After dodging under the Sixth Avenue bridge, snaking over rotting railroad tracks and buzzing past cameras and a gated checkpoint, I sign in to visit the city’s closely guarded sewage-treatment plant.
As the security guard of this Gotham-like netherworld escorts me back to a place few civilians ever see, I have to ask: “So what do you think of a theater company high-stepping in here to perform a musical out on loading dock No. 6?”
“O … E … Vey,” the man says, shaking his head in disbelief. “Let’s just say I’m a little too straight for these musicals.”
The first locally mounted staging of “Urinetown,” the widely praised, futuristic tale of a place where water is in such short supply that residents must pay to pee, is clearly not being staged in a traditional theater.
We’re at the Public Works Department’s Wastewater Management plant. The idea to mount a musical here is bold … it’s crazy … and it’s genius. Kind of how some people describe Dan Wiley, who got the notion staring up at the building’s distinctive, grated W’s (for “wastewater”) while riding his motorcycle along the lower Platte River.
But trying to get through all the bureaucracy to secure the city’s permission made Wiley feel as though Denver might as well be Urinetown itself. The first person he posited his bright idea to just gave him an empty, stupefying look. So he sent the deputy manager of public works a plunger with ribbons all over it and a little note saying, “I have this great idea. Call me back.”
And what did the politico say when he called back?
“Oh, he didn’t ever call back,” said Wiley.
Wiley was told with forbearance: “Nothing happens until you go downtown.”
Downtown? In “Urinetown,” that’s a scary prospect. Here, the big kahuna, Mayor John Hickenlooper, proved sympathetic.
Hick’s response: “That’s cool, do it,” Wiley related. “He blessed it, and from there it was easy.”
How easy? Wiley was promised, “We can even make it smell bad if you want it to.”
Wiley swears “Urinetown” has never been staged anywhere outside a theater. But there just can’t be a more perfect place than here. “I mean, we came to a wastewater building to do a show about conservation, and what happens to society when we don’t manage our resources well,” Wiley said. “I think it will make more of a point here, and it will do it through humor.”
“Urinetown” was an unexpected Broadway hit in 2002. It was born of writer Greg Kotis’ backpacking trip through Europe, where all he could find were pay toilets. So he set out to write a smart satire that not only made its share of Brechtian political points, but sent up the American musical form itself, with hilarious nods to “Stomp,” “Chicago,” “West Side Story” and more.
“This is,” Wiley said with a totally straight face, “the greatest show ever written.”
He’s not only hoping Denverites are intrigued enough to come and see it, he’s betting his house on it. Literally. So far he’s run up $40,000 in personal loans to pay for it.
His cast of 15 believes in him. More than 120 actors auditioned, resulting in a roster filled with accomplished names including Geoff Kent, Michelle Merz, Genevieve Baer, Mare Trevathan and Step Pearce. Zander Meisner, who plays the male lead Bobby, has had two summers with Grand Lake’s Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre. He came to Denver for “Urinetown” specifically because of its locale.
Veteran actress Lori Hansen is performing again just months after having had a double mastectomy from breast cancer.
“I am thrilled to be back,” she said. “I thought the idea to do the show here was the most awesome, on-edge thing I had ever heard.”
It’s now four days before the cast will perform for an audience – a thank-you show for city employees. The cast is rehearsing atop a 32-foot-long flatbed truck that doubles as the stage, until the show’s carpenter arrives – to cheers – with three portable platforms that nearly double the playing area.
The show will run for five weekends, and after each one, Wiley will have to pull the stage and its contents out so the wastewater crew can go about their business. That won’t be a problem for Wiley.
“I’m lucky because my girlfriend drives a semi,” he said.
Directly in front of actors are three huge wastewater trucks, which on show nights will clear out to make room for 99 chairs. Portable light trees will be placed around the edges of the stage, as will a five-member orchestra. The cavernous 30-foot ceiling will be cut down by streams of parachute material that will keep this dock from sounding like an echo chamber.
Each intermission, Wiley will reveal four Super Bowl Porta-Potties he’ll have set up in the parking lot.
“Yes, in the comic spirit of the show, we will ask people to pay to pee,” said Wiley. The cost? 25 cents. Remember, the poor guy is out $40,000.
Those who cannot – or will not – pay, he swears, will not be sent to the dreaded Urinetown. Instead, Kent, who plays Officer Lockstock, will be on hand to direct them to the building’s real (and rather comfortable) restroom facilities.
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
“Urinetown”
“MUSICAL”|”Presented by Urinetown Players”|”Directed by Dan Wiley and Cathy Reinking”|”Starring Zander Meisner, Michelle Merz and Geoff Kent”|”Denver Wastewater Management Building, 2000 W. 3rd Ave.”|”THROUGH DEC. 3″|”8 p.m.
Fridays-Saturdays, 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Sundays”|”$30″|”303-274-1325 or urinetowndenver.org
