The Meaning
By Emily Finke
Behind
Urinetown
This fall, the Menlo Upper School is putting on a production of the musical, Urinetown.
In the musical, town where the characters live has a water shortage. Therefore, the people cannot
have private toilets and must use the public toilets that you must pay to use. A private
corporation, Urine Good Company (UGC), runs these toilets. If the citizens of this town cannot
pay the fee or if they decide to pee somewhere other than the public toilets, they are sent to
Urinetown. The audience discovers that Urinetown is not actually a place but rather, a symbol
for death. The people being taken to “Urinetown” are actually being thrown off of a roof and
killed. Having been oppressed and denied basic human rights, the hero, Bobby Strong, takes
action and leads a rebellion against the company.
Urinetown is a very unusual musical through its use of literalism in the lines and lyrics. It
is typically considered to be a musical comedy, but its comical aspect comes through its
cynicism. At the beginning of the show, two of the characters, Little Sally and Officer Lockstock,
mock the show by breaking the “fourth wall” by telling the audience where the bathroom is.
Urinetown satirizes a typical musical through its storyline, song choice, and characters. For
example, the number, “Snuff That Girl” is an imitation of the song “Cool” from West Side Story.
The whole concept of the musical is absurd, as it seems as though nothing like what happens in
this musical could ever happen in real life. Nevertheless, Urinetown is a cold, exaggerated, reality
check on our present-day society.
On the surface, this musical seems like a light-hearted comedy that sounds ridiculous.
However, this musical is a reflection of our world today. It is a clear example of corruption in
authority. UGC takes advantage of an extremely unpleasant situation to earn money from people
who have barely any money to begin with. The UGC starts out as a company that seems to h