Urinetown The Musical

Urinetown The Musical
Book and lyrics by Greg Kotis. Music and lyrics by Mark Hollman. Dural Musical Society. Dural Soldiers Memorial Hall. May 18 – 31, 2014.

A powerful businessman bribing a corrupt politician for control of water resources; no it’s not the latest ICAC song and dance, it’s Urinetown The Musical.

Urinetown is a Broadway musical so satirical that it even sends up its own rather dodgy title, as it tells the story of how a long-lasting drought leads to pay-per-pee public toilets controlled by a corrupt monopoly.

Days earlier I’d enjoyed probably Sydney’s biggest budget, high tech community musical theatre production ever, in a lavish venue. Now I was settling into cosy, intimate microphone-free surrounds at the opposite end of the spectrum, to see a show low on budget but full of heart.

Authoritative in-character ad-libs by Officer Lostock (Andrew McLean), striding through the auditorium with off-sider Officer Barrell (Augustin Lamas), got proceedings off to a lively start; a fun variation on usual pre-show announcements about phones and cameras, extending from Lostock’s fourth-wall-breaking role as the show’s co-narrator. As Lostock and Barrell, Messrs McLean and Lamas are a well-paired, contrasting team.

With assured projection, and an apparently benign characterization overlaying a subtly malevolent underbelly, Andrew McLean is very well cast as the policeman / narrator. He’s frequently teamed with Reich Webber-Montenegro’s bright, lively ‘cute-as-a-button’ Little Sally in the narration, creating a bright rapport of one-up-manship, where the outwardly sweet, naïve urchin, played with cheeky street-smart subtext, generally comes out on top.

As the musical’s hero and villain respectively, Nicholas Gilbert (Bobby Strong) and Eddie Bruce (Cladwell B. Cladwell) both have the acting and vocal projection to propel the show’s central conflict without amplification. Gilbert’s Bobby is a clean-cut earnest hero and romantic lead, while you’d only know that co-director Eddie Bruce stepped into the role of his antagonist just weeks before opening if, like me, you’d been told.

Take a quick glance at the program biography of this experienced performer and it’s no surprise he’s created such an assured capitalist bad-guy at short notice. As long-term president and mentor, his vocal projection sets a great model for the younger members of this purely acoustic company

As the heroine, Hope Cladwell, Stephanie Quaglia has all the fresh-faced charm and spirit the role demands, acting nicely and establishing engaging relationships, but used to sound engineers mixing and balancing voice levels as we are, her sweet, true voice doesn’t quite balance with her male co-stars’ natural projection in duets. It’s the only time al night I genuinely find myself wishing the performer could be given a little bit of tech support.

There’s a strong sense of ensemble playing throughout the production, and without continuing to name names, suffice to say several members of the ensemble create strong, distinct individual characters in featured roles, with ample projection to put across their share of songs and dialogue.

In previous productions of Urinetown I’ve missed some of the underscored dialogue. All credit to Musical Director Leo Dent and his small combo for striking an excellent balance. It’s nice to hear the sound mix controlled in the old-fashioned way, by the conductor.There are disadvantages to this small venue and its lack of facilities. Some of them Dural Musical Society makes a virtue of … others involve compromise.

For instance, even keeping the sets simple – one revolving set piece, rostra, a fixed office setting on the small side extension, and a roll-up mid-stage cloth – there are times when the action and energetic choreography get a bit cramped. Regardless, co-director / choreographer Kate O’Neill chimes in with her fair share of effective movement.

But there’s trade-offs like the up-close experience, and the hospitable foyer at intermission, where you can buy a generous serving of Tiramisu or a brownie (provided by a local sponsor) with your coffee, rather than twin-pack plastic-wrapped bikkies.

You guess where the warmth and hospitality of Dural Musical Society springs from, reading through the program notes full of long-term memberships and family continuity.

Leaving the Dural Soldiers Memorial Hall for its peaceful semi-rural surrounds, having enjoyed this enjoyable, unpretentious production of satirical musical fable Urinetown (perhaps thinking just how close to the bone of NSW current affairs it cuts), you can hop into your car knowing there’s no parking fee to pay as you turn, homeward-bound, onto Old Northern Road.

Neil Litchfield

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