Eagerly awaiting Urinetown during Mom's weekend, but losing your patience?
Tonight from 9pm-1am Illinites will hold a preview of Urinetown at the Illini Union! Don't miss your chance to catch a sneek peek before Urinetown opens on campus during Mom's Weekend!
Here's a note from the director:
Welcome to a musical about a city crippled by a long drought. To regulate water consumption, the Urine Good Company has to commodify the most personal of freedoms. By making people have to pay to pee, the UGC uses money and fear to create stability through poverty. The era of the show is not really clear, but let's infer that we're somewhere in the mid-twentieth century and somewhere in the western hemisphere? In this society, breaking the law has nasty consequences; if one slips they'll probably get sent to Urinetown, a mythical, terrible place. That's where the title of this musical comes in.
Thomas Malthus once said, "the rich, by unfair combinations, contribute frequently to prolong a season of distress among the poor." Urinetown: The Musical is a discussion of Malthus' ideas about misery and vice, which he developed in his study of population control. Paying to pee might seem like a ridiculous concept, but the conflict between resources and freedom is nothing new. Are we going to have to make sacrifices when the oil dries up? How do fear and consumption relate to one another? Is it a coincidence that our country, arguably the most free nation in the world, is also the most frivolous with resources? Whoa.
Hopefully these heavy questions don't result in you exiting back to the parking lot. Instead, I really hope it intrigues you. Besides, you've already bought your ticket and we have your money... Waste not want not! Thank you so much for looking past the awful title and making the decision to come and support the arts in our campus community. Enjoy the show!
Dan Brunner
Director – Urinetown
For my information on Urinetown and how to buy tickets, visit http://www.iubmusicals.com/
Image from http://www.iubmusicals.com/
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