I still have my opinion that I had when I saw it onstage:
This musical while well designed- does not capture the charm of Spongebob and the show.
Spongebob is zany but it’s an almost sleepy stoney zany. It’s not a Warner Bros cartoon with crazy high stakes and yelling and screaming constantly.
Also Ethan Slater is great but they should’ve stopped him from getting so toned. Spongebob is scrawny. And the voice he does is close but I just think these voices are what make the show.
Patrick is terrible. He misses the mark completely on the funniest character in the show.
Oh that’s a huge thing. The show was ACTUALLY funny. This is never that funny.
Squidward is great. He captures the show’s character well while adapting it in a stage setting.
And then honestly the costumes....I get the “found objects” and suggestion of characters thing but...some of them feel like “we decided to be cheap” these are creatures and animals and there’s no real suggestion in their makeup or costumes that they are.
Mr. Krabs has boxing gloves and you never get over the fact he’s wearing BOXING GLOVES.
Ultimately I get why it didn’t last. It didn’t make MY generation that grew up with Spongebob love it and feel nostalgic and that was a big flaw.
The people who enjoyed it are all people who didn’t really care for Spongebob so they can appreciate it on its own merit. Which, great but I think when they turn off both Spongebob fans AND people who would never go to Spongebob on broadway you’ve got a flop.
It makes you realize why “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” is quietly brilliant. You are 100 percent in a Peanuts cartoon. They nail every aspect of that. And partially it’s the fact that it’s vignettes and low staked.
Compared to the other "live" events, this one was far and away the best, simply because they had a great cast and a great director and a great score and a well-adapted scenic and costume design.
But to respond to a few things:
— Did no one notice in the original cartoon that Krabs *has* boxing gloves for claws?
— Ethan cant be some skinny little waif. This is a demanding show for him, physically, and you need someone with a gymnast's body to carry it off. And his re-interpretation of SB was brilliant on so many levels. He totally nailed this, as far as I'm concerned.
— In closeup, yes, the costumes may have looked cheap, but that's part of the show's aesthetic. I mean, aside from the fact that good stage costumes are designed to speak to people in the last rows of the last balcony, these all had that relentlessly fun factor that made them all the more adorable.
IMHO, this is the way these things should be done. Not big, filmed-in-studio pieces of nonsense like SOUND OF MUSIC or overwrought, "we're so theatrical" attempts like MERMAID or WIZ. Unlike all of them, this one worked... brilliantly. Hopefully Fox and the others took notice.
Ultimately I get why it didn’t last. It didn’t make MY generation that grew up with Spongebob love it and feel nostalgic and that was a big flaw.
The people who enjoyed it are all people who didn’t really care for Spongebob so they can appreciate it on its own merit. Which, great but I think when they turn off both Spongebob fans AND people who would never go to Spongebob on broadway you’ve got a flop.
"
I grew up on Spongebob as did many of my friends who have seen this and we all felt like it truly captured the essence of the show and made us nostalgic while also allowing itself to be a different "interpretation" of the world and the characters. I don't want a Tom Kenny impersonator in a Spongebob suit. I think that's what a lot of people imagined when hearing "Spongebob the Musical" and why so many people were turned off. You are 100% entitled to your opinion, but please don't claim only non-Spongebob fans enjoyed this show.
rattleNwoolypenguin said: " This musical while well designed- does not capture the charm of Spongebob and the show.
...Ultimately I get why it didn’t last. It didn’t make MY generation that grew up with Spongebob love it and feel nostalgic and that was a big flaw.
The people who enjoyed it are all people who didn’t really care for Spongebob so they can appreciate it on its own merit. Which, great but I think when they turn off both Spongebob fans AND people who would never go to Spongebob on broadway you’ve got a flop."
I disagree with nearly all of this. I think the musical does a wonderful job created the slightly surreal, bizarre tone of the show. Also, I am a person who loved the television show as a preteen/teenager and also loved the musical.
Let us also remember that the original production was doing decent enough business when it was forced to close by the theatre's management because they wanted to renovate the space.
Ultimately I get why it didn’t last. It didn’t make MY generation that grew up with Spongebob love it and feel nostalgic and that was a big flaw.
The people who enjoyed it are all people who didn’t really care for Spongebob so they can appreciate it on its own merit. Which, great but I think when they turn off both Spongebob fans AND people who would never go to Spongebob on broadway you’ve got a flop.
"
I grew up on Spongebob as did many of my friends who have seen this and we all felt like it truly captured the essence of the show and made us nostalgic while also allowing itself to be a different "interpretation" of the world and the characters. I don't want a Tom Kenny impersonator in a Spongebob suit. I think that's what a lot of people imagined when hearing "Spongebob the Musical" and why so many people were turned off. You are 100% entitled to your opinion, but please don't claim only non-Spongebob fans enjoyed this show."
To be sure. But not enough fans of Spongebob and people who grew up with Spongebob loved it enough to keep it open.
And I’m glad you thought they captured the tone but I thought it was played WAY BIGGER than the show goes so it felt irritating.
I don’t think it’s even necessarily the broadway show’s fault. I think you can’t capture the feeling and true humor of spongebob on stage. It’s not a funny musical and Spongebob was often and still is hilariously funny
I mean if you look at what makes the memes it’s the true surreal drawings of the characters and the bounds of animation.
I think - comparing to the TV show - the musical gets Squidward and (particularly) Sandy right. But I agree that they didn't capture what makes Patrick great.
The tone of the musical is also more manic/goofy than the earliest/classic seasons of the show, which is what I think most people who are familiar with Spongebob are thinking of. The musical is tonally more aligned with the new seasons of the show.
"You are 100% entitled to your opinion, but please don't claim only non-Spongebob fans enjoyed this show. "
My youngest daughter (29) was a Spongebob fan and her older sister (31) hated SpongeBob, they both loved the show on Broadway. They also had great time seeing it on TV the other night.
GreatWhiteGay said: "I think - comparing to the TV show - the musical gets Squidward and (particularly) Sandy right. But I agree that they didn't capture what makes Patrick great.
The tone of the musical is also more manic/goofy than the earliest/classic seasons of the show, which is what I think most people who are familiar with Spongebob are thinking of. The musical is tonally more aligned with the new seasons of the show."
that's exactly it! Most millennials I know stopped watching spongebob after the first movie. The classic seasons of the show were not THIS manic and frantic. There was often a quietness to the humor. A simple idea that was really absurd and hilarious.
As someone who has never watched an entire episode, I enjoyed the show on Broadway and the television showing. As I had nothing to compare their performances too, I wasn’t bothered by how their performance may differ from the cartoon. For what it’s worth, the person playing Patrick on the tour is pretty much identical to how it was played on Broadway. So I don’t think it’s a matter of casting but more about how they were directed to play the role. Which I had no problem with.
I watched the show on my DVR last night and it was awesome and hilarious. I loved the sets and costumes the most! The music mostly stood out and so did the dancing. My favorite parts were Bikini Bottom Day and Squidwird dancing
I didn't like this as much as I thought I would based on how much I like the "Simple Sponge" And "Hero is My Middle Name" songs but nevertheless am watching it again right now on Nick. It's playing again on Tuesday and on 1/3.
Ultimately I get why it didn’t last. It didn’t make MY generation that grew up with Spongebob love it and feel nostalgic and that was a big flaw.
The people who enjoyed it are all people who didn’t really care for Spongebob so they can appreciate it on its own merit. Which, great but I think when they turn off both Spongebob fans AND people who would never go to Spongebob on broadway you’ve got a flop.
"
I grew up on Spongebob as did many of my friends who have seen this and we all felt like it truly captured the essence of the show and made us nostalgic while also allowing itself to be a different "interpretation" of the world and the characters. I don't want a Tom Kenny impersonator in a Spongebob suit. I think that's what a lot of people imagined when hearing "Spongebob the Musical" and why so many people were turned off. You are 100% entitled to your opinion, but please don't claim only non-Spongebob fans enjoyed this show."
To be sure. But not enough fans of Spongebob and people who grew up with Spongebobloved it enough to keep it open.
"
IIRC, the show closed because of the massive renovations planned for the theater and the entire building.
joined:11/2/18
joined:
11/2/18
Posted: 12/9/19 at 12:28pm