Song Breakdown

Urinetown, as a show, both pokes fun at and gives homage to the genre of musical theatre in many ways. One of which is the precision with which each song fulfills a "musical niche". For this breakdown, I am referencing Jack Viertel's "song plot" from The Secret Life of the American Musical. *

Act One

• "Too Much Exposition" & "Urinetown"

  • Opening Number

    • Sets the scene and the tone.

    • Allows us to meet the main characters.

    • Creates a point of view for the show.

• "It’s a Privilege to Pee"

  • While not fulfilling of the exact niches on Viertel's plot, this song furthers exposition, which this show requires a lot of!

• "Mr. Cladwell"

  • Similarly doesn't fulfill an exact niche, but homages to 1930s musical numbers and introduces us to our antagonist.

• "Cop Song"

  • The "Energy" Song

    • After a lot of exposition, the audience needs a break, something fun and energetic.

    • "a little energy boost, a little fun, a little relaxation to restore their concentration and curiosity, they need to hear a big sound, and they probably need to watch some people dance." (101)

• "Follow Your Heart"

  • Serves as both an "I Want" song for Hope & Bobby while also being the 'Conditional' Love Song

    • "I Want" songs are perhaps the most famous & classic type of musical niche

    • "The hero has to want something that’s hard to get, and go after it come what may." (53)

    • This show is interesting in that Bobby doesn't have an "I Want" song early on; he only expresses his passion once Hope inspires him to speak up. 

    • As a 'Conditional' Love Song, it plays with love at first sight, as well as miscommunication and mismatch.

      • "Of course, you know they’ll end up together – it’s a musical – but the question is, how will the story accomplish it?" (85)

• "Look at the Sky"

  • "Look at the Sky" could also serve as the "I Want" song, but even this is past the point of purely wanting. At this point, Bobby is already acting on his passion.

• "Don't Be the Bunny"

  • The Tent-Pole Song

    • "…a high energy number that gets everyone’s blood pumping hard enough to get us to the first act curtain" (142)

    • Usually fun and furthers the plot: in this case, it's giving Hope a reason to doubt her father.

• "Act One Finale"

  • First Act Curtain

    • As the title (and Lockstock) would have you believe, this song is a textbook First Act Curtain song.

    • Sets up that everything is possible, BUT THEN there is an unraveling, where everything starts to fall apart

    • "This is how an act traditionally ends: in a crisis that seems completely beyond redemption. It’s why we come back for Act 2."

    • Includes a finaletto: "a small cluster of reprises or intertwining songs"

Act Two

• "What is Urinetown?"

  • The Welcome Back Song

    • "…the authors feel an obligation to welcome you back to Act 2 in a way that suggests that the worst is, perhaps, over – 'Welcome back, dear audience,' they seem to be saying. 'We’re really here to entertain you after all.'"

    • Arguably, Urinetown doesn't intend to make you believe the worst is over. "What is Urinetown?" enters the second act with uncertainty. However, the song is still fun and fast-paced.

• "Snuff That Girl"

  • Could be a continuation of The Welcome Back Song, or a segue between that and the Candy Dish. On its own, it could fulfill either. Surrounded by the other songs, it becomes a sort of transitional number.

• "Run, Freedom, Run!"

  • The Candy Dish Song

    • "If a musical score is a candy dish, at this point the authors want to offer you a new & different kind of candy"

    • For Urinetown, this means that it's a little fun, a little silly, and gives Bobby & the Poor the push they need to continue fighting.

    • It also gives you something entirely new in the form of the gospel section, and its addition of other genres that we haven't yet seen.

• "Why Did I Listen To That Man?"

  • The Main Event

    • Sometimes called the "11 o’clock number"

    • "It’s a promise fulfilled, even if the promise has never been fully articulated in advance." (205)

    • Showpiece, designed to give the audience their money's worth.

• "Tell Her I Love Her"

  • This song is pretty stand-out, as it disrupts the immediate action of the Main Event. It subverts your expectations because Bobby fails in the Main Event. This is where Urinetown really begins to set up the "failure" of the rebellion, by subverting your expectations in not only the plot but the structure of the show itself.

• "We're Not Sorry" / "We're Not Sorry (Reprise)"

  • Next-to-Last Scene

    • "A couple of characters need to come face-to-face and thrash it all out in simple language, and preferably quickly…" (222)

    • "The main event earns the writers the opportunity to speak plainly for a few minutes." (222)

    • The audience can see how the whole musical fits together.

    • Answers out questions about where and how and why the events of the show happened.

• "I See A River"

  • Finale

    • Urinetown doesn't have a finale in the form of a "show-stopping number", rather leaning into a simple ballad that allows Lockstock to narrate the true finale.

    • Urinetown also makes use of it as "an opportunity for delivering the moral of the play".

* Special thanks to Dr. Isabel Smith-Bernstein for allowing me to reference their lecture on this subject and this book! It is much appreciated.