Washington

"URINETOWN is a joyously cynical musical about musicals, whose barbed, knowing wit made me laugh so long and hard that my cheeks were sore all the way home.  A raucous spoof of every uplifting musical you can think of, directed to the hilt by John Rando."

Terry Teachout, Washington Post

Boston

"Be happy.  URINETOWN is here to save the day.  You might have thought it impossible to send up The Threepenny Opera, Annie, Mark Blitzstein Depression-era musicals and Gershwin romances simultaneously, but that's exactly what URINETOWN does.  Knowing, ultra-ironic wit.  URINETOWN knows how to keep the laughs coming without any letup."

Ed Siegal, Boston Globe

"URINETOWN has a wit, intelligence and originality found in the best musical spoofs, from The Boy Friend  to Little Mary Sunshine to Dames at Sea.  A loony, loopy delight!" 

Mike Kuchwara, Associated Press

 "URINETOWN keeps the audience soaring! When was the last time left-wing agitprop was the subject for a musical - much less one that's so entertaining? URINETOWN has outsize energy, as does the terrific, beefy, Kurt Weill-like score by Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis.  They aim for comic-operatic heights."

Richard Zoglin, Time Magazine

Chicago

"One of the hottest theatre tickets in town.  Definitely a musical for our times.  Uniquely outrageous."

Michael Killian, Chicago Tribune

Philadelphia

"Inventive, funny, delightfully executed and very entertaining.  Real pleasure lies in URINETOWN's songs and dances, which are at the same time inspired satire and wonderful musical theatre.    The chorus is terrific and under John Rando's deft direction, there isn't a weak performance among the principals."

Douglas J. Keating, Philadelphia Inquirer

Hartford

"Look past the title.  This new musical is funny.  Crazy, funny and oddly touching.  A post-modern Cradle Will Rock.  John Rando directs with a smart sense of musical theatre types and John Carrafa's choreography borrows freely and jubilantly from everything from Fiddler on the Roof to West Side Story."

Malcolm Johnson, Hartford Courant

Toronto

"Contrary to all reports, irony is not dead.  It's alive and well and living in URINETOWN (4 stars).  The musical staging by John Carrafa is first rate, the direction of John Rando is breezily inventive, and the 16 cast members are all amazing  - full-throated singers who act with comic gusto and throw themselves into the dance numbers as if their lives depended on it. Hollmann's score is richly melodic and wittily deft, mixing Broadway brass with gospel funk and then taking the whole thing for a walk on the Weill side.  The songs thrill you with their sound, even while you are snickerng at the nature of the pastiche."

Richard Ouzounian, Toronto Star

 Miami

"The most appallingly titled show of the season is also one of the best.  From the opening notes of Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann's nouveau Brecht-Weill musical, you know you are hearing from major talent.  Melodic, clever, sardonic, well-executed.  The cast is sensational and so is URINETOWN."

Christine Dolen, Miami Herald

 San Francisco

"One of the more original musicals to come along in a long time. The brilliant songs develop the story of corporate oppression and popular revolt and comment on the play itself, in hilariously sardonic homages to the Brecht-Weill canon, upbeat swing numbers and rousing spirituals."

Robert Hurwitt, San Francisco Chronicle

Cleveland

"The cleverest musical in New York.  Howlingly funny.  Just about everything about the production - John Rando's in-your-face direction, a fine cast and the onstage band - is first-rate.  A+!"

Tony Brown, Cleveland Plain Dealer

St. Petersberg

"A delicious piece of self-referential wit.  URINETOWN is more than just a goof.  Like the best of musicals, it has a serious point to make.  A musical about urine, and a good one at that?  The impossible subject matter is precisely the point in a show that includes sly spoofs of Les Miserables, Cabaret, Fiddler on the Roof and Chicago."

John Fleming, St. Petersberg Times

Detroit

"A startlingly original musical that's the surprise hit of the Broadway season.  Sly, wry and self-aware, the highly-entertaining URINETOWN simultaneously pokes fun at and pays homage to every musical about the downtrodden, like Les Miserables, The Threepenny Opera and The Cradle Will Rock. "

Martin Kohn, Detroit Free Press

BroaDway PresS ReleAse

URINETOWN: The Musical - Broadway's most unexpected musical hit is playing to rave reviews and packed houses at The Henry Miller Theatre (124 West 43rd Street, between Sixth Avenue and Broadway).  URINETOWN is produced by The Araca Group and Dodger Theatricals in association with TheaterDreams, Inc., and Lauren Mitchell.

URINETOWN, featuring book and lyrics by Greg Kotis, music and lyrics by Mark Hollmann, is directed by John Rando, with musical staging by John Carrafa.

Bruce Weber, The New York Times, wrote, "What kind of musical is this?  An original one.  This exuberant musical, with its cagey score and boisterous choreography, already has the imprimatur of being hip, having become a word-of-mouth hot ticket during previews.  URINETOWN's gloriously sensible message is: 'Hey, it's only theater, but isn't it wonderful?'"

Set in a Gotham-like city overwrought by ecological disaster, URINETOWN: The Musical is a tale of greed, corruption, love and revolution in a time when water is worth its very weight in gold.  A depletion of the earth's water supply has led to a government-enforced ban on private toilets.  The privilege of pee is regulated by a single, malevolent corporation, which profits by charging admission for one of mankind's most basic needs.

URINETOWN features John Cullum as Caldwell B. Cladwell, Hunter Foster as Bobby Strong, Spencer Kayden as Little Sally, Jeff McCarthy as Officer Lockstock, Nancy Opel as Penelope Pennywise and Jennifer Laura Thompson as Hope Cladwell.  The production also features David Beach, Jennifer Cody, Rachel Coloff, Rick Crom, John Deyle, Victor W. Hawks, Erin Hill, Ken Jennings, Megan Lawrence, Daniel Marcus, Michele Ragusa, Peter Reardon, Don Richard, Lawrence Street and Kay Walbye.

Scenic and environment design is by Scott Pask, costume design is by Gregory Gale and Jonathan Bixby, lighting design is by Brian MacDevitt, sound design is by Jeff Curtis.  Musical direction is by Edward Strauss.  Orchestrations are by Bruce Coughlin.  Production stage manager is Julia P. Jones.

URINETOWN was nominated for eight 2002 Lucille Lortel Awards and won the Award for Outstanding Musical and Choreography (John Carrafa).  It has received 6 Outer Critics Circle Award Nominations, including Outstanding Musical, Actor (John Cullum, Hunter Foster), Featured Actress (Spencer Kayden), Director (John Rando), and Choreography (John Carrafa).

Off-Broadway, URINETOWN was the winner of two 2001 Obie Awards - a special citation for book (Greg Kotis) and lyrics (Greg Kotis, Mark Hollmann) and an award for musical staging (John Carrafa).  Spencer Kayden, who plays the role of Little Sally, also received the Clarence Derwent Award for her performance.  URINETOWN was also nominated for 9 Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical.

Henry Miller's Theatre opened in 1918 and was the home for such famous productions as Thornton Wilder's Pultizer Prize-winning Our Town, T.S. Eliot's The Cocktail Party, Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution and The Andersonville Trial with George C. Scott.  In the 1960s, the theatre began showing pornographic films, and housed a string of nightclubs, including the legendary Xenon.  The theatre returned to legitimate use as the original home of the Roundabout Theatre Company's Tony^®  Award-winning revival of Cabaret.

The Original Cast Recording of URINETOWN, produced by seven-time Grammy^® Award-winning Jay David Saks, is now available on CD by RCA Victor.

Performance are Tuesday through Saturday at 8:00 p.m., Wednesday and Saturday at 2:00 p.m., and Sunday at 3:00 p.m.  Tickets are available by calling Telecharge at 212-239-6200.