Urinetown: The Musical was definitely different from other previous musical performances at TCIS because it has touched upon some of the crucial political issues that are extremely controversial till these days. Townspeople creating an uprising to stand by their convictions immediately reminded me of the uprisings in this country. The famous candle demonstration in Korea that was first created by young female high school students to oppose the meat export between the United States and Korea during the mad-cow disease trend in 2008 was particularly compelled into my mind. The reason because it was an event where the government underestimated the power of candles that has later on called the world’s attention to this issue. In this context, the townspeople were under estimated by the water company, seen as small group of powerless people; however the company was clearly wrong that they had total control over them.
Democracy: a system of government in which all the people have the right to take part in making decisions. Learning the values of human rights and understanding the gravity of the importance of resources must have been difficult for the actors to act than actors from previous performances. When I was on stage, my essential goal was solely to understand and form a connection to my own character. However, this time was different; the characters must have been educated in order to be empathetic to the situations of injustice and hopelessness. Because not a lot of the student had a direct experience where they were oppressed by a political authoritarian such as the government or a herculean company just like in the context of the musical, they must have learned the backgrounds of these circumstances in order to convey their characters accurately. And it seems like the character were fully comprehended because their expressions were explicit and exact. They understood the seriousness and were able to help the audience to really focus on the issues with them.
The director’s message was very clear. Through the water shortage of a town, one has successfully conveyed one’s stance to value the things we usually take for granted and to acknowledge the issues that aren’t quite musical-like in the real world. It was a great educational performance for the audience to acquire knowledge on a specific area.
However in my opinion, I personally don’t think the method of Alienation, a theatrical concept that was created by Bertolt Brecht having an ideal space between the actors and the spect-actors, was effectively exhibited in the auditorium. Although some of the actors continuously attempted to break the connection between the audience members, the still considered these narrative acts as parts of the story. To be frank, even though I had previous knowledge on the musical that it is an epic theatre having a different way to reach the audience, as one of the audience members, I often forgot that I was watching a political performance but more drawn to a musical, a story of an ang
ry people. Especially for the audience, are not familiar with the concept, it is a difficult form of theatre for them to acknowledge the meticulous intention that was inserted. The production itself flourished with various theatrical devices that were presented on the stage. The costumes have definitely accomplished its job to differentiate two different groups accurately depicting a time period about in the 1950s. The simplicity of the Company people and the filthy hair and clothes of the townspeople elaborated the characters that they should’ve exhibited on stage with music that was appropriate with the flow of the play. All of the singers beautifully sang addressing many parts of the words to the audience. Lighting was especially effective when Mr. Cladwell was around because the bright light created a sense of heaviness and grandiose. This definitely facilitated the actions of the play and shined the performance.
Overall, the production was a great success in both aesthetically and educationally accomplishing both areas and presenting true existence of theatre that it’s not only about what it is seen, but what it means and how it is applied in this world. Lastly, simulating on how we should make the changes and take actions.
