Urinetown Reviews

Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended

"...The dystopic musical comedy is now back in a stellar and inventive staging at Theo, directed by Danny Kapinos (co-artistic director of Blank Theatre Company). The action unfolds all around us: at the bar, on gray platforms situated around the audience, and behind a plastic sheet hung up on one side, with the five-piece band led by conductor and associate music director Kevin Zhou (Aaron Kaplan is music director) tucked up in another corner. Choreographer Brenda Didier outdoes herself, moving the dozen actors up, over, and around the audience."

Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...I must say that I felt the prescience of the spirit of Fred Anzevino smiling down on the theatre recently named in his honor as Theo Ubique's production of this musical satire, directed by Danny Kapinos with extraordinary choreography by Brenda Didier took on a Anzevino look. Yes, this production is done as Fred would have done it, truly "cabaret" with the players playing off those seated around the set. I for one will tell you that "table 6" gets a lot of action. I would have loved my chair to be a swivel chair as I was going from side to side and may have lost a pound or two during this production."

Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended

"...The always inventive Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre continually ups the ante, producing terrific, timely and thought-provoking musicals that showcase the artists' intellect. This popular, highly praised, controversial 24-year-old satire strangely feels as relevant as today's headlines. Danny Kapinos' playful and powerful production will make audiences laugh at the preposterous plot while pondering how this futuristic fantasy potently portrays the politics and ecological concerns of today. But for now, however, just realize that It's still "A Privilege to Pee.""

PicksInSix - Highly Recommended

"...There aren't many pieces of theatre that so expertly lets its audience members know the authors are winking at them, that everyone is in on the joke, as in the energetic musical satire "Urinetown," now playing at Theo through December 21. All elements in the show own this attitude throughout. There's the strong, self-effacing book of Greg Kotis, which makes fun of, well, nearly everything either Broadway musical-ish or municipal efficiency-like. The stylish score by Mark Hollmann makes marked bows to Weill and Bernstein and Harnick and even blues, while pointedly using "Les Miserables" as a musical inspiration at the end of Act I in articulating the satire."

MaraTapp.org - Highly Recommended

"...One of the delights of this revival of Urinetown is that it brings the show back from its Broadway daze - pun intended - to the immersive Cabaret style for which Theo is known, a return to their many years in the tiny No Exit Cafe, one of our country's oldest political arts cafes. In that space, immersive drama was unavoidable, and it is now been recreated in Theo's larger home on Howard Street. This show, dedicated to co-founder Fred Anzevino, who died in April, honors his values and spirit."

Allie and the After Party - Highly Recommended

"...A satirical farce in a make-believe dystopian town, Urinetown takes a ragtag bunch of revolutionaries up against the big capitalist company that’s taking away their right to pee. Set in an immersive theater-in-the-round staging, Theo’s production is chock full of tongue in cheek humor and crystal clear vocals as the cast uses every corner of the stage."