Urinetown
is a tragicomedy musical. The characters in the show always empathize the performance
is an alternative musical because everyone dies in the end of the show. There
are few conflicts between the characters; however, the major conflict of the
entire musical is between Bobby Strong and the Urine Good Company (UGC). Bobby
is one of the leading characters. He works for Miss Pennywise as the assistant
custodian of the public bathroom. Bobby represents the leader of freedom
because eventually he will lead a revolution. In the other hand, Caldwell B.
Cladwell, the president of UGC, represents the dictator of Urinetown. He sets
up the fee for using public bathroom. In the musical, Bobby leads a rebellion
against Penelope Pennywise and eventually against the UGC. Miss Pennywise is
the person who lives to organize and maintain the public bathroom. In the
musical, the turning point of the show happens after Bobby’s father, Joseph
Strong, is sent to the no-man’s land – Urinetown. Bobby begins a “pee-for-free”
rebellion with the people in the town when Cladwell’s assistant, Mr. McQueen announces
the new public bathroom’s fee hikes. He realizes that the laws are wrong and
decides to open up the door of the public bathroom and let everyone goes in and
use for free. Cladwell eventually hears the news of the rebellion and decides
to take action. The climax takes place
when Cladwell and the cops arrive and arrest Bobby. However, the number of the
people stand on Bobby’s side outnumbered the number of cops. Bobby leads the people
head to the hiding place, and the rebels capture Hope in the end of Act I. At
the beginning of the Act II, Miss Pennywise searches and finds the hiding place
and tells Bobby the Cladwell wants to meet him. Cladwell offers Bobby a large
amount of money in the meeting; however, he refuses to take it. The resolution
of the musical is when cops arrest Bobby and Miss Pennywise and send Bobby to
“Urinetown”. In the meantime, Bobby learns the truth that there is no
“Urinetown”. They just kill people. The cops throw Bobby off the building and
he dies. His soul follows little Sally and speaks to her, encourages her to
fight with what she believes. The final action is when Hope leads the rebellion,
kills officer Barrel, Senate Finn, and Mrs. Millennium. After Hope takes over
the UGC and renamed it as “The Bobby Strong Memorial Toilet Authority”, the
crowd believes that their freedom has arrived. Nonetheless, as Officer
Lockstock describes at the beginning, this is an alternative musical. Everyone
in the town dies of thirst in the end because water supply disappears quickly.
The objectives of the musical are Bobby wants freedom and Caldwell wants to be rich. The subject of “Urinetown” is amenity. The idea of the musical is pursue your dream. The town is lack of water supply because of a twenty-year drought. The senate has to close down all the private bathroom and set rules like “pay-to-pee”. Bobby Strong completely thinks the law is wrong and begins a rebellion. He is a very strong and confident person who pursues what he thinks is right. We should learn his altitude and character, the way he fights for everything that happens in the musical. No matter how many obstacles and challenges we encounter, we should face it and fight for it and never give up.
