Wee love it

This area’s been flush with productions of Urinetown: The Musical—three since last April (Sacramento, Davis and currently Nevada City). This makes reviewing this third production by Foothill Theatre Company both difficult and easy. Difficult because we’ve already used up most of our pee and potty puns in other reviews. Easy because not only is this wickedly witty musical such fun to watch, it’s also fascinating to see such different takes of the same material.

Urinetown: The Musical masterfully manages to skew global warming, politicians, big business, overzealous police, environmental activists and every musical genre ever made. The premise is pretty simple, silly and subversive—after a 10-year drought, politicians and big business pose a fee-to-pee penalty. This urination legislation, backed by the Urine Good Company, has caused havoc in the land and pain in the patooties of the poor.

FTC’s production is a treat—not only do they nail the farcical humor, they also produce a first-class, No. 1—if you will—song-and-dance show. A special nod to directors Lynne Collins and Carolyn Howarth along with choreographer George Jayne for remembering that beneath the mockery resides a marvelous musical.

This is a large cast, all working hard at making it look easy. Most notable are Ted Barton as Officer Lockstock and the all-knowing narrator, Jenni Stephenson as sassy Little Sally, Katie Rubin as the meanie urinal monitor, Alice Grindling as the plucky heroine, Michael Thatcher (who wobbled in the beginning, but ended strong) as our hero, and Johnny Pomatto as the heartless copper.

So if you’re looking for fun, provocative entertainment, urine luck—this is one show wee highly recommend.