‘Urinetown’ opening night draws crowds

Brian Lang
February 26, 2018

Cast members run through act I finale during rehearsal for “Urinetown” Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018. Photo by Robin Reid

Crowds of students, faculty and community members filled Fain Auditorium on a rainy Friday night to see the premiere of “Urinetown: The Musical.” The set glowed an iridescent yellow, reflecting the theme of the show, as the audience excitedly talked while thumbing through their programs.

Since those in charge of the production postponed the show due to inclement weather, the show opened on Friday as opposed to its scheduled opening night of Thursday.

After the show, the cast hosted a brief talk-back, allowing audience members to ask questions for the cast and crew. Some people asked about the cast’s favorite parts of the show, others were curious about the running gags throughout the show. One audience member brought up the drought that struck Wichita Falls several years ago and how it related to the fictional drought in Urinetown.

Jaron Imbriani, sports and leisure sophomore, said, “I really liked the show, it was very interesting. I had never heard of it before, so I was really curious about what it was about. I think it was really entertaining to watch.”

Lauren Gardener, pre-med biology junior, said she enjoyed the way the play handled exposition.

“I really enjoyed the play, it was really interesting and entertaining to watch,” Gardener said. “My favorite part was Officer Lockstock explaining to the audience what was going on a lot and just doing that commentary towards the audience. I want to go see future plays. I’m really excited to see them do ‘Our Town.'”

Cast members shared their favorite parts about the show.

Ilka Megee, theater education sophomore, played one of the lead characters Hope Cladwell and said, “My favorite part of the show was near the end of it, seeing all of the character archetypes that were made. I think each character is really specific in the show, I’m glad that we each got to that point in in it.”

Kalli Root, theater senior, played Little Sally in the production and said she enjoyed when the production moved past its rough start.

“My favorite part of the show was watching everything come together at the end because it started off we had a couple of rough patches at the beginning. But at the end, it really came together. It was really cool to watch,” Root said.

Many of the actors increased their skills over the course of the show, from acting better, learning about what makes great comedy, to maintaining projection so that the audience can hear.

Samuel Mitchell, mass communication sophomore, played lead character Bobby Strong and said, “My favorite part was learning the music because I had never learned music like that before. I learned about acting by really doing things instead of just acting them out. That’s what we’ve been talking about in my acting class.” He also added that he has had no formal musical training, yet he was one of the strongest voices on the stage.”

Megee said the play taught about comedic acting.

Root also added, “ I learned about projection because we didn’t have any mics. So usually it would be like, ‘Oh yeah it would be nice if you can be a little louder so that the audience can hear you better.’ But with this show, it was literally like, ‘If you are not loud, they are not going to hear you.’”

The months of hard work finally paid off this weekend for the cast and crew of “Urinetown.” Students can go see this great production for free this Thursday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Fain Fine Arts Center Theatre.

Get your tickets from the Fain Fine Arts Building.

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