Image provided by: West Linn High School; West Linn, OR
About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2009)
# 009 ________________ _______ E n t e r t a in m e n t _____________________ is "Urinetown"provides laughs; parodies sustainability u L ibby M athes Staff Reporter Water is "worth it’s weight in gold" in the upcoming musical comedy, "Urinetown," which opens on Feb. 27 and runs until March 8. The musical will keep you laughing until the end when "Urinetown" takes place in a Gotham- like city in which the townspeople are not allowed to keep a private toilet in their home in order to save water due to a 20 year drought. One company runs the public restrooms, charging for a person's basic needs and gaining all the money that comes with it. The title, "Urinetown" may make it seem like it might have "potty humor" or "dirty jokes," but really the title is just a place. And as said during the play, "It's kind of a mythical place, you understand. A bad place. A place you won't see until Act Two. And then... well, let's just say it's filled with symbolism and things like that." "It's darn funny on many levels," Jon Ares, Director, said. "It's funny because of the very matter-of-fact form that the characters explain the water shortage dilemma and the drastic measures taken to alleviate the problem. For those who know Broadway shows, there are a lot of parodies of other shows and show The cast includes Andra Sturtevant, senior, as Penelope Pennywise, Casey Crawford, senior, as Little Sally, Sam Samantha Forsey, sophomore, Casey Crawford, senior, Tyler Harmon, senior, Johanna Hanson, senior, Lisa Wang, sophomore, Nick Altishin, senior, and Andra Sturtevant, senior, rehearse for the upcoming play, "Urinetown.” "Urinetown" comes out Friday, Feb. 27 and runs until March 8. Photo by Zack Mueller tunes in it; and the very premise itself seems so preposterous, it’s funny in-and-of-itself. But the audience comes to realize this is truly happening around the world." Anderson, junior, as Officer Lockstock, Tyler Whitcomb, junior, as Bobby Strong, Corbin Wescott, senior, as Caldwell B. Cladwell, Johanna Hanson, senior, as Little Becky Two Shoes, AMustard Thumb and the Pizza Fingers looks for music audience on MySpace lu ll s i m m s _____________ u continued from page 9 They have been playing as a group for about a year according to King. They are inspired by Howard Dean, . cows, aliens and midgets. "We're rather...different," Gay said. The band has written songs such as "Cows," "Sirjum ba- Wumba" and "Circus of Values" based on their inspirations. "There's really such a and newcomer Jennifer Warmack, freshman, as Hope Cladwell. The rest of the cast consists of Nick Altishin, fine line between clever and stupid," Splitstoser said. They meet about once a month and play Omnisonic Jazz-o-rama together. M idnight Callers play at venues in Portland on a regular basis and will soon be on iTunes. M onday Combo practices weekly and plays-gigs whenever they can, and M ustard Thumb and the Pizza Fingers plays monthly but uploads its songs onto the web site; look them up on Myspace. Expressing his expectations for the future, "Gooble-shnurb-fadargle; it's the new word all the hipsters are going to start using to describe us," Lissman said. But there are more traditional ways to look at it too. "We-hope to gain confidence and experience from playing in a student led combo setting," Muggli said. Ashtyn Butuso, Chris Daniels, Tyler Harmon, Spencer McCoy, Caitlyn Olson, Jordyn Warrington and Tatianna Young, seniors; Brent Bailey and Alyssa Johnston, juniors; Sammie Forsey, Michael Johnson, Maddie Martus, Anna Stapleton, and Lisa Wang, sophomores; Emily Axelrod, Nolan Butuso, Hayley Crawford, Carolyn Cruze, Mackenzie Larson, Evan O'Connell, Tom Olson, Reed Sturtevant, and Kendall Weierich, freshmen. The cast will also feature "Night" recounts tragedy :RIN HOBERTSON Staff Reporter Elie Wiesel wrote a novel based on the true story of his life, titled "Night." Written NIGHT WtwtltK O r THE WRHANEWPREttCEBY Rs&8!tMoÄe8r-3wn 'A SUM VOLUME .Of TERRIFYING POWER: -MÄWV0RKI1H6S by the Nobel Peace Prize recipient, it is a sad and shocking story about the 15 \ 1 : year-old's experiences in the Holocaust. "Night's" main characters are Wiesel and his father. It Kyle Lissman, Carlos Splitstoser, Riley King and Isaac Gay, juniors, comprise the band Mustard Thumb and is part of a trilogy of books Pizza Fingers. Their tunes are available on Myspace.com where they upload on a weekly basis. written by Wiesel including i Photo courtesy of Riley King "Dawn" and "Day." The books « Tana Dearborn, science teacher. This is her last year teaching at WLHS, and it is a tradition that a teacher makes a cameo guest appearance in the musical. "I had just asked to be in the play and I got to do it. I'm just in one little act though," Dearborn said. "So far the only thing we've done is blocked out the scene, choreography and the music." The play has the rich and the poor, the witty and the strict. It is a comical satire, with the social message of what life is like with little water. It exaggerates capitalism and related things, while also trying to convince us to save water, while entertaining the audience in a way people can enjoy. There were three people who chose the play; Jessica Middleton Murray, D ram a/ Dance teacher, Annie Kaiser, Performing Arts Bldg. Coordinator, and Ares, Performing Arts Technical Coordinator. Each spring, they discuss what plays they want to perform the following year. According to the three, they were looking for a contemporary musical, which is how they found "Urinetown." In New York, the play had won three Tonys: Best Original Score, Best Book of a Musical and Best Director.' "I really can't pick out a favorite part [of the play], but this musical very much draws on my strengths as a director: comedy, but also dark, powerful and strong shows," Ares said. in this trilogy focus on his feelings before, after and during the Holocaust. Wiesel waited 10 years after the end of the Holocaust before writing his books or telling anyone that he survived because he didn't want to attract attention from the press as many Holocaust survivors did. After writing "Night", "Dawn" and Day," he started a foundation called the Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. According to the website, its mission is to combat indifference, intolerance and injustice through international dialogues and youth-focused programs that promote acceptance, understanding and equality. I think it is a good thing that freshmen are required to read "Night" because it teaches them that it wasn't easy to live back then. Many people don't believe the Holocaust happened. I feel that the book poses the question, "How can we stop this from happening again?"
