Julia Bon-McDonald
There is something about knowing you’re going to a show with three Tony awards behind it that invites you to relax. This year, the Musical Theatre Course of Whitireia & WelTec present: Urinetown the Musical. I don’t know much about the show going in, but Urinetown sells itself as a ‘satire of greed, love and revolution’. The moment I see Michael Trigg’s piss-yellow lighting, I know we’re in for some laughs.
First and foremost, I am particularly excited to announce the long-awaited marriage of Tapere Nui and Tapere Nui’s catwalk! I have seen far too many shows in this space where the catwalk feels like a completely separate universe, but thoughtful blocking and a well-placed spire in the middle of the catwalk do wonders to extend the bounds of the show’s world. The team has made the space feel full both horizontally and vertically, which is a hard yard in a space like Tapere Nui.
The show begins and make no mistake, this is musical theatre for the musical theatre lover. At one point I can see people gearing up for a kick line and my little heart can’t take it anymore – I squeal. In fact, the choreography in the ensemble numbers was a notable high point. It was practiced, polished, and every ensemble member pulled it off confidently, with the energy it needed. These numbers were a delightful exercise in referencing fellow musicals, and watching them filled me with the warm, fuzzy feeling of being in on the joke.
‘Snuff That Girl’ and ‘Run Freedom Run’ are particularly good. The principals are on their A-Game and the ensemble is at its most energised and harmonic, I can tell that the whole cast are right at home in these numbers. I must shout out the committed, campy, and always-on: Lily Moore as Mrs Millenium, and Josh Franken as Mr McQueen. These two were locked in to the physicality and humour of their respective roles and it totally paid off; they got some of the biggest laughs of the night.
Maddi Barnes takes a particularly self-aware turn as Hope Cladwell – Hope is firmly grounded in the role of ‘ingenue’, and has a big responsibility in ensuring that the irony of Urinetown lands. Barnes has great comedic timing, and to me, she demonstrates a clear understanding of her character's role in this show. I also really enjoyed MacKenzie Htay as Bobby Strong – in a musical that is rife with cynicism, he gives an earnest, compelling portrayal of the plucky young hero, with some impressive vocals to match.
I found that the accompanying music was a little too loud at times, but this was only a small part of the issues with sound. Now, we live in a world where sound operators cop a lot of flack, but these issues cannot, and should not be attributed to the tech team. Although the cast were radio-miced, there were times where the actors were way too quiet for me to hear. Additionally, the faux American accents were a hindrance to some, and only added to the profound lack of enunciation in both the dialogue and songs. This led me to misunderstand character motivations, miss key plot points, and unfortunately I think it impacted on some of the jokes making a splash.
I think that altogether, more work could be done to up the satire and self-awareness of the show. It was funny, but I could tell it was meant to be funnier. It was clear that there were definitely some people within the company that really got what the script was doing, but there was this pervasive sense that some jokes and gags weren’t quite understood by their makers. This is particularly true of the scenes with our self-identified narrator, Officer Lockstock. The moments where Lockstock breaks the fourth wall have a lot of potential, but these moments weren’t enticing enough for me to really get on board with the interruptions to our regularly-scheduled musical.
The best and funniest moments of Urinetown came from the whole company knowing and showing that this show is a satire of all those musicals that came before it. But, it was missing that slick, musical-theatre-diction found in its inspiring-material. It wanted big, yucky-blucky facial expressions, and even bigger vocal affectations. It needed these, in conjunction with the right level of commitment to the bit. I’d love to see it again, but with the same intensity and fervor of the cast and their mates doing their best impression of Lin-Manuel Miranda – that is the level of enthusiasm I want. There are moments where I can see so clearly what Director Leigh Evans is aiming for, and this show would immediately improve if the cast used the energy and hilarity of taking the piss, to their collective advantage.
Urinetown the Musical is on at Te Auaha until 31 August.