Despite the title, the show luckily features little of the kind of toilet humor that has flooded so many current Hollywood films. Much of the show’s humor comes from mocking its own cliches, plot holes and questionable choice of subject matter.

The challenge of putting on a full-length satire like “Urinetown” (a triple Tony Award-winner in 2002) is getting the audience to laugh at all of these things, while still getting them to take the story and characters seriously enough to maintain their interest. Luckily, director Roger DeLaurier is up to the challenge, and his production finds a good balance.

The script (by Greg Kotis) is a send-up of Brechtian “epic theater,” a style that is loaded with social symbolism, calls attention to its own theatricality, and features broadly drawn, larger-than-life characters. (A good example is Bertolt Brecht’s “The Chalk Circle,” which was produced by PCPA earlier this year.)

One of “Urinetown’s” Brechtian themes is the suffering of the lower classes at the hands of wealthy oppressors — at one point, the chorus observes, “rich folks get the good life, poor folks get the woe, in the end it’s nothing you don’t know.” However, in this show, nobody — not even the downtrodden rebel heroes — escapes unscathed by the show’s satire.

Kotis and Mark Hollman’s lyrics are filled with zany, purposely groan-inducing puns and occasional moments of poetic insight.

The main sound of Hollman’s score seems to have been influenced by composer Kurt Weill, who collaborated with Brecht on several projects in the 1920s (most famously “The Threepenny Opera,” which gave the world the song “Mack the Knife”). The score also features several other musical styles, and comically references well-known musicals such as “Fiddler on the Roof,” “West Side Story” and “Les Miserables.”

For a cynical satire, the show has a surprising amount of genuine Broadway razzle-dazzle in its big song-and-dance production numbers, which are wonderfully realized here by Michael Jenkinson’s choreography.

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We are introduced to “Urinetown’s” Dystopian concept by the narrator, Officer Lockstock (Erik Stein), assisted by plucky street urchin Little Sally (Eleise Moore): Ecological destruction has caused a decades-long drought, and in order to regulate water use, people are forced to use public pay toilets. There are strict laws against relieving yourself anywhere else, and offenders are sent off to “Urinetown,” a mysterious, dreaded penal colony, which Lockstock comments is “full of symbolism ... and things like that.”

Lockstock and Little Sally continue to comment on the action throughout the show, and inevitably steal every scene they’re in.

Stein is a delicious ham, relishing his every over-the-top gesture, and reveling in his character’s sadistic glee each time he carts someone off to Urinetown.

Moore captures the precociousness and energy of a real child, while endowing the character with a sense of wisdom beyond her years.

The pair plays off of one another extremely well. Some of the show’s funniest moments come from Little Sally’s exasperation with the script’s shortcomings, which Lockstock quickly steps in to explain away.

The story begins at a “public amenity” run by the hard-bitten Penelope Pennywise (Lucinda Hitchcock Cone) and her young assistant, Bobby Strong (Sung Min Park). Bobby’s father, Old Man Strong (David Studwell) urgently needs to use the facilities, but is a few cents short of the fee. Miss Pennywise declares (in song), “It’s a Privilege to Pee” and threatens to have him carted off to Urinetown.

At times, Hitchcock Cone seems to be channeling another Penny — actress Penny Marshall (particularly her vocal inflections). She has her character’s world-weariness down pat, but she could use a little more grit.

Studwell’s role is small but important, and he makes the necessary impact.

After witnessing what happened to his father, and encouraged by his new love interest, the idealistic Hope, Bobby is moved to spark a revolution, to create a world where everyone can “pee free.”

Park does well at showing us Bobby’s transformation from ineffectual innocent to revolutionary brimming with righteous fury. He has a clear, powerful voice. One of his best musical moments is the upbeat, gospel-flavored “Run, Freedom, Run!”

All of the public amenities are owned by the Urine Good Company, headed by the corrupt Caldwell B. Cladwell (Billy Breed).

Breed embodies the popular image of the greedy, heartless CEO. No doubt, Breed’s experience at Oceano’s Great American Melodrama comes in handy playing this sneering villain, but he also allows a glint of Cladwell’s humanity to show through at appropriate intervals. He gives Cladwell a pleasant crooning voice with which to sing his own praises in the song “Mr. Cladwell,” and a booming voice during his more threatening numbers.

Cladwell’s daughter, Hope (Vanessa Ballam), has just returned from “the most expensive university in the world,” to take an office job at her father’s company — but along the way, she finds love with Bobby Strong.

Ballam’s naive, honey-voiced heroine makes a perfect match for Park’s hero. She and Park share an impressive bit of intense, lightening-fast patter singing during the rollicking Act One finale.

Hope’s reluctant participation in a couple of the Act Two dance numbers provides some of the show’s funniest moments.

The endlessly energetic ensemble is bursting with too much talent to be chronicled here. One of their shining moments is the swing number, “Snuff That Girl,” led by Jeff Deards Jr. and Louise Tremblay. As the song’s lyrics say, it really “gets this party jumpin’!”

Costume designer Frederick P. Deeben meets the interesting challenge of creating costumes that look filthy and worn out for the poverty-stricken characters. This is contrasted with the neatly pressed suits of Cladwell and his staff.

Set designer Heidi Hoffer faced a similar task with equal pinache. The slum where Bobby lives is represented by a dingy, dilapidated brick, metal and concrete backdrop. A back-lit art-deco piece is brought in when the scene switches to Mr. Cladwell’s posh office.

Colleen Dowling provides mood lighting.

The sound system (Matt Carpenter) was generally smooth, but unfortunately suffered from occasional outbreaks of static.

“Urinetown” is a wacky, jokey musical romp with serious subject matter lurking underneath. Note that, according to the PCPA Web site, www.pcpa.org, the show is “Rated Pee-G!”

BOX OFFICE:

“Urinetown” runs through Sunday at the Marian Theatre in Santa Maria, then transfers to the Solvang Festival Theater, running in repertory with “The Real Thing” Aug. 31 through Sept. 23.

Tickets for the Santa Maria shows cost $16 to $27.50 for adults, and $10 to $17.50 for students and children.

In Solvang, tickets cost $19.50 to $30 for adults, and $15 to $18.75 for students and children.

Children younger than 5 years of age are not permitted in either theater.

Seniors receive a discount off the regular adult price. For senior pricing, call the box office at 922-8313.

For tickets, visit the Marian Theatre box office from 1 to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday; or the Solvang Festival Theater box office from 2 to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday; or call 922-8313; or purchase tickets online at www.pcpa.org.