Urinetown: The Musical [Paperback]

Mark Hollmann (Author), Greg Kotis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 19, 2003

Winner of three Tony Awards, including Best Book, Urinetown is a tale of greed, corruption, love, and revolution in a time when water is worth its weight in gold.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Elevated silliness of the highest order that makes a gratifying case for the restorative return to knowing foolishness and the smartly absurd. The show winks at everything from Hamlet’s father’s ghost to West Side Story, from the revolutionary pretensions of Les Mis to the revivalist joy of Guys & Dolls.” —Linda Winer, Newsday

About the Author

Greg Kotis is a veteran of the Neo-Futurists, creators of the long-running, ongoing attempt to perform thirty plays in sixty minutes, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. Jobey and Katherine, his play about fish, toast, and a love stronger and grimmer than death, enjoyed runs in New York and Chicago in 1997. As a member of the Cardiff Giant Theater Company, he appeared in countless anarchic improvisations and co-authored six plays, including LBJFKKK, Love Me, and Aftertaste! (the Musical). He holds a BA in political science from the University of Chicago, and lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Ayun Halliday, and their children, India and Milo.

Mark Hollmann is a former ensemble member of the Cardiff Giant Theater Company in Chicago. He also played trombone for the Chicago art-rock band Maestro Subgum and the Whole, and played piano for the Second City National Touring Company and Chicago City Limits. He attended the Making Tuners Workshop at New Tuners Theatre in Chicago and the BMI Lehaman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop in New York. A member of the Dramatists Guild and ASCAP, he lives in Manhattan with his wife, Jillian.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 103 pages
• Publisher: Faber & Faber; 1st edition (February 19, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571211828
• ISBN-13: 978-0571211821
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #91,778 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece in Every Way!!, May 27, 2003

By 

J.D. (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Urinetown: The Musical (Paperback)

This item is the script for the Broadway play. It contains every bit of dialogue, song lyrics, and blocking used in the Broadway Musical. This script is absolutely phenomenal. I've listened to the recording an innumberable number of times, have seen the show on Broadway, and have read the script several times since then. It is just so funny! I don't know how they came up with this crazy idea and ingenious music and lyrics and dialogue, but if you're looking for an amazingly funny script to read, this is it!
This book also includes some nice forwards by both the writer and composer, giving a long background on how this play came to be.
A "Must Have" for any fan of this show, any musical theatre fan, or any fan of insane comedy!

5.0 out of 5 stars "Urine" for a good time, November 3, 2010

By 

Renfield "Up the Irons" (Edmonton, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Urinetown: The Musical (Paperback)

Pissing. It's not something we think about quite often, but what if that right to do your private business in private was taken away? What if we had a price over our bodily functions, and what if we couldn't afford it?

That's what "Urinetown" often ponders. Urinetown is a hilarious tragicomedy about an unnamed city in a dystopian future that has been victim to a 20 year drought. This has caused an enforced ban on all private toilets, and only one amenity is open for use. However, the lines are long and you have to pay. No biggie, I can just go in the bushes, right?

WRONG.

Police are everywhere. And if you go to the bathroom anywhere else than the amenity, you are sent off by the cops to a place called "Urinetown". What is Urinetown? I cannot reveal!!!

This is an excellent, thoughtful social commentary of a musical that is just outright fun. The music is FANTASTIC. The songs are just great! "It's a Privelege to Pee" is a hilarious, tongue in cheek song, "Run Freedom Run" is a catchy Gospel tune, "Act One Finale" is an intense and disturbing nail biter, "Snuff That Girl" is really cool... the whole musical is just too fun for words.

In the end, Urinetown ends unhappily, but it does have a good message about the waste of water, and some great music and is just overall fun.

44 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Everything but the Music, February 11, 2003

By 

"mrflick" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Urinetown: The Musical (Paperback)

I thought that the book would include some of the sheet music to the songs which i enjoy so much, but it does not. You basically get a copy of the script with lyics to the songs (not much different from the booklet that accompanies the CD).