Redmond High School (RHS) Theatre Arts presents the Tony Award-winning musical “Urinetown,” at 7 p.m. March 5-7 and March 12-14 in the RHS Performing Arts Center, 17272 NE 104th St. Tickets are $7 for students and senior citizens or $10 for adults, available at www.redmonddrama.org and at the door.

Director/RHS theatre arts teacher Misty Doty said the show, about a town where the poor must pay to use the toilets, is “a little different, but nothing risque, except for the title.”

Although the play is somewhat obscure, she saw a scene at the 5th Avenue Musical Awards a few years ago and found it intriguing, but put it on hold.

Yet each year, as she decides what to stage with her students, “I go through my mental Rolodex, re-read (the scripts), go through the music a few times and consider what kind of kids I have to work with,” she explained.

Many of the 35 “Urinetown” performers have collaborated with each other and with Doty before. “I’m really proud of the ensemble work the kids are doing,” she remarked. “As a large cast, they work together well. There isn’t a weak link and every single one is very encouraging toward students new to the program.”

Plus, “there’s an active environmental club here, with means to educate people how to NOT make our town Urinetown.”

Catlin McCartney, who plays Little Sally in “Urinetown,” is president of the RHS Thespians and also vice-president of the RHS Environmental Club. She said the club will have a table and posters in the lobby of the performing arts center, “on current water issues, along with simple ways people can help conserve water and prevent water pollution. … Take shorter showers, repair leaking appliances, purchase water efficient washing machines, etc. I know they will be discussing the local aquifers and watersheds Redmond gets its water from. The most pressing issues are the finite water supply and how global climate change is affecting our water resources and the animals that live in the water.”

So “Urinetown” does have a serious message. But it’s delivered with laughter, great music and dance, too.

“It’s a satire of musicals so every song is a spoof on another,” Doty said.

The song “What Is Urinetown?” is an anthem of oppression that feels like it could be from “Fiddler on the Roof.”

“Mr. Cladwell” is inspired by Busby Berkeley’s over-the-top musical numbers from the 1930s.

“Snuff That Girl” is a darkly humorous, jazzy show-stopper such as those from the musical “Chicago.”

Doty cited invaluable support from RHS technical director Ruth Barton, RHS band teacher Andy Robertson, Redmond Junior High choir teacher Chris Stagg and choreographer Samantha Whidby, a senior at RHS. All have worked hard to polish this ambitious production.

“We’re also taking a clip of this to the state festival March 20-21 at Western Washington University, taking a bus to Bellingham to perform for drama students from all over the state,” Doty mentioned. “We’re entered into 5th Avenue again — we were nominated the last two years — and have also been nominated for the American High School Theatre Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. That’s in August 2010.”

Featured actors in “Urinetown” include RHS seniors Josh Oratz as the cold-hearted Caldwell B. Cladwell and Darren Caulley as his henchman Officer Lockstock. RHS junior Carly Gilliland and International Community School junior John Harrison play the romantic leads.

Doty concluded, “We hope audiences can find themselves within the story. These are very normal people in a messed-up world just like ours.”