Pee is for … US hit’s London premiere

 
16 September 2013

A hit Broadway musical inspired by not being able to afford to pee is to get a UK premiere.

Urinetown, by Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis, which won three Tony awards when seen in New York more than a decade ago, gets its first British performances at St James Theatre, Victoria, next spring.

Kotis, 47, said it was appropriate — and exciting — that the musical would finally be seen in London. “It owes a debut to London because during a trip to Europe in 1995 I decided to go off my route and see friends performing in a West End show,” he said.

But it left him with $300 to complete his planned tour of France and Germany so he used night trains to save on accommodation and avoided any public lavatories that charged.

Walking to avoid discomfort, he said an idea emerged. “The first image was this little girl walking around the open square saying, ‘penny for a pee’.” This became Urinetown, set in a future city where business tycoon Cladwell B Cladwell had made his fortune through bribery and monopolising public lavatories. Kotis added. “It’s real gallows humour.”

The show will be directed by Jamie Lloyd, who recently directed James McAvoy in Macbeth and is now doing The Commitments.

Urinetown the Musical is at St James from February 22 to May 3. urinetown.co.uk

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