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When Urinetown debuted in 2001, it was one of several notable new musicals that mocked, satirized, or made comedy out of the conventions or the genre of musical comedy. Critics have used various labels to describe this genre: mock-musicals, self-reflexive musicals, meta musicals.
This 2001 New York Times article by musical theater historian Barry Singer discusses Urinetown in the context of other meta/self-conscious musicals and cultural trends of the era.
Scholar Christopher M. McCoy defines the "mockmusical" as "musical comedy in which the primary comedic device is derived through mocking the conventions, tropes, formal structures, stock characters and situations, archetypes and stereotypes, social associations, connotations, and cultural collateral of the American musical."
McCoy argues that when American culture turned more serious and patriotic after the attacks of 9/11/01, "the mockmusical became a potential cite for ironic resistance, a safe space where play and parody, humor and derision, even good ole anarchic questioning of authority could be expressed as escapist musical comedy. ... Mockmusicals allowed the American theatre-going public to laugh at, not only the cultural formulation of the American musical, but what it meant to be an American at the turn of the twenty-first century, offering a liberal alternative to the early homogenizing influence of national rhetoric in the war on terror."
Other notable instances of mock-musicals of the era include:
Other notable instances of mock-musicals of the era include:
Bat Boy: the Musical (2001): A musical comedy/horror show about a half boy/half bat creature who is discovered in a cave near Hope Falls, West Virginia. For lack of a better solution, the local sheriff brings Bat Boy to the home of the town veterinarian, Dr. Parker, where he is eventually accepted as a member of the family and taught to act like a “normal” boy by the veterinarian’s wife, Meredith, and teenage daughter, Shelley. Bat Boy is happy with his new life, but when he naively tries to fit in with the narrow-minded people of Hope Falls, they turn on him, prodded by the machinations of Dr. Parker, who secretly despises Bat Boy. Shelley and Bat Boy, who have fallen in love, run away together from the ignorant townfolk and have a blissful coupling in the woods, but their happiness is shattered when Meredith arrives and reveals a secret. Soon the entire town arrives and hears the shocking story of Bat Boy’s unholy origin.
The Producers (2001): A down-on-his-luck Broadway producer and his mild-mannered accountant come up with a scheme to produce the most notorious flop in history, thereby bilking their backers (all "little old ladies") out of millions of dollars. Only one thing goes awry: the show is a smash hit! The antics of Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom as they maneuver their way fecklessly through finding a show (the gloriously offensive "Springtime for Hitler"), hiring a director, raising the money and finally going to prison for their misdeeds
The Musical of Musicals: The Musical (2003): n this hilarious satire of musical theatre, one story becomes five delightful musicals, each written in the distinctive style of a different master of the form, from Rodgers & Hammerstein to Stephen Sondheim. The basic plot: June is an ingenue who can't pay the rent and is threatened by her evil landlord. Will the handsome leading man come to the rescue? The variations are: a Rodgers & Hammerstein version, set in Kansas in August, complete with a dream ballet; a Sondheim version, featuring the landlord as a tortured artistic genius who slashes the throats of his tenants in revenge for not appreciating his work; a Jerry Herman version, as a splashy star vehicle; an Andrew Lloyd Webber version, a rock musical with themes borrowed from Puccini; and a Kander & Ebb version, set in a speakeasy in Chicago. This comic valentine to musical theatre was the longest-running show in the York Theatre Company's 35-year history before moving off-Broadway.
Avenue Q (2004): The laugh-out-loud musical tells the timeless story of a recent college grad named Princeton, who moves into a shabby New York apartment all the way out on Avenue Q. He soon discovers that, although the residents seem nice, it's clear that this is not your ordinary neighborhood. Together, Princeton and his new-found friends struggle to find jobs, dates and their ever-elusive purpose in life.
Monty Python's Spamalot (2005): SPAMALOT tells the legendary tale of King Arthur’s quest to find the Holy Grail. Inspired by the classic comedy film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the musical also diverts a bit from more traditional versions of the legend. Instead, SPAMALOT features shennanigans including a line of beautiful dancing girls, a flatulent Frenchmen and killer rabbits. Outside, there is plague with a 50% chance of pestilence and famine. Throughout the show, Arthur, traveling with his servant Patsy, recruits several knights to accompany him on his quest, including Sir Bedevere, Sir Robin, Sir Lancelot and Sir Galahad. Besides the rabbits and farting Frenchman, they meet such characters as the Lady of the Lake, Prince Herbert, Tim the Enchanter, Not Dead Fred, the Black Knight and the Knights who say Ni.
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