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Pee party: Royal Bay Secondary students gearing up to perform Urinetown

Tony Award-winning musical offers plenty of laughs and some political satire on Colwood stage
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Makyla Charlie (as Little Sally) and Diego Fisher (Officer Lockstock) perform a scene from Royal Bay secondary’s upcoming musical Urinetown. The pair are both narrators and characters in the story, which centres around a water shortage and the resulting crisis for characters when nature calls. Joel Tansey/News Gazette staff

In the weeks leading up to the show’s premiere, Royal Bay secondary theatre director Melissa Young has been hearing from the public about the title of the school’s latest musical.

But good luck finding a title more appropriate than Urinetown for a play that centres around a dystopia where citizens must pay a private company to use toilets because of a severe water shortage.

“It’s a very well-written show and for people that maybe don’t think it’s something they might enjoy, it’s a show that everyone will enjoy … whether it’s the music or the story. There’s lots of references that can be applied to our current political climate. But if you’re not interested in that, there’s still a lot of pee jokes,” Young said with a laugh.

Among the cast of characters is Bobby Strong (played by Logan Cooper), who decides to revolt against the pee-entrepreneurs, an effort that becomes complicated when he falls for the company director’s daughter, Hope Cladwell (Megan Day).

Intertwined in that unique premise, the Tony Award-winning musical makes several nods to other Broadway blockbusters.

“The thing about this piece is that we are kind of taking a trip through musical theatre history just within one show, which is a really great learning opportunity (for students),” Young said.

Also in the mix are the story’s narrators – Officer Lockstock and Little Sally – played by Grade 12 students Diego Fisher and Makyla Charlie, respectively.

The two make for quite a contrasting duo, with Fisher’s six-foot-eight stature and deep voice dwarfing Charlie, who is five-four.

“Visually it’s very interesting,” Young noted.

Both students auditioned specifically for the parts they ended up receiving.

“I was really hoping for this one and I’m lucky that I got it,” Charlie said. “I just thought it was so different from your regular lead as a narrator who’s also a part of the story.”

“I was immediately drawn to (Lockstock’s) character because of the low pitch of his voice … when I saw that I got the role I was ecstatic,” Fisher added.

And with auditions having taken place way back in September, the pair are equally excited to finally be able to perform.

“Once we started getting costumes and the lights and the set, it just becomes so much more real. It’s really exciting,” Charlie said.

“It’s definitely been the best part of my Grade 12 year,” Fisher added.

Performances will take place on May 4, 5, 11 and 12 at 7 p.m., as well as May 6 at 2 p.m.

Tickets are available at the Royal Bay secondary front office or at the door.

joel.tansey@goldstreamgazette.com

Twitter: @joelgazette