Edited by Randi Bjornstad

Don’t be put off by the title of The Very Little Theatre’s latest production, Urinetown the Musical, which opens on Jan. 22 and runs through Feb. 1. It’s a short run — eight performances — because illness delayed the opening for a week.

But it was a successful musical on Broadway, nominated for 10 Tony awards and winning three, for Best Book (Greg Kotis), Best Direction (John Rando), and Best Original Score (Mark Hollman).

Admittedly, the subject matter, so to speak, is unusual, but the script satirizes a place presumably sometime in the future, in which a corrupt corporation has control over much of society, including the economy, bureaucracy, and even the availability and use of public restrooms.

One description of the plot puts it this way: “Set in a dystopian future with a severe water shortage, it follows a revolution against a corrupt corporation that controls all public restrooms, satirizing capitalism, social irresponsibility, and bureaucracy through dark humor and musical mayhem.”

(And please indulge a brief editor’s note here: I saw Urinetown: The Musical on Broadway — it ran at the Henry Miller Theatre on 43rd Street, later renamed the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, for 965 performances, from Sept. 20, 2001 to Jan. 18, 2004 — and it remains one of my favorites among all the Broadway shows I have seen.)

A simple and punny description of the plot sums it up this way: “Fed up with being forced to pay to pee under the greedy Urine Good Company, the citizens can’t hold it any longer as they turn the poorest and filthiest facility into a “number one” site for revolution.”

The VLT production

Michael Watkins directs, with a cast that includes many local actors, including Cody Mendonca as Officer Lockstock, Erica Jean as Penelope Pennywise, Matt Arscott as Bobby Strong, Amber Fielder as Hope Cladwell, Jonathan Matthews as Caldwell B. Cladwell, and Dusty Stratton as Little Sally.

Additional members of the cast are Zane Bresko, Jim Arscott, Casper Skolnick, Chris Bucklew, Jerad Covert, Lily Hillstrom, Alexandra Melconian, Milo Musgrove, Debi Farr, Nancy West, Sawyer Kavaney, Sabrina Haesche, and an ensemble of Dawson Ediger, Ashby Cavghey, Kori Nyamute, Max Chan Weither, Ruby Boland, Magnus Haven, Fey Waite, and Violet Linder-Lally.

When: Evenings at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 22, 23, 24, 29, 30, 31; matinees at 2 p.m. on Jan. 25 and Feb. 1

Where: The Very Little Theatre, 2350 Hilyard St., Eugene

Tickets: Online at thevlt.com or through the box office at 541-344-7751