Brussels Light Opera Company

Urinetown - The Musical

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Production Team
Stage Director - Emanuelle Vergier

Born and raised in New York, Emanuelle came to Brussels to pursue her studies, resulting in a bachelors in Modern languages and literature, a masters in Theatre arts and a teaching certificate in theatre arts.

She now teaches Drama and English in different Belgian schools. But her passion for theatre has always lead her to the stage or backstage. She has attended various theatre workshops all over the world, in England, Brussels and New York in many different disciplines from miming and Indian puppetry to directing seminars and musical theatre bootcamps.

In coming to Brussels, Emanuelle joined BLOC making her first appearance in the chorus of My Fair Lady in 2014. From there, she went on to play Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (2015-2016) and Polly in Crazy for You – The New Gershwin Musical (2017).

In 2016, she directed her first show with BLOC, taking several scenes from Urinetown - The Musical in BLOC's production of Blocbusters (2016). She is delighted to be able to direct the full production this spring. 

Music Director - Steven De Mesmaeker

Steven has extended experience in performing musical theatre. He conducted Carmen, Die FledermausLa Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein, Gräfin Mariza, Me and my Girl, The Sound of Music, Kismet, The Merry Widow for the Koninklijke Toneelkring De Bietjes, and Nunsense for Marlis.

He has been a long-standing musical director for BLOC having conducted A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (2008), Pirates of Penzance (2009), Hello Dolly (2011), Beauty and the Beast (2012), Evita (2013) and A Christmas Carol (2016).

Steven studied theory, piano and chamber music at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and Antwerp as well as at the renowned Lemmensinstituut in Leuven. He studied piano with Christel Kessels and Robert Groslot. Steven was a finalist in the National Music Contest organised  by Gemeentekrediet/Credit Communal.

Producer - Meera Laurijssen

Meera joined BLOC in 2014 and has been serving on its administrative committee since 2016.

Following an immersion into musicals with My Fair Lady and the Pajama Game, she jointly produced Wizard of Oz (2015/2016) and A Christmas Carol – The Musical (2016) with Martin Blackwell for both of which they won the BUTTIES (Brussels United Theatre Technicians) Best Producer awards.

Meera has enjoyed being involved in theatre both on and off stage since a very young age but prefers to remain behind the curtains now and hopes to continue to enjoy the fun of Brussels musicals in the future.

Assistant Producer - Alexander Just
Synopsis

In the not-so-distant future, a terrible water shortage has led to a government ban on private toilets and legislation enforcing the use of paid public toilets. If the poor don’t obey the strict laws prohibiting free urination, they are sent to the dreaded and mysterious “Urinetown.”


Our brave young hero, Bobby Strong, meets a beautiful young woman, Hope Cladwell. Following her advice to “follow your heart”, Bobby decides enough is enough, and leads the poor in a revolution. Bobby and his friends fight for the freedom to pee “wherever you like, whenever you like, for as long as you like, and with whomever you like.” 


As chance has it, the beautiful Hope is also the daughter of the unloved owner of Urine Good Company, a megalomaniac company with a monopoly on all public amenities. This leads to fabulous scenes of confrontation, and debates on the use of resources: to save them for “tomorrow”, or “what of today”. 


Add in corrupt, sleazy politicians, confusion over unknown parentage, cynical law enforcers, and a rip roaring sound track that will leave you humming it’s tunes for weeks to come, Urinetown the Musical is not to be missed. 

About the Show

Music and lyrics by Mark Hollman.
Book and lyrics by Greg Kotis.

Urinetown parodies the modern musical form, and satirizes many social issues that are highly relevant today, including capitalism and bureaucracy, environmental mismanagement and social (ir-)responsibility. This has made it a favourite for amateur productions around the world.

Modeled off the plays of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht and spoofing songs from musicals like Fiddler on the Roof, Chicago, Evita, West Side Story, Guys and Dolls and Les Miserables, it is a wickedly funny, fast-paced, and surprisingly intelligent comedic romp.

Urinetown debuted at the New York International Fringe Festival in 1999, and was produced Off-Broadway in 2001. The musical then moved to Broadway where it was performed from 2001 to 2004. Urinetown was nominated for 10 Tony Awards in 2002 and won three: Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Direction of a Musical.

Professional international productions have included the UK, Australia and Brazil.

Chorus

PRINCIPAL ROLES

Bobby Strong Djavan van de Fliert
Hope Cladwell Zoë Sleath
Officer Lockstock Richard Wells
Little Sally Juliette McCoy
Cladwell B. Cladwell George Rahim
Penelope Pennywise Josephine Draycott
Senator Fipp Konstantin Wöbking
Mr. McQueen Andy Fisk
Hot Blades Harry Kenneth Isaac
Little Becky Two Shoes Ginny Tyson
Soupy Sue Anna-Rose Van der Wiel
Tiny Tom Thomas Landsbert-Noon
Robby The Stockfish Ian Caisse
Billy Boy Bill Sam Latriche
Officer Barrell Pierre Halloy
Joseph ‘Old Man’ Strong Eric McCoy
Josephine ‘Old Ma’ Strong Lisa Armetta
Cladwell’s Secretary Emily McCoy
Mrs Millenium Beatriz Ferraz
Dr Billieux Alex Just

ENSEMBLE

Adela Molina Alice Ferreira
Appo van der Wiel Barbara Bauer
Bart Bakker Carol Piquemal
Constança Ferraz de Oliveira Dennis Elslander
Diana DeGroote Ellen Hayes
Emma Ben Moussa Faye Jolly
Filipa Ferraz Jenny Fischer
Julia Just Latifa Sadoc
Marco Michelon Marta Braun
Rachael Bateman Rashell Wilhoit
Rose Julien Samuel Kenrick
Sara Paulamiiki Sari Saarenpaa
Satu Tuomikorpi Sophie Caisse
Thomas Arnett Wim Lefebure