"Urinetown" is a Tony-winning musical-comedy satire

Theater review |

Despite its off-putting title, "Urinetown: The Musical " is a Tony Award-winning comic musical. It has keen satire that targets corporate greed, political corruption and sappy love, and it spoofs musical theater itself.

Underlying the frivolity, there's a warning against rampant consumerism and a reminder of the power of concerted action. Too much for one theater piece, you may think, but you'd be wrong.

For the modestly scaled SecondStory Repertory in Redmond, it's quite an ambitious effort. But it works beautifully, and it's easy to like.

Assume a 20-year drought and a desperate water shortage. Assume a greedy corporation that, through political connections and bribery, controls all the water and all the toilets in town. Everyone must pay outrageous fees to use company-controlled public amenities. If caught urinating elsewhere, they face exile to Urinetown. No one ever returns from Urinetown.

There's a rebellion, a handsome hero, a lovely maiden, a love story. Of course there are tragic consequences; of course there's a surprise ending. And by the time the play concludes, the audience has been regaled with a tongue-in-cheek revue of musical theater from Sigmund Romberg to Andrew Lloyd Webber.

SecondStory director Stephanie Farhood has pulled together an energetic cast that excels in ensemble work. Though weak in solos, their well-blended voices belt out the chorus numbers while executing snappy dances creatively choreographed by Kristin Culp. The five-piece orchestra under the direction of Kimberly Dare provides just the right accompaniment.

Vince Wingerter, a standout as romantic lead Bobby Strong, is really good in solo numbers. And wouldn't you know it? Strong, who leads the rebellion, falls in love with Hope (prettily played by Brooke Hills) despite efforts by police officer Lockstock (an officious Mark Waldstein) and her father Caldwell B. Cladwell (a blustering Buddy Mahoney) to prevent it.

There's a "wink-wink, nudge-nudge" at every turn in this satire. To borrow from the script, "You gotta go!"