Dry Wit

originally published November 7, 2007

Filled with Symbolism and Things Like That: The UGA Department of Theatre & Film Studies opens its production of Urinetown, directed and choreographed by Mirla Criste, on Nov. 8. Though it premiered at New York’s annual Fringe Festival, Urinetown obtained unexpected mainstream success after a Broadway run and wins at the 2002 Tonys for Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann’s book and score. In the contemporary theatre landscape in which the majority of new works are either adaptations of blockbuster movies or insipid jukebox musicals, Urinetown is refreshingly original.

Set in a dystopian future, the plot revolves around a town in which a 20-year drought has wreaked havoc. A malevolent, monopolizing corporation takes advantage of the hard times by making them profitable. Private toilets are outlawed, and everyone must either pay for the privilege to use public restrooms or face severe consequences. Officer Lockstock, played by Norman Ferguson, narrates and participates in the action in a way that evokes Cabaret’s Emcee, and Little Sally (Angela Guzman) is his precocious, Annie-like sidekick. After a fee increase is strictly enforced by Mrs. Pennywise (Koqunia Forte) at the local Public Amenity Number Nine, Bobby Strong (Scotty Gannon) leads a band of rebel ragamuffins against Urine Good Company (the show can’t resist easy pee jokes) and its CEO, Caldwell B. Cladwell (Rob Glidden). Bobby finds love along the way to revolution in the form of Cladwell’s daughter, Hope (Ruth Crews).

The show deconstructs the absurdities inherent to musical theatre through self-mockery and abundant satire of staples of the genre like 42nd Street and Evita. There’s plenty of underlying social and political commentary, too. The show simultaneously skewers both the good guys’ naive idealism, which is supported by little more than hollow platitudes about imaginary rivers flowing for freedom, and the values embodied by the villain - corrupt corporatism and privatization run amok.

You don’t have to be a musical theatre aficionado able to recognize subtle allusions to Big River or Bob Fosse to appreciate Urinetown. There is plenty of slapstick and general wackiness to entertain a broad audience, including those who typically don’t enjoy musicals. Plus, it’s a fortuitous parable for a region facing a potentially calamitous water shortage.

Urinetown plays at UGA’s Fine Arts Theatre Nov. 8–9 and 13–16 at 8 p.m., and Nov. 11 and 18 at 2:30 p.m. Get advance tickets, which are $12 for UGA students and seniors and $15 for everyone else, at the University Theatre Box Office (706-542-2838), between noon and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Insanity Practically Gallops in the Family: Arsenic and Old Lace, the 1941 Joseph Kesselring play immortalized in the 1944 film starring Cary Grant, is being staged at the Historic Elbert Theatre in a production directed by Nan Teasley. When theatre critic Mortimer Brewster (Rob Leverett) visits his family in Brooklyn to announce his engagement, he learns that his brother (Mark Haltom), who believes that he is Teddy Roosevelt, is actually his least deranged relative. His two aunts (Karen Hardy and Terry Bradshaw), he is shocked to discover, cheerily poison gentlemen visitors on a regular basis with their special mix of arsenic, strychnine, cyanide, and elderberry wine. While Mortimer frantically reacts when he finds one of their 12 victims, the elderly Brewster sisters are all nonchalant smiles. The situation becomes even more complicated when Mortimer’s long-lost brother Jonathan (Jack Fricks), whose favorite pastime as a child was cutting worms in two with his teeth, unexpectedly returns home with a new face freshly sculpted by Dr. Einstein (Bob Paul). Clever self-referential and macabre humor peppers the plot of this farcical murder mystery. Shows are Nov. 8 and 10 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 11 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door. 100 S. Oliver St. in Elberton, (706) 283-1049, www.elberttheatre.org.

Familiar High Jinks: Neil Simon is perhaps the most commercially successful playwright of the latter half of the 20th century. His The Odd Couple has made a particularly indelible mark in the pop culture zeitgeist. Since its premiere on Broadway in 1965, The Odd Couple has been refashioned into a 1968 film adaptation, a 1998 on-screen sequel, a sold-out 2005 Broadway revival, a successful sitcom, a short-lived sitcom that recast the characters with African-American actors, and even a Saturday morning cartoon that transformed Felix Unger into Spiffy the cat and Oscar Madison into Fleabag the dog. It’s not surprising, then, that there has also been a derivative take with gender adjustments. The female version of The Odd Couple, with changes made by Simon himself, opened on Broadway 20 years after the original. Simon’s sort of spin-off turns a mere few degrees away from the script of the original production. Florence and Olive play Trivial Pursuit instead of poker, drink Diet Pepsi instead of Coke, and rebound after their divorces with Spanish brothers instead of British sisters. The well-worn comic formula is kept comfortably intact. Terry Powell directs this slightly different take on the classic squabbling roommates for Athens Creative Theatre. The play will be the first performance for ACT’s new all-female repertoire company and will be tackled by two separate casts. Olive will be played by Mita Matthews-Morgan and Aimee Dowd, while Leslie Hardigree and Patsy Benson will play Florence. The Spanish brothers will be femmed up when they are taken on by Jade Fernandez and Cait Culpepper in both casts. See the gender swap at Quinn Hall in Memorial Park Nov. 15-17 at 7:30 p.m. and at 3 p.m. on Nov. 18. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors, and $10 for children and students. Reserve tickets by calling the box office at 706-613-3628.

Art is Alive: See living, breathing, three-dimensional recreations of works by Van Gogh, Warhol, Degas, Vermeer, and others with musical accompaniment at the Lyndon House Arts Center. Tickets are $22 and include a cocktail hour (6:30 – 7:30 p.m.) of wine and cheese along with an intermission with coffee and dessert. Performances are Nov. 8 & 9 from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Note that the weekend performances have been cancelled. Call 706-613-3628 for reservations. Living Masterpieces is a charitable event benefiting the Dreammakers Fund that aids Athens-area children.

Jennifer Bryant