Recently I had the chance to see the musical Urinetown for the first time. I’d heard about it but never had the chance to see it until Terrace Plaza put it on earlier this year. What I like about this musical that manages to say a lot (having commentary on politics, government, leadership, and even musical theater tropes and cliches) but it never feels like it is preaching or overly-political. It keeps a spirit of humor and frivolity throughout while leaving the audience with plenty to discuss on their way home from the show. The new production at Hopebox captures this unique dynamic of Urinetown even if the production itself was a little bit plainer than I was expecting. It’s still enjoyable and worthy of your time.

There are so many aspects that make Hopebox a special place to see theatre but most importantly their mission with Hopebox recipient fighting cancer that the company fundraises for throughout the run of the show. I’ve always been impressed with not only this wonderful mission but that the company doesn’t uses this as a catalyst for great productions not an excuse for any imperfections. They are always doing their best I’m sure partly to help their great cause get as many donations as possible.

The night I attended I saw the Teal Cast and they are all terrific in their performances. I particuarly enjoyed Katie Jones as Little Sally and Porter Beesley as Bobby Strong. Most of the memorable songs are in Act 2 and I especially love “Run, Freedom, Run” sung with the energy of a gospel choir by Beesley. It’s a blast. “Follow Your Heart” and the reprise sung by Bobby and Jess Sannar is another highlight of the show.

If you are wondering what on earth Urinetown is all about it’s a very unusual show about a dystopian city where public utilities are tightly controlled including access to toilets. This means people have to pay to use the bathroom and if they don’t pay or relieve themselves elsewhere they are sent to the mysterious Urinetown. Dave Hanson plays the criminal bad man of business behind this operation as Caldwell B Caldwell and Melissa Trenery runs the toilet that becomes the home of the rebellion as Penelope Pennywise. I’m not normally a fan of dystopians but Urinetown never lets things get too serious, which actually makes the themes it’s trying to explore more effective and memorable.

My only disappointment with this production at Hopebox is director Jim Christian decides to go the more minimalistic approach with simple backgrounds and sets/props. I understand their space is small but I was honestly hoping they would do something similar to what they did with Oliver! a few years ago. They took a steampunk approach with the costumes and sets and that was so cool. When I saw that production I told my friend it would be a great approach to Urinetown. It’s not that they had to do the same thing they did with Oliver! for this but I do think it was a missed opportunity giving it a simpler style and feel. I hope that someone reading this gets inspired to do a steampunk Urinetown because I think that would be really neat. I actually feel Terrace Plaza had a little bit more immersive world building and costumes with their production.

Still, this musical is very well done in its simplicity and Urinetown is so unique it’s very much worth seeing while you have the chance. It is playing with 2 casts at Hopebox through July 3rd and tickets can be purchased here.

Urinetown has music and lyrics by Mark Hollmann with lyrics and book by Greg Kotis. It first premiered Off-Broadway in 2001 and then Broadway that same year and recently was Off-Broadway again in 2025.

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