Hastings High School to Perform Urinetown Musical
Hastings High School to Perform Urinetown Musical
The award-winning musical will be performed by the high school students in Hastings this weekend
by Janine Annett
Hastings-on-Hudson — Hastings High School students are getting ready for their production of Urinetown: The Musical, a satirical musical that's suitable for audiences of all ages. The musical will be performed live on Friday 4/12 at 7 PM, Saturday 4/13 at 7 PM, and Sunday 4/14 at 2 PM at Hastings High School.
Urinetown originally debuted in 2001 at the New York International Fringe Festival, moved to Off-Broadway, then ran on Broadway until 2004. It won three Tony awards. Urinetown satirizes everything from the legal system to capitalism, bureaucracy, and even musical theatre. In the musical, a place called Urinetown has forced its citizens to use pay-per-use toilets owned by a company called Urine Good Company.
The Hastings High School production of Urinetown stars Erik Ghalib as Bobby Strong, Elianna Carvalho as Hope Cladwell, and Declan McConnell as Caldwell B. Cladwell. The play is directed by Laurie Walton.
Ghalib, a senior at Hastings High School who will be attending Middlebury College in the fall, has been acting in Hastings school productions since he was in fourth grade.
Ghalib describes the character Bobby as a young adult who is an assistant custodian at the Urine Good Company, the company controlling public restrooms. “He’s still forming his ideas about the world, and he’s not passionate about change until he meets Hope. She tells him to follow his heart,” Ghalib said. “My favorite part of Urinetown is all the hilarious little throwaway lines — they’re really funny,” said Ghalib.
Carvalho, who is also a senior, described the character she plays, Hope Cladwell, as “a traditional ingenue” at the start of the play. “Hope and Bobby are a pretty traditional leading man and leading woman, but by the end, they almost trade places,” she said. Carvalho is also in a production of The Drowsy Chaperone with Riverdale Rising Stars. She will be attending Harvard in the fall, where she plans to study theater.
Both Ghalib and Carvalho said they were excited to perform “Follow Your Heart” (the big love song Bobby and Hope sing) with each other since they’ve been performing together since elementary school and are close friends.
Laurie Walton, the Director, has been directing Hastings High School musicals since 2006. As for what made Urinetown this year’s choice, Walton said, “The students felt a strong pull to do another musical comedy because they loved doing Something Rotten! last spring.” She also likes that it’s a political satire with “a lot to unpack” including themes of social irresponsibility, populism, and capitalism, “but all done with very campy, silly, and unusually stylized humor.”
Audiences who attend the production can expect “catchy music, witty, intelligent lyrics, exaggerated stereotypical characters — and definitely some confusion!” said Walton. “It's a show that pokes fun at itself. It pokes fun at the mere existence of musical theater. And some of the fun is that it references other musicals throughout...sometimes overtly, but often in subtle ways.”
It’s a bittersweet year for many of those involved in this year’s production and the Hastings High School Theater program, including Walton, Gillian Husovsky (the Tech Director), Bob Walton (the Musical Director), Phyllis Udice (the Producer), and every other adult who has been working with the students. “We have 27 Seniors graduating from the Cast and Crew,” said Walton. “For this reason alone — as emotions are running high — I am thankful that I selected a musical that makes us laugh so much. It helps to keep us focused on the task at hand rather than the goodbyes.”
To purchase tickets in advance for Urinetown: The Musical at Hastings High School, visit: https://www.onthestage.tickets/hastings-theatre-program. Tickets will also be sold at the door (cash only).
Cost: Adults - $12, Seniors - $7, Students - $7
Location: Hastings High School Auditorium (1 Mt. Hope Boulevard)
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