Guest Column: Urine Luck, With Four Versions of "Urinetown" Coming Your Way

Imagine a bleak, dystopian world where water is so scarce that citizens are compelled by law to use pay toilets, and "it's a privilege to pee." Now imagine it set to music. Now imagine four different East Bay high schools picking it for their 2011 musical show. 

is staging a production of , the Tony award-winning musical, which opened Thursday and . And, according to Music Theatre International, which licenses the show for school and professional use, will follow in March. Berkeley High and  will put up the show in April.

The schools aren't actually in competition—neither Albany nor Berkeley High were even aware that the other had picked the same show. But Urinetown has proven popular with high schools for its arch humor. 

Sarah Samonsky, art and theater teacher at Albany High, said, "It's crazy how the same idea comes up like that. I believe we actually read our times and we come up with similar solutions."

The musical is dark satire, skewering everything from capitalism and municipal politics to the Broadway musical itself, evident from the start as Officer Lockstock and Little Sally lay out the premise with "Too Much Exposition."

The comedy made a splash on Broadway in 2001, with John Cullum as Caldwell B. Cladwell, the evil CEO of Urine Good Company, which runs the pay toilets all citizens are required to use. The show won two Tony awards, including for Best Book of a Musical, which playwright Greg Kotis was inspired to write after an unfortunate encounter with pay toilets in Europe while traveling as a student.

Albany High vocal teacher Mary Stocker said, though it's not her first show, it's felt novel.

"In my three years at Albany, I've heard of and been through unfunded musicals, no musicals, or awkward-karma musicals," she said. "This is my first experience working with a close-knit, cohesive, spirited, hardworking group of talented musicians, artists, techies and actors in a dynamic theater setting, and I'm so proud to be working with them."

The project has brought students together, and taught skills that extend beyond the arts, she added.

"The students learn teamwork, effort, diligence, focus, and what it means to do something beyond yourself—to work for a common goal that is bigger than any one actor or crew hand. It's simply wonderful," she said.

Stocker also directs the five-person pit band, which includes. The musical is directed by Andrea Hart, who directed many of the same actors in last fall's production of Arthur Miller's .

Albany High freshman Cordy Driussi, who played a young girl feigning demonic possession in The Crucible, plays Urinetown's Little Sally, innocently but earnestly asking narrator Lockstock the question anyone might: "What kind of musical is this???"

But Driussi, the actor, said she appreciates it for what it is: "Urinetown isn't what I expected when I heard of a comedy. When I think of comedy, I don't think of a whole lot of satire, but the script and the way we've pieced it together makes it all funny."

Phil Gorman, music director for Berkeley High's production, described the musical as one of his favorites, and echoed Stocker's enthusiasm for working with young actors. 

"I love working with high school students who actively pursue musical theater," said Gorman. "They generally have an eagerness to work on technique and enough self-awareness to know how. Further, the camaraderie that forms in a high school cast is like none other. Lifelong friends are made putting up shows together, and it's thrilling to be a part of that."

Those pulling together the Albany High production said they hope it will help bring new life to a musical theater program that has .

They've turned to the Web, with Facebook, and arts fundraising site Kickstarter, to promote the production and secure additional support. Awards for sponsorship include show props autographed by the cast and crew, authentic Albany High theater hoodies, and at least one generous donor has signed up to get a “shout out” in the play itself. 

The show has Friday and Saturday, and . 

Four different high school productions of the same show in one season affords a unique opportunity to explore high school theater programs, and the different choices made by directors, actors and crews.

Said Driussi, "I'm not surprised that so many schools are doing it at the same time, because it is such an amazing play, with a lot of flexibility as to how to set it up, and who can play each part; and it's a challenge, which is what high schoolers like to tackle."

[Editor's Note: Ross Stapleton-Gray has helped with the Urinetown fundraising effort.]

Everybody makes mistakes ... ! If there's something in this article you think should be corrected, or if something else is amiss, give editor Emilie Raguso a ring at 510-459-8325 or shoot her an e-mail at emilier@patch.com.