Like No Other

Musicals are fairy tales. Some are jolly, like “Annie.” Some are grim: “Urinetown, The Musical,” for one. Grim, perplexing, riveting. At its heart, “Urinetown,” about a drought-ridden city and the corporate takeover of all toilets, is one long potty joke surrounding a tale of political domination and urban struggle. “Let my people pee” is scrawled on one wall of the grimy and admirably baleful set in this Ghent Playhouse production. But the UGC, the Urine Good Company, is totally in charge, forcing people to stand, squirming, in line waiting to pay for the UGC latrine. This musical, which opened in 2001 at the New York Fringe Festival and then migrated to Broadway for 965 performances and a number of awards, is about theater, too, and how it works. As Officer Lockstock (Mark Schane-Lydon) cautions Little Sally (Eleah Peal) who strives to give the audience some background, “Nothing can kill a show like too much exposition.” The central conceit, the cop/narrator tells us, is about forcing people to pay to pee. Those who break the Public Health Act, who turn to the bushes, say, are hustled off to Urinetown. What makes this show work is a string of clever and vibrant dance and music numbers echoing revival meetings and shows like “West Side Story,” “Les Mis,” “Fiddler on the Roof.” Yes, there’s a romance between Bobby Strong (Michael Meier) — a public toilet attendant who asks the dangerous question here, “What if the law is wrong?” and leads a ragged peoples’ rebellion — and Hope Cladwell (Kaitlin Pearson) whose father heads UGC. This fellow, Caldwell B. Cladwell (Tony Pallone), is ruthlessly devoted to “the regulating mechanism of cash.” We get his operative, too, the powerful and heartless Penelope Pennywise, in charge of the public amenity No. 9 (played with flash and wit by Amy Fiebke). This character’s the sort who makes ideas work in spite of the fact that such ideas are not in her best interest (sound familiar?). It’s all very focused, and when Sally offers new ideas for the play, Officer Lockstock explains, “It’s better to concentrate on one big idea than a lot of little ones. Audiences like it better,” he explains, “and it’s easier to write.” In the end, the true meaning of Urinetown is discovered, our worst fears for the lovers, the environment and for our future as a democratic nation are founded and Little Sally is forced to ask, “What kind of musical is this?” One like you’ve never seen before. “Urinetown, The Musical,” written by Mark Hollman and Greg Kotis, and directed here by Sky Vogel, runs at The Ghent Playhouse in Ghent, NY, through Feb. 5. For tickets, call 518-392-6264.

Latest News

Sharon Dennis Rosen

SHARON — Sharon Dennis Rosen, 83, died on Aug. 8, 2025, in New York City.

Born and raised in Sharon, Connecticut, she grew up on her parents’ farm and attended Sharon Center School and Housatonic Valley Regional High School. She went on to study at Skidmore College before moving to New York City, where she married Dr. Harvey Rosen and together they raised two children.

Keep ReadingShow less
‘Garland Jeffreys: The King of In Between’ at the Moviehouse

Claire and Garland Jeffreys in the film “The King of In Between.”

Still from "The King of In between"

There is a scene in “The King of In Between,” a documentary about musician Garland Jeffreys, that shows his name as the answer to a question on the TV show “Jeopardy!”

“This moment was the film in a nutshell,” said Claire Jeffreys, the film’s producer and director, and Garland’s wife of 40 years. “Nobody knows the answer,” she continued. “So, you’re cool enough to be a Jeopardy question, but you’re still obscure enough that not one of the contestants even had a glimmer of the answer.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Haystack Book Festival: writers in conversation
Jerome A. Cohen, author of the memoir \u201cEastward, Westward: A Lifein Law.\u201d
Jerome A. Cohen, author of the memoir \u201cEastward, Westward: A Lifein Law.\u201d

The Haystack Book Festival, a program of the Norfolk Hub, brings renowned writers and thinkers to Norfolk for conversation. Celebrating its fifth season this fall, the festival will gather 18 writers for discussions at the Norfolk Library on Sept. 20 and Oct. 3 through 5.

Jerome A. Cohen, author of the memoir “Eastward, Westward: A Lifein Law.”Haystack Book Festival

Keep ReadingShow less