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2017-2018 | Our 59th Season | Issue 5 Authors Synopsis Inspirations IN THIS ISSUE IN THIS A social statement A

. tries Greg Les to

Urinetown

? StageNOTES, The ThreepennyThe

playfully explorespolitical a No one has the answer; and many other Urinetown

merely raises the questions.

Most of all, hopewe people have and

Urinetown What hope do you audiences take will

to speakto this to sense of that dread many people have aboutthe world…Comedy is about taming fear…Ouryour hope that is fearthe and dread can guide us to act in a thatkeeps way the future a welcoming place. Q: argument fromsides. both Do thinkyou showthe sides one particularwith political overview another? Hollmann: Urinetown Misérables musicals. anIn interview with Kotis, who thewrote book and lyrics and , composedwho the music provided some insights into Q: away from Kotis: a good time.Beyond that, buffs enjoy seeing will references everythingto from

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Urinetown

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enforced control of private June 10, 2018 June 10, -

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classic ‘Boy Meets Girl’ love story.” “At the“At same time thisof within tale greed, oppression and revolution,” said Jivoff, side “there is toilets, regulated by an evil corporation, GoodUrine , that charges admission for basic this need. The takes story place in a Gotham city, where a 20 government musical could be,” said Ray Jivoff, Skylightartistic director and director of production.the comedy in the script, this reallyis a entertaining Broadway musical that reinvigorated the very notion of what a capitalism, corporate mismanagement, politics and itself. “ get past theyou title,source a for Winner of , three musicalis a of class the system, Don't assume you're fine, goBest now, There often is a line.” You You have come to see What like when it’s people can’t pee free. First act lasts an hour, “You “You humbleour audience, Lyrics by Mark Hollmann Kotis and Greg Lyrics by by Book May 18 May Mark HollmannMusic by Thisavailableguide is online at skylightmusictheatre.org Writers Greg Kotis and Mark Hollman

Greg Kotis, (right) is a New York-based playwright, who specializes in dark, Season Sponsors disturbing comedies with socially relevant themes. He is best known for writing the book and co-writing the lyrics for Urinetown the Musical, his first musical.

Kotis grew up in Wellfleet, Massachusetts and studied political science at the University of . When he took a course on the Short Comic Scene, he realized that he wanted to be part of the theatre industry. He became a member of Off- Off Campus, the second oldest continuously running student improvisational theater troupe in the country. He also joined the Cardiff Giant Theatre Company and the Neo- Book writer/lyricist Greg Kotis Futurists.

In 1995 he and his wife, writer and actor Ayun Halliday, moved to New York and were part of the fringe theatre community until he started work on Urinetown.

Kotis is the author of many plays and musicals including Michael von Siebenburg Melts through the Research/Writing by Floorboards, Yeast Nation (Book/ Lyrics), The Unhappiness Plays, The Justine Leonard Boring-est Poem in the World, The for ENLIGHTEN, Truth About Santa, Pig Farm, Eat the ’s Education Program Taste and Jobey and Katherine.

Edited by Ray Jivoff His work has been produced and [email protected] developed in across the Composer/Lyricist Mark Hollmann country and around the world, Mark Hollmann, (above) is the composer Margaret Bridges including Actors Theatre of Louisville, and co-lyricist for Urinetown, the darkly [email protected] American Conservatory Theater, comic musical that flouted conventions Theatre Club, Roundabout to gain commercial success. Theatre Company, South Coast Rep and The Old Globe, among others. Hollmann grew up in Heights, . While in high school, he was Kotis has appeared on stage and drawn to opera and musical theater, written for the Neo-Futurists and the especially the work of and Cardiff Giant Theater Company. He is Bertold Brecht. He studied music a member of ASCAP, the Dramatists composition at the University of Guild, and is a 2010-11 Lark Play Chicago, graduating in 1985, and set Development Center Playwrights out to write his first musical, Workshop Fellow. He lives in Brooklyn Kabooooom!, with playwright Mary with his wife and their two children, DeSalle Kevern, which was produced 158 N. Broadway daughter, India, and son, Milo. in 1987 at his alma mater. , WI 53202 (414) 291-7811 www.skylightmusictheatre.org

AUDIENCE GUIDE | URINETOWN His next musical, written with Jack How Urinetown Happened Helbig, was a Sondheim-influenced comedy called Complaining Well (1988), Playwright Greg Kotis came up with and rebellious production was based on The Dyskolos of the ancient the idea for Urinetown in 1995 while performed in a converted garage to Greek playwright Menander. It has traveling in Europe as a student on a cheering audiences and critical raves. since been revised as Wild Goat (2004) limited budget. When he ran out of and again as The Girl, the Grouch and money, he spent the rest of his Among the show’s early fans were the Goat, A Modern Fable (2008), which vacation looking for cheap meals, members of , up-and- like Hollmann’s Urinetown has a plot sleeping in train stations and, once he coming producers who saw the that hinges on a drought and the discovered that many public restrooms potential in the iconoclastic show. abuses and the needs it creates. in Europe are pay-per-use, “avoiding Araca then connected with Dodger going to the bathroom as much as Theatricals. Among the biggest Hollmann eventually moved to possible.” players on Broadway, Dodger Manhattan, where he worked as the produced a string of Tony–winning hits organist of Christ Lutheran Church. That’s when the notion of a place like including , , And he began collaborating with Greg Urinetown began to take shape. In the , Footloose, Tommy Kotis, an old friend from Chicago. The introduction to the published version of and . Urinetown opened off- result was Urinetown. the musical, Kotis writes about the Broadway in April, 2001.The sold-out genesis of the show: “It would be a run was extended and the show After their success with Urinetown, grand, ridiculous reflection of the world earned Drama Desk nominations, two Hollmann and Kotis wrote a musical as we know it to be, complete with rich Obie awards, and inclusion in the based on the classic Alec Guinness and poor, the powerful and the season’s “Best Plays” anthology. film, The Man in the White Suit, about powerless, a government controlled by a scientist who develops thread that is industry and an industry that exists planned to transfer the both stain-resistant and indestructible, apart from and above us all. And show to Broadway with an opening and is therefore a threat to the textile driving it all would be a musical—yes, scheduled at the Henry Miller Theatre industry. The show was performed at a very big musical, and it would be on September 13, 2001. Then came in 2005. called Urinetown.” the terrorist attacks on September 11. All of Broadway was shut down, and Hollmann is a member of the When he returned to the United some shows never returned. But the Dramatists Guild of America and States, Kotis, who at that point had producers of Urinetown were ASCAP. He lives in Manhattan with his never seen a Broadway musical, determined and the show opened on wife, Jillian and their sons, Oliver and approached his friend Mark Hollmann September 20th to spectacular Tucker. with the idea. Both had been active reviews from even the toughest critics. members of Chicago’s lively and Kotis and Hollman’s latest political improv-comedy scene since The original Broadway production ran collaboration is a new Broadway- the late 1980s. Hollmann loved it and 965 performances, more than two bound musical based on the 1973 responded quickly with a finished years, received ten Tony nominations, Academy Award-winning film, The song, It’s a Privilege to Pee. and won Tony Awards for Best Book, . Hollmann and Kotis wrote the Score and Direction. show with Harry Connick Jr, who also Kotis and Hollmann met frequently stars in the production. It recently over the next three years, often after Since its amazing initial success, played at the in services at the church where Hollmann Urinetown has experienced a vibrant Millburn, New Jersey. played the organ. The outrageous life in regional theatres and tours as concept began to take on a life of its well as college and high school own, eventually becoming a kind of productions. grand challenge: “It was a freak-show of a musical, a Frankenstein’s monster Bruce Weber of best kept in the basement. We didn’t wrote that Urinetown is “a declaration expect anyone but a few would of the power of theatre…a sensational see it,” wrote Kotis. piece of performance art, one that acknowledges theater tradition and By late 1997, a first draft of the script pushes it forward as well….Simply the was finished; by June 1998, the first most gripping and galvanizing theater draft of the score was done. experience in town. And did I mention Hollmann and Kotis ran an ad in that Urinetown is hilarious?” Backstage calling for actors to make a demo recording without pay. After more than 100 rejections, the project was accepted by the New York International Fringe Festival. The raw

2017-2018 | SKYLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE Synopsis: Act I

Later, in the corporate offices of The next day, Cladwell's assistant, Mr. Police Officer Lockstock welcomes the U.G.C., the C.E.O., Caldwell B. McQueen, announces the new fee audience, and he and Little Sally, a Cladwell, is discussing the new fee hikes. Bobby thinks that the laws are street urchin, discuss the show. They hikes with Senator Fipp. Hope, wrong and, despite Ms. Pennywise’s tell the audience that a twenty Cladwell's daughter and the new fax/ protests, he opens the amenity and year drought has caused a terrible copy girl, arrives and the staff greet starts a pee-for-free rebellion (Look at water shortage, making her with a song in praise of their chief the Sky). private toilets unthinkable. All (Mr. Cladwell). restrooms are now controlled by Pennywise rushes to Cladwell’s office a megacorporation, The Urine Good Officers Lockstock and Barrel discuss to inform him of the revolution. There Company, or U.G.C. To control water the frightening journey to Urinetown is a brief moment of recognition consumption, people must pay to use (The Cop Song). Hope enters and between the two, then Cladwell vows the amenities (Too Much Exposition). meets Bobby Strong, who is distraught to crush the rebellion, frightening There are harsh laws ensuring that over his father's arrest. Hope tells Hope. Cladwell tells her that it is their people pay, and if they are broken, the Bobby that the only answer is to follow privilege and responsibility to stomp offender is sent to a penal colony his heart. They realize that they both on the poor (Don't Be the Bunny). called "Urinetown," never to return. want a world where people can be happy and free, and they fall in love Cladwell and his cronies arrive at The oppressed masses line up at (Follow Your Heart). Amenity #9 to snuff out the uprising. Public Amenity #9, which is run by the Bobby realizes that Hope is Cladwell's authoritarian Penelope Pennywise and When Little Sally asks Officer daughter and kidnaps her to use as her assistant, Bobby Strong. Trouble Lockstock to describe Urinetown, he leverage against Cladwell. The police ensues when Bobby's father, Old Man replies that its power lies in its mystery chase the rebel poor, but the slow- Strong begs Pennywise to let him go and he cannot simply reveal that motion choreography makes it for free "just this once". Pennywise "there is no Urinetown, we just kill impossible for the police to catch refuses, (It's a Privilege to Pee), he people." That will be revealed in Act II, them! Lockstock vows to catch the urinates on the street and is arrested "with everybody singing and things poor and then tells the audience to by Officers Lockstock and Barrel and like that." enjoy intermission (Act I Finale). escorted off to Urinetown (It's a

Privilege to Pee - ).

Costumes designed by Karin Kopischke

AUDIENCE GUIDE | URINETOWN Scenic design by Brandon Kirkham

Synopsis: Act 2

new fee hikes. Bobby refuses, Cladwell is overjoyed to see Hope until Officer Lockstock welcomes the demanding free access for the people. the rest of the poor reveal themselves audience and tells them that the rebel Cladwell orders the cops to escort and Hope tells him that his reign of poor are holed up in a secret hideout Bobby to Urinetown—even if it means terror is over. Pennywise and Cladwell somewhere. The rebels wonder about that the rebel poor will kill Hope. reminisce about their past romance Urinetown, and Hot Blades Harry and Pennywise is horrified at the depth of (We're Not Sorry Reprise). Cladwell is Little Becky Two-Shoes explain their Cladwell's evil, and she is arrested as led to the roof, shouting that however theories. well. cruel he might have been, he "kept the pee off the street and the water in the Cladwell orders Lockstock to find Meanwhile, Bobby is led to the top of ground." He is thrown off. Hope, threatening that he will send the U.G.C. building and learns the everyone to Urinetown if she isn't truth: Urinetown is death. Bobby With the town at peace at last, the age found. Lockstock catches Little Sally, regrets having listened to Hope, and of fear is over and the people look but she is unfazed by his threat of Lockstock and Barrel throw him off the forward to a bright new day. The Urine Urinetown, because she understands building, killing him (Why Did I Listen Good Company is renamed "The they are already in Urinetown (What is To That Man?). Bobby Strong Memorial Toilet Urinetown?). Authority" and the people are now Little Sally returns to the hideout in a allowed "to pee whenever they like, as Convinced that Bobby, Josephine and daze, having just heard Bobby's last much as they like, for as long as they Little Sally have been captured, the words. She and the ghost of Bobby like and with whomever they like." (I rebels, led by Hot Blades Harry and recall those words, which were See A River). Little Becky Two-Shoes, decide to get directed to Hope (Tell Her I Love Her). revenge on Cladwell and kill Hope However, the town's newfound (Snuff That Girl). Bobby bursts in and This encourages the rebels "to fight for happiness is short-lived, as its limited reminds them that their purpose is what they know is right." The rebels water supply quickly disappears. more than just revenge. He vows that are about to execute Hope when Lockstock tells the audience that, as all the people of the land will be free. Pennywise enters and offers herself draconian as the U.G.C.'s rules were, (Run, Freedom, Run!). Pennywise instead, proclaiming herself to be they kept the people from squandering arrives to bring Bobby to Cladwell’s Hope's mother! Hope convinces the the limited water supply. Now, much of headquarters. rebels to let her lead them, and they all the population dies of thirst, their town march to the offices of the U.G.C., now quite like the imaginary Cladwell offers Bobby a bribe and full killing Officer Barrel, Senator Fipp and "Urinetown" with which they had been amnesty to the rebels as long as Hope Mrs. Millennium (We're Not Sorry). threatened for years. is returned and the people agree to the

2017-2018 | SKYLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE Urinetown: A Social Statement

Social satire has a long tradition of George and Ira Gershwin wrote music By tracing the theatrical roots of startling audiences and shaking them and lyrics for the satiric political Urinetown, we can better appreciate loose from their traditional ways of musicals (1931), winner its satirical approach. The show fits thinking. From Aristophanes’ of the , and its darker into a tradition of satirical social Lysistrata to Live, sequel, Let ’Em Eat Cake (1933). commentary and protest in the satire has always broken the theatre. It owes a debt to the pioneers boundaries of public taste in order to Satire was found in , including of socially conscious theatre in the make a point. Urinetown draws on that the Ziegfeld of 1936, in which early 20th century. It simultaneously tradition. It has something to say Bob Hope appeared in a sketch honors, updates, and follows in the about the world we live in. Not only satirizing government spending. Hope footsteps of artists such as Bertolt that, it’s entertaining and educational. also starred that year in the political Brecht and . farce Red, Hot & Blue!, which satirized Urinetown has been called “a satire of Supreme Court rulings against the American political and social forces, New Deal. (1898-1956) was a and a parody of musical theatre as an highly influential art form, with both aspects equally The period’s most controversial satire, German well crafted. It works on many levels, The , a product of the playwright and like any good fairy tale, providing each pro-union and anti-fascist Popular director. He audience member a slightly different Front coalition, challenged the middle became known message, question or experience.” class to join labor in confronting the for encouraging capitalist class. audiences to In his preface to the published script, think about Urinetown composer Mark Hollmann issues instead of lays out his rule for the show: “a joke becoming too is funnier if you don’t smile while involved in the you’re telling it. In other words, an story or evening of obvious parody and gags characters. would get boring; the work has to stand up as carefully constructed His early work, during the reign of the theatre, no matter how outrageous the Weimar Republic (a period of intense content.” political change in ), was highly political and controversial. He Urinetown’s satire starts with an became a Communist and was absurd, exaggerated premise – that all violently opposed to the upper class. the toilets in a city are controlled by When Hitler rose to power, he was one greedy corporation. The show forced to leave the country and lived in makes us laugh while it explores real exile in the U.S. for 15 years. social issues: corporate control, environmental conservation, His plays raised social issues that corruption and the growing divide were of great importance to his between rich and poor. audiences, often mixing humor with politics. Mother Courage and Her With its sense of humor and critical Children (1939) explores the ways attitude, Urinetown calls our attention greedy entrepreneurs help to make to some of the most pressing devastating wars possible. His most problems in contemporary society. But famous work, it also uses humor to parody those “do (1931), a still frequently performed -gooders” who try to make societal musical composed by Kurt Weill, change happen without thinking things satirizes class differences and moral through. corruption in society. Urinetown is a Musicals have continued to toss barbs direct satire of The Threepenny Urinetown wasn’t the first musical to in The Threepenny Opera (1932), How Opera, with the opening number navigate choppy controversial waters. to Succeed in Business Without Really sounding exactly like the Brecht/Weill Social satire developed as the most Trying (1961), (1968), Company masterpiece. important genre of American musical (1970), Chicago (1975), (1990), theatre during the 1930s as anxieties Bat Boy (1997) and many others. The stemming from the Great Depression most recent is the hit found their voice. (2015), which revisits history by incorporating hip-hop, rap, and traditional show tunes.

AUDIENCE GUIDE | URINETOWN The Sounds of Urinetown Hollmann and Kotis use musical The score of Urinetown ranges from theatre clichés ironically throughout direct homages to Kurt Weill’s the show, to give their version of Threepenny Opera with jazzy shades traditional musical comedy a dark and of West Side Story and traditional modern twist. They take classically ballads, hymns, gospel, Bach and the structured musicals that honor the B-52s thrown in for good measure. So conventional rules and turn them on if you think you’ve heard that song their head. before, you probably have. Almost every number in Urinetown is a parody And yet, Urinetown sticks to tradition. of either a stage-musical genre or a Hollmann said in writing the score, “I specific Broadway show. learned to write musicals by watching Marc Blitzstein (1905-1935), an and Lerner American writer and composer, was The Act I finale, for example, is and Loewe, so a lot of that influence deeply influenced by Brecht. As a unmistakably Les Misérables, even started creeping in as we proceeded young man, he was drawn to the work the choreography evokes the now to musicalize the dramatic moments.” of Brecht because it connected with its famous Les Miz march. What is audience. Blitzstein became aware of Urinetown, which opens Act II, is a Hollmann particularly admires the class injustices in society, and joyously blatant copy of To Life from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s attitude wanted to create work that would . toward the role of music in theater. inspire the working class. “Rodgers’ scores were so well integrated with the book. The songs His most famous and influential work flowed out of, and then back into, the is the satirical musical, The Cradle Will script. Rodgers was simply the Rock (1933). Revived many times, the greatest melodist of the American show is set in the exaggerated, theater. Music has to be the servant of humorous Steeltown, USA, where the story. If composers remember that, good-hearted, brave industrial workers they’re already ahead of the game.” fight for respect from their corrupt employer. It mirrors real-life struggles between steelworkers and their This article draws from Greg Kotis and Mark managers throughout the U.S. during Hollmann’s introductions to the book Urinetown, The Musical, published by Faber and Faber, and the 1930s. Conditions for steelworkers Original cast of West Side Story interviews with Kotis and Hollmann originally at the time were deplorable, and performing Cool (1957). published in On-line (www.playbill.com), strikes and action by labor unions the New York Times and Variety. were beginning to cause real change Snuff That Girl is a spoof of the Jets’ at the steel corporations. pre-rumble song Cool from West Side Story, right down to the finger snaps. There are echoes of When You’re Good to Momma, the prison matron’s signature number in Chicago. The bribery scene mirrors an almost identical scene in . And Urinetown both uses and abuses the devices of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill and their Threepenny Opera.

Urinetown takes musical comedies, serious book musicals, political musicals and concept musicals and takes them to extremes. In this age of , Assassins, Chicago, , Hedwig and the Angry Inch and The , Urinetown demonstrates that the conventional musical is no longer the norm and shows us how far we have strayed from the old traditions.

Costume design by Karin Kopischke Costume design by Karin Kopischke

2017-2018 | SKYLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE Water, Water Everywhere... “When it comes to water, Milwaukee The Water Council was established in gets it… Milwaukee will be the 2009 by Milwaukee-area businesses, freshwater capital of the world.” education and government leaders. – U.S. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, 2014 The nonprofit organization, consisting of more than 180 members, links Milwaukee sits along the shores and together global water technology bluffs of Lake Michigan, at the companies, innovative water confluence of three rivers -- the entrepreneurs, acclaimed academic Menomonee, the Kinnickinnic and the research programs and, most Milwaukee. And we are located at the importantly, some of the nation’s center of Great Lakes Region, the brightest and most energetic water largest surface freshwater system on professionals. Earth. The rest of the world, on the other hand, has a very real water The Water Council is capturing the problem: More than a billion people attention of the world and transforming across the globe lack access to safe the Milwaukee region into a World drinking water. Water Hub for freshwater research, economic development and education. Drought, geography and population growth are placing greater and greater For more information, visit demands on the world’s irreplaceable www.thewatercouncil.com. natural resources. Looking forward, Costume design by Karin Kopischke water will take center stage as the Ways To Conserve Water forces of global economic growth “Hail Malthus!” continue to collide with the forces of Water covers 70% of the earth global resource scarcity. That’s why surface, but only 3% is fresh water. At the end of Urinetown, the people water technology innovators, who can It’s critically important for us to protect cry "Hail Malthus!" Who is Malthus and help people and companies better use and preserve this precious resource. why is he being brought up for the first their water resources, have an • Turn off the tap while shaving, time at the end of Urinetown? opportunity right now to become key brushing your teeth. players in the global economy. • Take short showers. If you take a Thomas Malthus was a 19th century bath, fill the tub only half way. economist and pioneer in population Milwaukee’s reputation as one of the growth theory. He believed that as • Install water saving showerheads, world’s most significant hubs for water population growth occurs faster than toilet, and faucets. research is strengthened and the means of subsistence, poverty and enhanced by support and affiliations • Water your lawn before 9 a.m. or disease are unavoidable. Many of his with the area’s leading universities. after 7 p.m. when lower predictions have proved false and his Over 100 academic scientists and temperatures reduce ideas for solving problems have been researchers are focused on water evaporation. deemed too politically incorrect to be solutions. • Repair leaky faucets and turn taps taken seriously. However, his off tightly. A slow drip wastes 15- emphasis on population growth as a • The University of Wisconsin- 20 gallons each day. major issue was prescient. Milwaukee (UWM), is home to the • Don’t flush the toilet first School of Freshwater unnecessarily. By hailing Malthus, Urinetown, in its Sciences in the nation. iconoclastic way, is reminding us that Be vigilant in preventing • The Marquette University Law • even predictions that seem dire or School has added a Water Law chemicals, oil, lactic and trash absurd can become reality. curriculum to its Environmental from polluting our waters. Law program. • The University of Wisconsin- Whitewater offers a Water Business Management minor.

Our region’s unique spirit of collaboration and dedication has created ripple effects in an area referred to as the ‘Milwaukee Water Technology District’ in the Walker’s Point neighborhood.

AUDIENCE GUIDE | URINETOWN