwestern.edu/su_blogs/megaphone/2010/03/05/urinetown/
is the hero of the story and represents change and somewhat the ignorance of youth in this instance. He is enraged at the rich corporation stays rich at the expense of the people. The recurring problem within the show is the fact that the people of this city cannot afford to pee 95 the percent of the time, and thus Bobby’s father is arrested for public urination and sent to “Urinetown”, this only accentuates the sense of injustice within him and how things are running. Bobby drives the plot for the most part by in sighting an uprising to fight the corporations unjust treatment of people and the “cash” flow.
To elaborate a little bit further over the subtleties of the main “villain” the plot is driven by society vs anarchy. The fact that a huge corporation that is spinning a song of greed, sex, and murder creates a sense of corruption as well as a minor relation to some of the stereotypes one might have on corporate America today. These practices (however very farfetched) of suppressing and murdering your people to keep the “whole system” working may in some cases be the necessary evil to keep a post-apocalyptic type society running.
My personal opinion on this particular idea is unlike most….I may not agree with the practices, however one must do what is needed to be done to keep everything working. They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, however the intentions of the corporation was mainly have money and go to Rio. Given the set of circumstances one may have to cut off the limb to save the rest of the body. It is an unfortunate truth that to get to the end result of having society in this state function one must get your hands dirty.
Now to go more into the structure of the play I do believe it to be a hybrid so to speak considering the “parody” element to the show. We have the narrator who constantly informs the audience on what is going on as well as purposely breaking the 4th wall. This adds an element of awareness between the audience as well as the cast. Now as far as the melodramatic/climatic structure of the show, we are given the main conflict between society vs (itself in a way) anarchy. This is brought to light early on when the exposition of how the city is being run in order to keep the water flowing and keeping the predominantly tyrannical rein of the corporation up and running and the cash flowing. We have the rising actions of when Bobby allows people to “go” for free and starts the rebellion. After the rebellion is formed and Hope is “kidnapped” and the battle ensues in the streets between the police and the rebels. Finally the point of no return is when Hope takes over the corporation and allows all to go whenever and where ever they please, this leads (arguably) to the solution to the main conflict when all of the society goes down the toilet.
