High school's "Urinetown" offends NH prudes- Page 3

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/28/06 at 1:10am

I just saw the first ever regional production of Urinetown...

Do you own a time travel machine? There have been regional productions now for quite a while.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 1/28/06 at 4:01am

Captain_Obvious, I couldn't agree more. Let's all go see it and give Urinetown the respect she deserves!

[billygoatgirl300]

Posted: 1/28/06 at 11:47pm

Slightly off-topic: I'm inviting anyone who wants to see my high schools production of Urinetown. We are not editing the show at all. I'm in the Chorus and having a great time with the show. The performances are the first weekend in March. PM me if you want see it. I'll give you more info there.

[respeck]

Posted: 1/28/06 at 11:52pm

I would love to see a show that that lady wrote.

My guess is it would be lots of dance numbers, with girls in full clothing that leaves everything to just the imagination. Ponies, rainbows, but no unicorns since they have backgrounds in witch craft. And lovely songs that don't go to high in the men's vocal range, because that would suggest gender identity crises, which is very taboo.

[iliketheater]

Posted: 1/29/06 at 12:56am

wow. Things like this remind me why i Live in the city (and not the suburbs anymore). I say the school does 'CABERET' next year. Becuase clearly these people have not been exposed to real risque theater before.

[TheatreMonkey]

Posted: 1/29/06 at 1:45am

Heh.

What can I say? Our nation was founded by Puritans -- mainly of which were parents, too. Not a great combination when it comes to looking at the bigger picture.

~Sam

[wherethehorizonlies]

Posted: 1/29/06 at 1:57am

to sort of thread jack (as I am prone to do) and jump back quite a few comments - a school wasn't allowed to do Oliver b/c Nancy was too much of a whore? what about the fact that she was beaten to death by her lover? hello?

not that I approve of censoring shows, I certainly do not...c'mon folks - it's Oliver...it is the family show - there are 500 children in it, but if you absolutly must forbid someone from doing it you better have a good reason - Nancy wasn't a whore, she didn't sleep around

sometimes people make me exceedingly angry

and the same goes for urinetown - get yourselves some damn education people of NH (not all of you of course just the select few who are idiots)

anyway, now it's late and I'm rambling..

[respeck]

Posted: 1/29/06 at 2:57am

I guess you can find something offensive in anything if you look hard enough...

[arky]

Posted: 1/29/06 at 11:47am

The U.S really is a different world, when i was at college (high school) in the uk i was involved in a production of 'Spring Awakening', i dont know if any of you are familiar with the play but it deals with homosexuality (there is a scene in which two school boys kiss), rape (this happens on stage) suicide etc. The play was written over 100 years ago but the themes are very current. There were no problems with staging the show and everyone was aware of what was involved. I can't believe people have problems with Urinetown, and Mamma Mia, i mean, come on, it's 2006 not 1906!!!!!!!

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/29/06 at 11:59am

Schools doing Cabaret, Chicago, and Sweeney Todd makes me absolutely sick to my stomach. I strongly feel those shows don't belong in high schools.

But Urinetown, come on? Some people need to get over the title.

[Ruprecht2]

Posted: 1/29/06 at 12:08pm

oh my.. I hate stupid people like that so much- -IT'S AN EFFING PLAY LADY! LIKE IT HAS TO DO ANYTHING WITH THE REAL WORLD!... and i LOVE Urinetown-----OH.. and i love this quote..

"Hansalik's son has played piano for the spring musical during the past three years. He was "disgusted," Hansalik said, by some of "Urinetown's" lyrics."

WHY ARE PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD SO STUPIDLY CRAZY AND... STUPID!?

[way_to_spend_the_day]

Posted: 1/29/06 at 12:22pm

I live in Southern NH, and let me tell you that it is a world of difference from Northern NH, where this controversy is unfolding. I have been to the city on vacation (it's close to Mt. Washington) and it is an old-fashioned type of town. Rather religious and I am not suprised that there is a problem going on with Urinetown. The thing that really gets me is if this woman was told ,"Our musical this year is a show which promotes standing up for your rights and speaking your mind as well as love and companionship, presented in great songs and witty lyrics, a script which won a Tony Award for best book, and offers a large cast of characters which allows the maximum amount of students to participate, and a great score for your son to play for us." she would be exstatic. THAT is what the show is about. There is nothing riske about it, except for the fact that it deals with something EVERYONE is very farmiliar with: peeing, which is not riske. This makes me sooooooo mad, but there is always going to be one mother who has a problem and ruins it for the rest of the school.

[HGIL08]

Posted: 1/29/06 at 3:56pm

My Highschool jsut did Urinetown in November, and I designed our cast sweatshirts which are normally allwoed ot wear opening to day to promote and whatnot, but because they said "It's a priveledge to pee" on the back, the administration said no, andwe threw a fit considering the soccer team had shirts that said "Tell your mom I said thanks" and football shirts that said "Never trust a trojan in battle" which were both highly suggestive..

So we were going nuts until they finally let us wear them..It was awesome.

My director's quote "Whenever I tell people what we're doing they act as though I actually jsut pissed in their face"

Urinetown was one of the best musicals I was ever a part of, 100% fun.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 1/29/06 at 4:55pm

>LIKE IT HAS TO DO ANYTHING WITH THE REAL WORLD!<

There was nothing more startling than watching the Broadway production of Urinetown in post-September 11th New York. The show had more resonance on life in the real world than the authors could ever have imagined when they wrote it. New Yorkers faced a summer drought and subway fare hikes, much like the citizens in the show, and the scene of Bobby falling off the top of the UGC Building was not particularly comforting after watching news coverage of people jumping to their deaths from the World Trade Center. Many critics who hailed Urinetown Off-Broadway as a mere comic romp saw it with new eyes when they returned to it fall of '01.