Welcome! It is fantastic to have you with us about two years from our final performance of our last musical We Will Rock You, after which the world shut down.
After two exhausting Covid-safety driven years of resourcefully finding every conceiveable film editing trick to make it seem like actors were together when they were actually 20 feet apart (Identical sets? Lots of cutting back and forth? Make one of them a stuffed dummy with a wig and wedding dress?), or strapping on various masks that allowed you to almost see an actor's face, it has been an absolute delight to really give our students the experience of putting on a full fledged show, performed inside, uninterrupted by the words "Cut!", with lights, sound, sets and all the bells and whistles.
I am in awe of the resilience our actors, techies and musicians have shown through all of the madness of these last years and filled with such pride and admiration at what they have created in this show with their limitless creativity, collaboration, commiment and drive.
To see them strive for great things in rehearsals has been fantatsic and to see them all pulling together tirelessly in Tech Week. But even more wonderful has been seeing them relax together at dinner and lunch breaks, laugh and socialize and discover disturbingly funny in-jokes, and experience that family, that closeness that creating a show can create.
Thank you for joining our family, and for providing that last piece of the Theatrical Puzzle: the Audience!
Urinetown is one of my favorite musicals of all time, When I first saw it in 2003 it blew me away. Wait (I thought)...a musical can be that smart, funny, irreverant, political, satirical, dark and gloriously ludicrous and have great songs?!?!
From climate change to corporate greed, from revolutions to rabbits, it is a fun, no holds barred, tumble-down-the-mountain ride and we hope you enjoy the rollercoaster we have constructed to take you there.
So step right up, keep your hands inside the car at all times, snack as you will (it's your house!), hit pause when you need (as you'll see shortly life's basic necessities really do need to be addressed!) and welcome to Urinetown, the Musical!
John Sugden
