feeling flush at CTC’s urinetown. Dystopia, the opposite of utopia, is not an uncommon a sight in American drama. Think of plays such as Waiting for Godot and films such as Bladerunner. Think of the spectacle of the current Bush administration. Briefly. My point is, Americans conscious of the forces that have spawned such work would hardly expect a drama titled Urinetown: The Musical (UTM) to paint a vision of paradise. So, the fairest question that can be put to The Cascades Theatrical Company's current production of UTM (playing at the Tower Theater) is: "How well does it paint its particular vision of dystopia – given the expressive possibilities of the stage, as opposed to the screen, and of musical comedy, as opposed to, say, 'straight' drama?"
Urinetown: The Musical is a Tony-winning work that, according to
Wikipedia, "rejects musical theatre convention, parodying . . . shows
such as Les Misérables . . . and West Side Story." Pu-leez. UTM's book,
like "Les Mis's," pits have-nots against haves, and, like West Side
Story's, heightens dramatic conflict to the plane of life and death.
But when leads Bobby Strong (Ricky Johnson) and Hope Cladwell (Briana
Jayne Hinchliffe) harmonize unreservedly about "love," "peace" and
"tomorrow," what's "shattered," if anything, is the pretense that even
such a hoary convention as poor-boy-and-rich-girl-meet-and-fall-in-love
are interrogated, much less demolished, by UTM.
