Urinetown: The Musical

This hilarious play premiered in 2001 and went on to win three Tony awards, including for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical. The premise of the show is that a terrible drought has caused a water shortage so severe that private toilets have been banned. Citizens may only use public amenities, which are regulated by a greedy corporation and supported by strict laws against public urination. The show satirizes big business, social irresponsibility, and populism while parodying specific musicals and musical styles. The characters even speculate on whether a show with an “awful title” could ever succeed. The New York Times called the show a “zesty and full-bodied original” and a “marvelously self-conscious satire…audacious and exhilarating, riotously and intelligently arch.”