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Recently I was invited to see Urinetown: the Musical at the Apollo Theatre where it was enjoying a successful West End transfer. It is truly a strange title for a musical and one that might cause one to reject the show. I remember first hearing about the show when it was playing on Broadway in 2001 with Hunter Foster and Jeff McCarthy and seeing the subsequent U.S. tour that had me laughing and amused for the fastest two+ hours. That said, I was expecting a similar experience at the Apollo Theatre where I did find myself impressed by the two-level set with a turntable floor.Sadly when my flatmate asked me what I thought — I honestly had to tell her I was uncertain which led me to believe that perhaps it is a show that does not warrant a second viewing because the lesson and shock has been had and there is no where else the show can go? I am still at a loss as to how to describe my reaction to the show. When the show was touring the United States – featuring Christiane Noll as Hope and Tom Hewitt as Officer Lockstock – the consensus was that the show was “groundbreaking, endlessly clever and surprisingly smart satire” (Denver Post). This time around – a dozen years later, despite all the same catchy musical numbers and the incredible (I repeat – INCREDIBLE!!!) performance by RSC’s Jonathan Slinger as Officer Lockstock, I felt the show was trying too hard and considering that the show is a satire making fun of musicals, legal systems, capitalism, social irresponsibility and the list goes on that is pretty tough to do but somehow the show came off as just that — trying too hard.
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| Jonathan Slinger as Officer Lockstock (c) Urinetown, 2014 |
