History Theatre / Urinetown

* LampshadeHanging: Officer Lockstock and Little Sally exist solely for the purpose of pointing out the oddities of musical theatre and other storytelling tropes/

* [[spoiler: DownerEnding]]: Played for dark comedy. After the rebels make it so that people can use the bathrooms free of charge, [[spoiler:a severe drought occurs and everyone dies of dehydration]].

-->'''This is Urinetown'''\\
'''This place, it's called Urinetown'''\\
'''Always has been Urinetown'''\\

* MutuallyAssuredDestruction: Bobby and the poor think they have this going on with Cladwell by kidnapping his daughter, saying that if anything happens to Bobby, they'll kill Hope. [[spoiler: This is thwarted by Cladwell deciding he'd rather kill Bobby and let his daughter die, but Hope manages to talk everyone into not killing her.]]

* NecessarilyEvil: Cladwell, and, by extension, the entire UGC. Sure, forcing everyone to pay to use toilets seems oppressive, [[spoiler:but the water supply quickly runs out once everyone starts using them for free.]]

* OneNationUnderCopyright: UGC has its own police. Enough said.
** Technically, the police just take bribes from the UGC, but in practice, they seem to follow whatever orders Cladwell gives them.
%%* OriginalCastPrecedent: Little Becky Two Shoes being pregnant.
%%** The flashlights during The Cop Song.

%%* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Mr. Cladwell to Bobby in the song ''Act 1 Finale'' and again in the second act.

%%* ResearchInc: the Urine Good Company (UGC)

%%* TheUglyGuysHotDaughter: More often than not, Hope and Mr. Cladwell.
* TheUntwist: [[PlayedForLaughs Done on purpose]]. Halfway through the first act, Lockstock casually mentions offhand that the show's primary plot twist is exactly what every audience member with [[GenreSavvy the slightest familiar with dystopian fiction]] is guessing it is ([[spoiler:that "Urinetown" is just shorthand for "preventing water shortages by [[ReleasedToElsewhere throwing random people off buildings]]"]]), but adds that [[BreakingTheFourthWall the audience won't learn that]] until act II (even though [[DontExplainTheJoke they just did.]])

%%** "Mr. Cladwell" is an up-tempo, happy version of this.

%%* WideEyedIdealist: Bobby Strong and Hope Cladwell.

%%* ConversationalTroping: Throughout. Especially with Officer Lockstock and Little Sally.
%%* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Cladwell again.
* CorruptPolitician: Fipp's in Cladwell's pocket and makes sure his unethical practices go unchallenged..

* DarkReprise: Spoilers abound here: [[spoiler: "It's A Privilege to Pee" gets one final verse from Lockstock and Barrel in "Don't Be Like Him". "Urinetown" has no less than three - Hope's part of the Act I Finale, Lockstock and Barrel's part in "Why Did I Listen To That Man?", and the very end of "I See A River". "Follow Your Heart" has one after they take Bobby away to the UGC. Arguably, "We're Not Sorry" has one in "I'm Not Sorry" - this one has a tempo change from fast to slow. Only the reprise of "Follow Your Heart" has alternate lyrics - the choruses of "Urinetown" are very close, but changed for each situation, and the rest are just reused melodies.]]

%%* {{Deconstruction}}
%%* DeconstructorFleet
* DownerEnding: Played for dark comedy. After everyone makes it so that people can use the bathrooms free of charge, [[spoiler:a severe drought occurs and everyone dies of dehydration]].

** Cladwell loves his daughter Hope. Though [[spoiler: he doesn't love her enough to stop the resistance from killing her.]] He also holds a touch for Penelope Pennywise who returns the favor.
** Ms. Pennywise also cares deeply for [[spoiler: Hope, her daughter.]] So much so that she's willing to [[spoiler: pull a HeelFaceTurn to save her.]]

%%* FinalLoveDuet

%%* GreekChorus: Officer Lockstock and Little Sally
* HeelFaceTurn: One production chose to portray [[spoiler: Senator Fipp]] as doing this. And in all versions, [[spoiler:[[HighHeelFaceTurn Ms. Pennywise]] also does this, revealing that [[LukeIAmYourFather Hope is actually her daughter.]]]]

%%* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle
%%* InteractiveNarrator: Officer Lockstock

* JobSong: Two songs about jobs feature.

* KickTheDog: Or in this case, the Bunny. Mr. Cladwell raises this to an art form and then sings a helpful instructive song about inflicting misery and death on others for the sake of it: "Don't Be the Bunny."
%%* LampshadeHanging: The show gets half its laughs and most of its soul from this.

%%* LawEnforcementInc

%%* LoadBearingBoss: Cladwell again.
* LoveAtFirstSight / LoveAtFirstNote: Bobby and Hope are immediately attracted to one another, but it's not until they sing "Follow Your Heart" that they're in love.

%%* MassiveMultiplayerEnsembleNumber: The Act I Finale and perhaps "What is Urinetown" fit this trope.
* MeaningfulName / PunnyName: Bobby Strong, Hope, Penny Pennywise, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lock,_stock,_and_barrel Officers Lockstock and Barrel]], and, of course, the Urine Good Company.
* MeaninglessMeaningfulWords: "I See a River, Flowing for Freedom" is a great catchphrase for a new revolution, until [[spoiler: you realize that ''all the water is gone,'' and the townsfolk keep telling themselves that saying]] "I See a River Just In You" [[spoiler: means they won't die of dehydration.]]

%%* MegaCorp: The [[PunnyName Urine Good Company]].
%%* MetaGuy: Officer Lockstock. He seems to be training Little Sally to become this.

%%* MissingMom: Hope's mother. [[spoiler: Later, she's revealed to be Ms. Pennywise]].
%%* MoneySong: "Mr. Cladwell" has elements of this.

%%* MediumAwareness: Officer Lockstock and Little Sally.

%%* NecessarilyEvil: Cladwell, and, by extension, the entire UGC

%%* CorruptPolitician: Fipp's on Cladwell's payroll.

%%* LittleMissSnarker: Little Sally has shades of this.

* VillainHasAPoint: Mr Caldwell is everybody lay to use the toilets. [[spoiler:If he didn't, the town would run out of water.]]

* BolivianArmyEnding: [[The townsfolk presumably all die of dehydration as there's no water left.]]

* BreakingTheFourthWall: Officer Lockstock and Little Sally. Lockstock even refers to a plot twist that the audience will learn in the second act.

%%* DaddysGirl: Hope Cladwell. That is all.

-->'''[[spoiler:Penny Pennywise]]:''' [[spoiler:Hope]] is my daughter! And [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment I am her mother!]]

* DownerEnding: Played for dark comedy. After everyone makes it so that people can use the bathrooms free of charge, a severe drought occurs and everyone dies of dehydration.

* {{Room 101}}: [[spoiler: Urinetown, which is just being thrown off a building, but no one knows that.]]

--->'''Little Sally:''' I don't think too many people are going to like this musical, Officer Lockstock.\\

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The ending is full of this. [[spoiler: Simply overthrowing the UGC and letting people pee for free doesn't solve the drought - in fact, it makes it much, much worse. "Like I said, Little Sally - this ''isn't'' a happy musical."]]

** Caldwell B. Cladwell is a corrupt {{Jerkass}} whose all too happy to exploit the poor with his cruel laws. Still, he genuinely believes his actions are a NecessaryEvil and in the end, [[spoiler: he's proven right.]]

* ZigZaggingTrope: What is Urinetown? Is it the [[TheUnTwist obvious answer]] or is there a [[TheReveal darker secret]] waiting to be discovered? The show keeps deliberately toying with the audience's expectations until Bobby is taken there in Act 2 and it turns out [[spoiler: it's the former - they really do just kill people and call it 'Urinetown', like Officer Lockstock told us back in Act 1.]]

* FourthWallGreeting: "Well, hello there, and welcome to ''Urinetown''[[note]]Not the place, of course. The musical.[[/note]]"

** Ms. Pennywise also cares deeply for [[spoiler: Hope, he daughter.]] So much so that she's willing to [[spoiler: pull a HeelFaceTurn to save her.]]

%%* AffablyEvil: Officer Lockstock is often interpreted this way, though as the narrator, he might just have this attitude because he is AboveGoodAndEvil.
%%* AllKnowingSingingNarrator: Officer Lockstock, along with Little Sally.

%%* AlmostDeadGuy: [[spoiler: Bobby, in "Tell Her I Love Her".]]

%%* BoundAndGagged: Hope.

%%* CloudCuckooLander: Hope Cladwell

%%* CorruptPolitician: Fipp.

%%* FollowYourHeart: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Follow Your Heart"]]

%%* GospelRevivalNumber: "Run, Freedom, Run."

%%* TheIngenue: Hope Cladwell is all kinds of this.

%%* LaResistance: The Poor, as rallied together by Bobby.

* DownerEnding: Played for dark comedy. After everyone makes it so that people can use the bathrooms free of charge, [[RealityEnsues a severe drought occurs and everyone dies of dehydration]].

* RealityEnsues: The ending is full of this. [[spoiler: Simply overthrowing the UGC and letting people pee for free doesn't solve the drought - in fact, it makes it much, much worse. "Like I said, Little Sally - this ''isn't'' a happy musical."]]

* {{Bathos}}: It's a dark Orwellian satire about how environmental devastation forces people to choose between dystopian oppression and lawless anarchy that [[BlackAndGreyMorality may be even worse]], and has a seriously depressing ending. It's also a fourth-wall-breaking comedy because the civil rights the dissident revolutionaries are fighting for is...[[MundaneMadeAwesome the right to pee anywhere without having to pay a fine.]]

* DownerEnding: Played for dark comedy. After everyone makes it so that people can use the bathrooms free of charge, a severe drought occurs and everyone dies of dehydration.

** "Snuff That Girl" is a parody of ''Theatre/WestSideStory'', specifically "Cool". In the Original Broadway production, the cast also banged on parts of the set in a parody of ''{{Stomp}}''.