Players’ gritty musical satire ‘Urinetown’ opens Friday
The Tony Award-winning play is a sendup of the legal system, politics, corporate greed, and social irresponsibility.
Don’t judge a book by its cover.
“Urinetown,” the Acton Players’ latest production, will open Friday at 51 Walden Performing Arts Center. The title belies the fact that the triple Tony Award-winning play is a comedic sendup of the legal system, municipal politics, corporate greed, and social irresponsibility.
The name reflects the intention of the writers, “who want you to know right away that it’s a comedy, and you’re in on the joke the entire time,” says director Shelby Art-Koljonen.
With music and lyrics by Mark Hollmann and book and lyrics by Greg Kotis, the show imagines a world in which a critical water shortage caused by a 20-year drought leads to a ban on private toilets. This forces citizens to turn to pay-per-use public facilities owned and operated by an evil corporation, Urine Good Company, run by tyrannical money-grubber Caldwell B. Cladwell.
Using music, dance, and non-stop humor, the play takes a modern approach to exploring civil unrest. When the story’s hero, Bobby Strong (Jonathan Touchette), has had enough, he plans a revolution — “for better or for worse,” Art-Koljonen says.
This is Boston-based Art-Koljonen’s first show for the Players. She has worked as a stage manager, casting assistant, performer, and director for various companies, including the Gloucester State Company and Actors’ Shakespeare Project. She currently is assistant production manager for Brandeis University’s Department of Theater Arts.
“This is a very special show to me for many reasons,” Art-Koljonen says. One is that she performed in a community theater production of “Urinetown” when she lived in Montana. Her future husband was the show’s music director.
Art-Koljonen calls the Players “a well-oiled machine — they’re knowledgeable and kind and wonderfully present.”
The musical director for the production is Martha Warren, a vocal teacher and actor who has appeared with the Players many times, including a musical production of “Little Women” in 2023.
“Urinetown: The Musical” runs May 2-17 at 51 Walden Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $28. For more information, visit concordplayers.org.
