Saranac Lake High School students will perform Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis’s “Urinetown” this weekend.

In one of those not-so-distant futures that looks more like the past, an impoverished community suffers from a 20-year drought and an all-controlling corporation. To conserve water, the Urine Good Company forces residents to pay to use the bathroom. Peeing outside gets people a one-way ticket to the feared Urinetown, an ominous yet ambiguous punishment for those who don’t follow the rules.

In an act of rebellion, heroes Bobby Strong and Hope Cladwell start a revolution against the UGC, but it will take more than the desire to pee freely to save this community.

High school senior Sarah Dalton plays Cladwell, the daughter of the mogul who runs the UGC. She said “Urinetown” reminded her of some of the books she’s read in school.

Saranac Lake High School students perform a dress rehearsal of “Urinetown: The Musical,” which will open tonight at the school. (Photo provided)

“It’s very ‘1984’ and ‘Fahrenheit 451,'” she said. “The restrictions of the people who live in this dystopian city are intense. You can’t go to the bathroom except in the places where you pay, and the fines are incredibly harsh.”

With a name and premise like “Urinetown,” audiences could imagine it being an immature farce. The playwrights know it’s ridiculous, too. That’s why all the cringe-worthy jokes are said in the first few scenes. But once those are out of the way, the musical gets slightly more serious and satirizes capitalism, bureaucracy, populism and other modern social concepts.

The musical isn’t chock-full of lowbrow jokes, other than people pretending that they have to constantly go to the bathroom, Dalton said.

“There’s plenty of intellectual humor,” she said. “We make jokes about (English scholar) Thomas Malthus and that ‘if-you-ever-seen-a-musical’ humor.”

“We get the jokes out of the way in the first couple of minutes, and then it’s for real from then on,” sophomore Forrest Monroe added.

The cast of “Urinetown: The Musical” perform at a recent dress rehearsal. (Photo provided)

Monroe plays Strong, the main revolutionary. This is Monroe’s second high school play, and he’s also performed in multiple children’s productions at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts from kindergarten through eighth grade. Now in 10th grade, Monroe is the leading man for this production.

“This is kind of weird; I’ll be honest,” Monroe said. “Normally those roles are reserved for the graduating class, but we have a lot more women than we do men this year. I’m really hyped to be the male lead this year.”

Senior James Graziano plays Officer Lockstock, a constable and narrator. Graziano said the singing has been a challenging part of “Urinetown” because some of the songs have four or five parts going on at once.

“This particular play has had some pretty crazy vocal aspects,” he said. “Making sure you know what you’re doing is tough at first, but you get used to it.”

Graziano sings in a deep voice and bellows with plenty of bass, akin to Thurl Ravenscroft, who voiced Tony the Tiger and sings “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.”

Anderson Gray and Griffin Smith act out a scene from “Urinetown: The Musical.” (Photo provided)

Graziano said he likes how the show doesn’t take itself too seriously.

“It’s not particularly hard-hitting and emotional,” he said. “It’s fun and something, I think, very, very different from what most schools are doing.”

Both Dalton and Graziano said “Urinetown” is a good show with which to end their high school careers.

“I’m proud of the work that we’ve all accomplished. I’m very fortunate to have been part of so many good productions like ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ and ‘Annie Get Your Gun,'” Graziano said. “I’m happy this is my last show.”

Dalton said she’ll miss working with director Bonnie Brewer and the school’s director of choral activities, Drew Benware.

“They’ve always been there throughout my high school career, and this is my last show with them, and I’m really sad about that. But I’m really excited because they picked such a great choice for this show.”

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If you go…

What: “Urinetown: The Musical”

Where: Saranac Lake High School, 79 Canaras Ave.

When: Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

How much: $10