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"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
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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?"