Audio By Carbonatix
Nothing is worse than being out for a walk on a beautiful day, losing track of time and finding yourself miles from home — and suddenly needing to pee. You’re stuck in an unfamiliar neighborhood and can’t find any establishment that will allow you to use its bathrooms. Things start getting desperate. You’re considering ringing random doorbells and start eyeing alleys when you spot a 7-Eleven and run toward it like your knees are tied together. You smash through the door and beg for the bathroom, but the man behind the counter rudely shakes his head and says, “Customers only!” You scrounge for any change, ten cents for a mint. Not a goddamn dime.
That is everyday life for the residents of Urinetown. A twenty-year drought has struck, rendering private bathrooms extinct and public pay toilets the law-imposed norm. If you can’t afford the pay toilets, you’re carted off, never to return. What can the citizens do in this police state besides cross their legs? They can sing, albeit ironically. And they can rebel, but only while singing ironically.
The Physically Handicapped Actors and Musical Artists League opens Urinetown this weekend at the Space Theatre with Urine Good Company With PHAMALY V.I.Pee Night. All pee jokes aside, the special engagement includes a pre-show reception at 6 p.m. and a cocktail party with the cast after the performance, fit with its own “It’s a Privilege to Pee” pay toilet. V.I.Pee tickets are $100, but if you can’t afford that, regular seats cost between $15 and $28. The show runs through August 19; for more information, go to www.phamaly.org.
Fridays, Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m.; Mon., Aug. 13, 7:30 p.m. Starts: July 27. Continues through Aug. 19
