Good to the Last Drop

Broadway sensation Urinetown first showered audiences with scathing satire in a pre-9/11 New York City at the Big Apple's Fringe Festival. An updated, free-to-the-public production of the critically lauded musical is coming to the Carlsen Center's Polsky Theatre at Johnson County Community College (12345 College Boulevard in Overland Park), brought to you by the school's drama department.In the story, a town that has endured a 20-year drought outlaws private privies. Instead, all bathroom business is done in public pay toilets manufactured by a corporation called "Urine Good Company" (tee-hee). Anybody caught not paying is sent to a penal colony (tee-hee-hee) called Urinetown. Or so they think ...The subversive musical, which undermines bureaucracy, corporations and politics, is as vital as ever. This version, guest-directed by Broadway vet Jerry Jay Cranford, takes place 22 years in the future. And what a bleak future it is: Our generation has ignored Al Gore's warnings about the consequences of global warming, so now we gotta pay to pee.But don't worry, it's just pretend. Right? Urinetown streams tonight through Saturday at 8 p.m., and seating is first-come, first-served. Call 913-469-8500, ext. 3245.
Thu., Nov. 15, 8 p.m.; Fri., Nov. 16, 8 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 17, 8 p.m.; Sun., Nov. 18, 2 p.m., 2007