Odd play with great cast especially Mikko Juan in the lead roll, Arika Matobs and Brandon O’Neill

I obtained front row seats and was looking forward to a good musical comedy. Usually Seattle’s local productions are quite good, Not Urinetown. While the cast bought in and gave good performances the premise was extremely stupid. Moreover, staring at a pile of disgustingly filthy toilets that served as the production’s centerpiece was nothing short of nauseating. Save yourself fifty bucks and two hours you’ll forever regret spending watching this awful play. It is undoubtedly the worst show I’ve ever seen.

God bless the cast for doing their best efforts, but I have no idea how this production ever won a Tony. I have seen original high school musicals that were less one note than Urinetown. Supposedly it's a satire of the privatization of public utilities and Broadway as a whole, but I don't buy it. It's like when an overpriced restaurant serves something "deconstructed" and it's really just a hot mess on a plate. The whole trope of breaking the fourth wall and ironically addressing the audience got old less than halfway through act one. You can only use irony to cover over how little you have to say for so long, and it's not very long at that. Princess Bride is a satire of a simple story. Shrek is a satire of a simple story. Monty Python and all of Terry Pratchett's books are satires of simple stories. This isn't any of those things. Urinetown is bad writing and boring songs that hope that if they ironically wink at you enough times you'll go along with a bad joke.