Urinetown Dialogue Question

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/12/04 at 4:51pm

I have a question about a certain dialogue in Urinetown:

BOBBY: And what if there was a new law in town, Ms. Pennywise? A new law that didn't come from any voting process or elected body or process of judicial review, but a brand new law that came from an organ. That's right, a muscular, blood-pumping organ. Like this one. Right here. (then you hear the thump on the CD)

PENNY: A muscular organ?

BOBBY: Can't you see it, Ms. Pennywise? Well, if this one's too small for you why not try this one on for size?!

PENNY: It's...it's blinding me!

Now, is the listener actually supposed to think they are referring to the heart at first? The way it is worded, you would think it's something else...

[Aaron27]

Posted: 8/12/04 at 4:56pm

I saw the show and even when I did, I didn't quite get it. They looked up and offstage and leaned down. It's the logo for the show where you see everyone leaning back. It's like the sun is so bright and shining down on them. It's not a heart, like I thought too. Urinetown the musical, I didn't get. I saw it towards the end of the run and I was excited with all the hype. To be honest, I didn't get it and I didn't think it was as good as everyone says it was. It tried too hard to be different.

[robbiej]

Posted: 8/12/04 at 4:58pm

I DID the show...and it still never made complete sense to me. I did think it was funny, though.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 8/12/04 at 5:04pm

What part of the CD is this on? What song?

[Jon]

Posted: 8/12/04 at 5:21pm

It's during "Look at the Sky".

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/12/04 at 5:21pm

I always thought it was Urinetown's typical tongue-in-cheek play on classic theatrical cliches, such as the metaphor of the sun being a heart as it is responsible for life on our planet. The sky represents limitless opportunity. The song is an example of those typical protagonist motivational songs to get people inspired for the greater good. Like the rest of the show, it's meant to be silly more than it's meant to make sense (even Bobby can't really explain what he means, though he knows it is somehow meaningful), but if you follow all the lyrics, it helps:

"Off in the distance there's a beautiful horizon.
Gleaming and radiant, it's what I'll keep my eyes on.

As the world turns to face the sun and start another day,
It suddenly
Occurs to me
That maybe we can find another way.

Look at the sky,
Full of hope and promise.
It's a shining ideal.
How I reel
When I look at the sky.

Daily, we make them pay their nickels, dimes, and quarters.
Daily we break them 'cause we have to follow orders.
And we keep filling moneybags with broken lives and dreams,
But what's it for?
I can't ignore
These black, immoral profit-making schemes.

Look at the sky,
High above this madness.
Here below, feel our shame.
It must stop in the name
Of the sky.

Look at the sky!
There's a great, big heart there!
There's a heart
In the sky.
There just is.
Don't ask why.
It's the sky!

Your heart knows all things great and true.
The things mere brains can never know!
Your heart points to the great, big blue
Where the people's allegiance must go!

Look at the sky!
(Look at the sky!)
That's our inspiration!
(Look at the sky!)
We can win
If we try.
We begin
When we look at the sky!

Look at the sky,
(Off in the distance)
Standard of the people.
(There's a beautiful horizon.)
It's a banner so wide,
Flying proudly with pride
In the sky!
In the sky!
In the sky!"

[Matt_G]

Posted: 8/12/04 at 5:22pm

(edited for content)

[BalletGirl85]

Posted: 8/12/04 at 5:26pm

In the SHOW it's supposed to be the SUN but they do make a little sexual reference to it with Miss Pennywise looking down at Bobby's ...area and then looking back up at the sun. So yeah, it's the sun, but it's a double entendre.

[magruder]

Posted: 8/12/04 at 5:41pm

That mic thumping to indicate that Bobby Strong was tapping his chest was added for the recording, although he didn't do it on stage. But the double entendre of "A muscular organ?" "...If this one is too small for you..." is intentional, and all those lyrics about a "heart in the sky" are skewering the ridiculous and preposterous cliches in musical theatre songs of hope and inspiration.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/12/04 at 6:04pm

I'd like to meet the guy who played Bobby. I think it's a fun role...One of my dream roles. But it's so sad cause he goes to Urinetown..

[magruder]

Posted: 8/12/04 at 6:14pm

But even after his death, he gets about three great laugh lines in "Tell Her I Love Her," including:

"What did I say? That's isn't what I meant/
I've lost my sense of scent" ...

"I've lost my sense of sight/
And yet I see them..."

"I see them standing hand and hand/
And cheek to cheek
and gland to gland"

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/12/04 at 7:32pm

I was referring to the "organ". If you take the dialogue out of context...

Updated On: 8/12/04 at 07:32 PM

[magruder]

Posted: 8/12/04 at 7:36pm

As I said, yes, it is meant to be a double entendre.

[StrStruckDreamr9]

Posted: 8/12/04 at 7:39pm

"In the SHOW it's supposed to be the SUN but they do make a little sexual reference to it with Miss Pennywise looking down at Bobby's ...area and then looking back up at the sun. So yeah, it's the sun, but it's a double entendre."

Lol, that's funny. I didn't know that...I never got to see the show .

[Broadway Matt]

Posted: 8/12/04 at 8:32pm

it's one of those jokes that can go either way depending on each audience member. i'm sure it was written with the double entendre in mind, but a good chunk of the audience doesn't pick up on it or choose to interpret it that way. literally, the "muscular organ" is the heart, but there's no harm in giving the "genital-minded" in the crowd a fun penis joke to snicker at between choruses.

[lovettespies]

Posted: 8/19/04 at 5:55pm

Hunter Foster is so amazing. When i saw the show I was in the front row so I was only a few feet away from him. Sigh.