Sound Ideas Theatre Company

Urinetown: The Musical
Truth, Hope and Love are more than a just a pipe-dream.

Greg Kotis, author of Urinetown, conceived the original idea after encountering a pay-per-use toilet whilst travelling in Europe, something that is still a regular concept all over London. He began writing the award-winning Book shortly after, joining with Mark Hollmann, composer and lyricist. The original Broadway production of Urinetown was nominated for 10 Tony awards, winning for best book, score and direction.

Urinetown: The Musical is a social and political satire set in a dystopian future where a terrible 20-year drought has crippled the city’s water supplies. Water is so scarce that the government enforces a ban on all private toilets in an effort to control water consumption.

The citizens of our story must now use the public, pay-per-use amenities owned and operated by Urine Good Company (UGC), a private malevolent corporation run by the corrupt Caldwell B. Cladwell. Citizens who try to circumvent the peeing-fee by relieving themselves in the bushes risk being taken away to Urinetown, a mysterious place where many have been sent, never to return.

The oppressed masses huddle in line at the poorest, filthiest urinal in town, Public Amenity #9, which is run by the rigid, harshly authoritarian Penelope Pennywise and her assistant, dashing young rebel Bobby Strong. With fee increases in the pipeline, the poor rise up under the leadership of Bobby to fight the tyrannical regime for the right to make the public amenities free for all to use.

Urinetown is a hilarious and resonating tale of greed, corruption, love, and revolution in a time when water is worth its weight in gold, painfully relevant and relatable in a society so quick to waste.