This is Urinetown!

Rehearsals for the fall musical at GW are in full swing!  With just less than two months until opening night, students began preparing their performance of Urinetown.

Wait, Urinetown?  As in pee?

No, that's not a typo. Urinetown is a musical comedy that first appeared on Broadway in the early 2000s.  A satire, it spoofs other famous musicals, including Les Mis and Fiddler on the Roof, all while making use of potty humor to relay a message about sustainability, overpopulation, and corporate greed.

Sounds like a lot for 90 minute musical, huh?

The magic of Urinetown is that it's not.  With memorable musical numbers, dances, and (dare I say) clever "pee jokes" you can't help but want more when the final curtain falls.

This week, the sixteen-member cast (including yours truly) began music rehearsals. Music director and pianist Patrick O'Donnell met with students individually and in small groups to go over the show's witty score.

Music Director Patrick O'Donnell helps cast members learn their music.

Cast members begin to review ensemble songs.

Below, you'll see a snippet of one song called "Mr. Cladwell." Caldwell B. Cladwell is a wealthy corporate executive. He lives in a community that has suffered a massive, decades-long drought. They are so low on water, community leaders regulate water consumption by forcing people to pay to pee. If they don't, they are sent to "Urinetown" (I'd tell you more, but I don't want to ruin the plot).

Mr. Cladwell's company runs the public bathrooms and regulates that fee to pee, all while he collects tons of profit.

Take a listen ...

Conflict arises in the show when a member of the poor community, Bobby Strong, starts an uprising to take down Cladwell and get rid of the fees.

Patrick O'Donnell leads a music rehearsal.

Daniel Fanelli (Cladwell) and Jonah Bannett (Mr. McQueen) rehearse.

Next week, the cast will begin learning the choreography to "Mr. Cladwell" as well as some other music ... more on that in a later post.

Urinetown is a joint production of the GW Department of Music and the Department of Theater and Dance.  It is directed by Muriel von Villas with music direction by Patrick O'Donnell.  The show runs Oct. 30 through Nov. 2 in the Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre.  More info about tickets can be found here.