Branson’s Director of Theater Maura Vaughn sat down with Ryder Lariviere, a reporter and editor at The Blazer, on Oct. 12 as she prepared for the upcoming musical “Urinetown.” She discussed the cast’s preparation and gave a behind-the-scenes look at the ins and outs of pulling off this show. Here is an abbreviated transcript of the interview, lightly edited for clarity and length.
The Blazer: Without spoiling too much, what is “Urinetown” about?
Maura Vaughn: Well, first of all, it’s very funny. And it is very fast-paced. The music’s wonderful. And there’s a lot of different genres of music.
It combines two stories. One is your typical boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy, you know, wins girl in the end, in a very unconventional way. And it’s also a story of power dynamics. Water is a resource that is now so limited, private bathrooms are unthinkable. And so everyone has to do their private business in a public amenity. And someone is, of course, profiting off of that — and definitely seen as the bad guy, until, of course, he’s no longer in control. And the real dilemma is that we’ve squandered a resource. And so whether he was profiting off of it or not, was not your primary problem, even though that’s what it looked like.
But you know, we have villains, and we have heroes, and we have heroines, and, you know, characters that are larger than life and very funny, and it’s all heading in a direction that will surprise you.
The Blazer: How is the musical coming along over the past few weeks?
Maura: I mean, the cast is doing really well. They’re on schedule. They’re exactly where we want them to be. And there’s a lot of upperclassmen in the show, it’s almost half and half, which makes it easier because the adults don’t necessarily have to explain how things work. The upperclassmen sort of take the lead.
I guess what’s really different this year is working with Kindra Scharich, who’s wonderful. She’s not only a brilliant musician, but she’s also really great with the cast. But she’s the first musical director I’ve ever had, that’s actually collaborating with me. She’s not just doing the music. We’re really talking about how the music also tells the story and how we want to weave that into blocking and moments of pause and how they sing particular songs and what the song means. And it isn’t just a reprise to have the song come back; it’s a reprise because it needs to be different. She really sees the music not just as “I need to teach them the music.” They need to sound beautiful. They need to know what they’re doing. But, also, this is part of the story. We have to integrate it into the story. And this is the concept we have for the show. I’ve never had a musical director who did that, not in 27 years and it is a blessing.
The Blazer: How did you choose Urinetown as this year’s performance?
Maura: Well, it’s usually the incoming senior class who puts out a number of suggestions. The very first thing I do is find out whether you can even get the rights to those suggestions, and whether those suggestions have a balance of roles that the upperclassmen will do and roles that the underclassmen will do, as well as themes that echo kindness, echo the events that are happening around us that have some poignancy to them. And also themes that are appropriate for high school. This particular senior class didn’t really have a consensus about what they wanted to do, so I proposed “Urinetown”, and I don’t think any of them really knew it, and I didn’t get any pushback.
The Blazer: Has Branson performed “Urinetown” before?
Maura: We’ve done it twice, twice already. Actually, we were the very first high school to do “Urinetown” back in like 2002 or something when it first came out. And that was just by, you know, happenstance. I saw it at ACT [American Conservatory Theater] and said, wow, this would be a really good musical for high school. So I contacted the Music Theater International that holds the rights available to high schools.
It was interesting, because the first email I got back was, really, how interesting that a high school wants to do this kind of sophisticated performance. And I was like, yeah, high school. I mean, it was like wildfire. Like, every high school has done “Urinetown,” and partly that’s because it has a really wonderful message about sustainability and our world and where we’re going. But also, all the characters are lovable and hateable. They’re characters that you’re interested in. It’s got a lot of good roles for a lot of people and of course big dance numbers.
The Blazer: What has been your favorite part of directing the musical this year?
Maura: This musical in particular has been like creating your own windup toy with all these different parts. I’m very grateful that I’m working with a lot of students I’ve worked with before. Although they are each challenged with what they’re doing, they already have the center of knowing where they have to go. And so they’re all these little pieces, the storyline, the character lines, the music lines, the lines of blocking and choreography, and the way in which they intersect to create this windup toy that should in the first few moments of the show, wind up and then for the rest of the show should spin out and play out.
And, again, it’s surprising where it goes. This is a really fast-paced musical. And so, always, the joy of it is watching how much I can let the students create on their own. You know, it’s not that I don’t help pull things together or guide them as to what they need to do, or do you see you’re missing this, or we need this piece over here? But how much can I allow them to assemble on their own, and then, as a director, just bring them together.
The Blazer: Have there been any major modifications to the script?
Maura: I don’t think there’s any language that we’ve changed. One of the nice things about doing a more contemporary musical is that it sees the world from the same point of view you do, as opposed to doing an old, big book musical, which is lovely, but still has some problematic moments where you’re like, okay, but that’s not how we see the world anymore.
The Blazer: Any final thoughts you would like to add?
Maura: I mean, be ready to be surprised. It’s wonderful to have a musical about something as serious as squandering a natural resource, but turns that into comedy, because I think the conversation afterward isn’t, oh, wow it’s me. Your conversation afterward is right, how interesting to look at a problem this way. Be ready to laugh a lot. And you know, feel free to cheer for the good guys and boo for the bad guys. And just be prepared to be surprised, because it is fast and furious, and people are coming from everywhere.
The Blazer: And of course, when will Urinetown be premiering?
Maura: Nov. 9, 10, and 11 at 7 p.m. It’s a show you really won’t want to miss so get your tickets. Urinetown preview: A conversation with Maura Vaughn
