Roxy’s artistic director says ‘Urinetown’ has a message that hits home
When it came time to stage the musical “Urinetown” at Roxy’s Downtown, artistic director Rick Bumgardner decided to set it close to home.
Literally and figuratively.
“I have set it in Wichita, Kan., so the audience will see the roof of Century II and half of it has blown off, and the Holiday Inn is crumbling,” he said with a laugh. “It’s just to show what can happen if you let greed and corruption take over.”
“Urinetown” is a musical satire originally set in an unknown town where, during a water shortage, the government bans private toilets, forcing the citizens to use public, pay-to-pee facilities owed by a conglomerate.
Bumgardner said it has a message that hits home.
“It does examine all of these subjects – capitalism, greed, social irresponsibility, politics, everything – and we find ourselves laughing at these subjects as we look at them pretty seriously throughout the course of the show,” he said.
The graphic art for “Urinetown” even lists the population as 395,484, something akin to the Air Capital.
“Urinetown” debuted on Broadway in 2001, and won three Tony Awards: for best book, original score and direction.
“It was controversial at the time for all the subject matter it approaches,” Bumgardner said. “It’s relevant to where we are today.”
“Urinetown” was a last-minute replacement for another musical Roxy’s had scheduled for this season, and Bumgardner laughs at the fact that a week after it was chosen, Wichita went into a Stage II drought program.
“I thought, timing is everything,” he said.
It’s also been the top choice for the actors and tech designers who have worked at Roxy’s over the past few years.
“This has been the request of a lot of actors for us to do,” Bumgardner said. “Every single one of them had this in the top five of their requests.”
Max Dutton plays the local hero, Bobby Strong, and Claire Gerig the heroine, Penelope Pennywise. Others in the cast include Kyle Vespestad, Joseph Urick and Megan Parsley. The 19-person cast, Bumgardner said, can fit on stage thanks to different levels of scaffolding.
Besides the social commentary, Bumgardner likes the short parodies of different Broadway shows including “Les Miserables,” “Three Penny Opera” and “The Cradle Will Rock.”
“When I started looking at the script and the score, I thought it was too clever for words,” said Bumgardner, who saw the show during its original Broadway run.
“Urinetown,” he said, can inspire its audience to do something about the situation around them.
“It’s a way to get audiences to look and see where we are today and to take some action about it rather than inaction,” Bumgardner said.
‘URINETOWN’
When: June 5-21; 7 p.m. Wednesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays
Where: Roxy’s Downtown, 412 ½ Douglas Ave.
Tickets: $42, from 316-265-4400 or roxysdowntown.com