According to director Jim Hartzell (Georgetown), Possum Point Players spring musical “Urinetown” has some of the most interesting, fun musical numbers he has ever heard. The reason is that the composer, Mark Hollmann, purposely wrote musical scenes in the styles of other famous musicals.
Throughout the show you will hear/see pieces that remind you of “West Side Story”, “Fiddler On The Roof”, “Big River”, “Evita”, and “Les Miserables”.
There is one number that Hartzell says will be staged like a big Busby-Berkeley production number. The opening of the show, according to Hollmann, is in the style of Kurt Weill’s “Threepenny Opera” (famous for the song “Mack The Knife”).
One of the first songs we hear in “Urinetown” is the hilarious number sung by Penelope Pennywise (Mary Boucher of Millsboro), “It’s a Privilege To Pee”.
Hartzell says “This song really starts everything rolling and Mary, who was Adelaide in ‘Guys and Dolls’ is an amazing singer and actress.”
Hollmann says “I suspect that most Americans would have said the title alone made “Urinetown” not just a bad idea for a musical but a really terrible idea for a musical”. Hollmann saw the potential, though, and went to work. Hartzell is delighted that he did, and challenges everyone to “find the songs, dances and movement that remind you of other musicals”.
Urinetown will open April 16 at Possum Hall. Tickets can be reserved by calling the Possum Point Players ticket line at (302) 856-4560.
Urinetown is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International, 421 West 54th Street, New York, NY 10019.
Possum Point Players is supported, in part, by grants from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
