A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

BUT THE MUSIC'S SO HAPPY!  For those readers in the Delaware Valley, may I highly commend that you see the Narberth Community Theater's production of Urinetown, which is filled with symbolism and things like that. It did occasion some difficult conversations with Lucy afterwards about Thomas Malthus and Brechtian technique, but just because she's nine doesn't mean she shouldn't learn her way of life is unsustainable.

If you've never seen Urinetown, its Tony Awards performance is a good introduction and, below the fold, one of my favorite parts of the book, which because it's not in the soundtrack is a fragment I had forgotten:

LITTLE SALLY: Say, Officer Lockstock, I was thinkin'. We don't spend much time on hydraulics, do we?
LOCKSTOCK: Hydraulics, Little Sally?
LITTLE SALLY: You know, hydraulics. Hydration. Irrigation. Or just plain old laundry. Seems to me that with all the talk of water shortage and drought and whatnot, we might spend some time on those things, too. After all, a dry spell would affect hydraulics, too, you know.
LOCKSTOCK: Why, sure it would, Little Sally. But ... How shall I put it? Sometimes--in a musical--it's better to focus on one big thing rather than a lot of little things. The audience tends to be much happier that way. And it's easier to write.
(LITTLE SALLY thinks this over.)
LITTLE SALLY: One big thing, huh?
LOCKSTOCK: That's right, Little Sally.
LITTLE SALLY: Oh. (Pause.) Then why not hydraulics?
LOCKSTOCK: (Chuckles.) Run along, then, Little Sally. Wouldn't want you to miss last call. Ms. Pennywise won't hold the gate forever, you know.