(Photo: Allison Upchurch)
Have you noticed all the signs and posters around campus with a toilet plunger on them advertising something called Urinetown? Rest assured, it is not an actual place. It is actually a musical put on by the Regis Ramblers, Regis’ musical theater club.
The first question that is probably coming to mind is why Urinetown, and who decided to do this musical? “The students vote every year on what musical we do,” Rich Cadwallader, the director of the show explains. “It was the consensus of the group, and this was the one they wanted to do.”
According to the licensing agency Music Theater International, the inspiration for Urinetown came from the show’s writer and co-lyricist Greg Kotis when he was a student traveling in Europe and encountered a pay to use toilet. Urinetown opened on Broadway on September 20, 2001 and ran until January 18, 2004. The show is about a city heavily affected by a water shortage resulting in the outlaw of private toilets, and the people who want to challenge the corporation that charges them a fee to use public toilets. Urinetown has been produced many times throughout the years both professionally and in communities across the country, and now it is Regis’ turn to take the plunge(r).
Auditions and casting took place in October, and ever since January the Ramblers have been in the rehearsal stage of the production, counting down the days until opening night. During rehearsals, the cast of 26 students from all different majors, ranging from politics to health and exercise sciences, work together to run lines, plan the staging, practice songs and choreography, and develop characters. With so many things to accomplish, the Ramblers organize it all by keeping an open channel of communication between each other. “It’s a lot of communication between us and the students,” assistant choreographer Emily Elliott explains. “Just really a lot of outside planning to make sure that we are using rehearsal time efficiently because we do recognize that students have a lot going on.”
In addition to their time in rehearsal, the Ramblers split off into groups to market and advertise the show, construct the set, and gather the props and costumes. By taking part in all aspects of the production, each member of the Ramblers exhibits an interest in musical theater and wants to make the show successful. As choreographer Lisa Cadwallader points out, “It just so happens that there is this product that comes from everybody coming together and having a good time [and] having an outlet for creativity.”
With Urinetown less than a week away, the Ramblers are ready to share this production with the Regis community, hopefully inspiring current Regis students to join the club next year! “You don’t have to be a theater major or a music major to love theater and want to be involved in theater and to be a part of this club,” Elliott exclaims, “At the end of the day it’s not a club so much as it is a family that puts on a show and has fun.”
Urinetown will be performed in the Mountain View Room on March 30 and March 31 at 8:00pm, April 1 at 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm, and April 2 at 2:00 pm. For more information and to purchase tickets visit www.regis.edu/ramblers. To find out how to join the Regis Ramblers email regisramblers@gmail.com.
Allison Upchurch Staff Reporter