Urinetown

About the show

Officer Lockstock, a policeman, grimly welcomes the audience, assisted by the street urchin Little Sally. According to the pair, a twenty-year drought has caused a terrible water shortage, making private toilets unthinkable. All restroom activities are done in public toilets (Public Amenities) controlled by a megacorporation called "Urine Good Company" (referred to as the UGC). To control water consumption, citizens have to pay to use the Amenities ("Too Much Exposition"). There are harsh laws ensuring that people pay to urinate, and if the laws are broken, the offender is sent to a place called "Urinetown", 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 everyman Bobby Strong. Trouble ensues when Bobby's father Joseph "Old Man" Strong, unable to afford his daily urinal admission, asks Pennywise to let him go for free "just this once." After Old Man Strong's plea is dismissed ("It's a Privilege to Pee"), he urinates on the street, and Officers Lockstock and Barrel soon arrest him and escort him off to Urinetown ("It's a Privilege to Pee (Reprise)"). Later that day, in the corporate offices of Urine Good Company, CEO Caldwell B. Cladwell is discussing the new fee hikes with Senator Fipp, a politician firmly in Cladwell's pocket, when Cladwell's beautiful daughter, Hope Cladwell, arrives as the UGC's new fax/copy girl. As an introduction, the UGC staff sing a song praising their leader ("Mr. Cladwell"). Officers Lockstock and Barrel discuss the journey to Urinetown and how it reduces everyone, even the toughest, to screams ("The Cop Song"). Hope enters and encounters Bobby, who is distraught over his father's arrest and wonders if he could have done something to prevent it. Hope advises Bobby to follow his heart, and the two realize that they both want a happier world where people can pee for free. United by their belief, they fall in love ("Follow Your Heart"). Little Sally asks Officer Lockstock what Urinetown is like, but Lockstock replies that its power lies in its mystery and he cannot flippantly reveal that "there is no Urinetown, we just kill people", and that the reveal will not come until Act II, "with everybody singing and things like that." The next day, Cladwell's assistant, Mr. McQueen, announces the new fee hikes set upon the urinals. Bobby concludes that the laws are wrong. Opening the doors of the urinal, despite Ms. Pennywise's protests, he begins a pee-for-free rebellion ("Look at the Sky"). Pennywise rushes to the offices of UGC, where she informs Cladwell of the revolution. The two share a moment, but are interrupted by the situation at hand. Cladwell vows to crush the rebellion, frightening Hope, then uses a series of increasingly convoluted metaphors involving killing a bunny to tell Hope that their privilege and responsibility is to oppress the poor ("Don't Be the Bunny"). Cladwell, McQueen, Fipp, Pennywise, Lockstock and Barrel arrive at Amenity #9 to snuff out the uprising. Learning that Hope is Cladwell's daughter, Bobby realizes that the only way out of the trap is to kidnap Hope to use as leverage against Cladwell. The rebels make a poor escape with Hope as their hostage. The police give chase, but the slow-motion choreography makes it impossible for the police to catch them. Lockstock vows to catch the poor as he tells the audience to enjoy intermission ("Act I Finale"). Lockstock welcomes everyone back and tells the audience that the rebels, with their hostage Hope, are in hiding. The rebels wonder what Urinetown is, and two of them, Little Becky Two-Shoes and Hot Blades Harry, explain their theories. Cladwell orders Lockstock to search harder for the rebels, threatening to send everyone to Urinetown if Hope is not found. Bobby and his mother Josephine hand out memos to the other Assistant Custodians, hoping that they will join them. Bobby is sure that Urinetown is nothing but a lie designed to scare the poor people. Lockstock catches Little Sally, but his threat of Urinetown doesn't work, because according to her, they are already there; it "isn't so much a place as it is a metaphysical place" that they are all in, including Lockstock. She escapes before Lockstock can ask her what "metaphysical" means. ("What is Urinetown?") Convinced that Bobby, Josephine, and Little Sally have been captured, the rebels, particularly Hot Blades Harry and Little Becky Two-Shoes, decide that the best way to get revenge on Cladwell is to kill Hope ("Snuff That Girl"). They are interrupted by Bobby, who encourages the rebels to abandon revenge and instead focus on the effort toward freedom for all the town's inhabitants ("Run, Freedom, Run!"). Invigorated, the poor rally around Bobby, but balk at his statement that the violent fight could take decades. Just then, Pennywise bursts into the secret hideout and tells Bobby that Cladwell wants him to come to the UGC headquarters. Bobby goes, but only after the impatient rebels remind him that if anything happens to him, Hope will be killed. Pennywise fiercely swears that if any of the rebels harm Hope, she will have Bobby sent off to Urinetown. Bobby says goodbye to Hope, apologizes, and tells her to think of what they have ("Follow Your Heart (Reprise)"). At the UGC headquarters, Bobby is offered a suitcase full of cash and full amnesty to the rebels as long as Hope is returned and the people agree to the new fee hikes. Bobby refuses, and demands free access for the people. Cladwell orders the cops to escort Bobby to Urinetown—even if it means that the rebel poor will kill Hope. Horrified, Pennywise marvels at the depth of Cladwell's evil. Cladwell has her arrested as well. She, Hope, and Fipp sing of their regrets of falling for Cladwell's schemes. Meanwhile, Bobby is led to the top of the UGC building, and learns the truth: Urinetown is death. Lockstock and Barrel throw him off the building, killing him. ("Why Did I Listen To That Man?"). Little Sally returns to the hideout in a shocked daze, having just heard Bobby's last words. The ghost of Bobby sings, along with Little Sally, his last words, which are directed to Hope ("Tell Her I Love Her"). Just as the rebels are about to murder Hope in revenge, Pennywise enters and offers herself instead, proclaiming herself to be Hope's mother. Hope then convinces the rebels to let her lead them, and she, Penny, and the rebels march to the UGC offices. En route, they kill Officer Barrel (who had just confessed his love to a non-reciprocal Lockstock), Senator Fipp, and Mrs. Millennium (a UGC employee, typically double-cast with Little Becky Two-Shoes) ("We're Not Sorry"). Hope reveals to her father that she is still alive. Cladwell is overjoyed, until the rest of the poor reveal themselves. Hope tells him that his reign of terror is over, and after he and Pennywise reminisce about their past romance ("We're Not Sorry (Reprise)"), he is led to the top of the UGC building and thrown off. With the town finally at peace, the age of fear is over and the toilets are made free to use. Lockstock reappears and explains that he has not been killed by the rebels, as killing the narrator would end the show prematurely. He then informs the audience that the town's limited water supply has quickly disappeared, due to resource mismanagement by a popularity-obsessed Hope. The remaining townsfolk, dying of thirst, are led in a march by Hope. Lockstock wraps up loose ends, and insinuates that the townsfolk eventually killed Hope. The townsfolk sing that "This [town] is Urinetown! Always it's been Urinetown!", and Lockstock closes the show with the cry "Hail Malthus!", which the townsfolk repeat. ("I See A River").