Review: THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL at Beck Center For The Arts

When I reviewed it on Broadway, several year ago, my capsule judgment stated: SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS THE BROADWAY MUSICAL is a wonder of neon psychedelic delight starring a character-perfect lead surrounded by a fun-centered cast which should delight adults and children of all ages!” 

Therefore, my expectations for the Beck Center production of the script were sky-high, especially when I found out that many of the cast are from the newly founded musical theater program at Oberlin College.
 
The musical was conceived by Tina Landau.  It has songs by such artists as Sara Bareilles, Cindy Lauper and Rob Hyman, Lady Antebellum, John Legend, David Bowie and Brian Eno, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith.
 
It is based on the characters and themes of the “SpongeBob SquarePants” animated children’s television show, which was created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg.  It takes place in the fictional underwater city of Bikini Bottom. 
 
SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS has its own vision…to entertain in a psychedelic underwater world of neon colors.  No strong message, but there are child-friendly hints of the value of friendship and of overcoming fear!    
 
The stage version opens as SpongeBob SquarePants wakes up one, in his usual wide-eyed happy mood, ready to face another wonderful day with his pet snail, Gary.  He wanders through Bikini Bottom, greeting various people including his Best Friend, Patrick (a squid) and Sandy Cheeks (a human who lives in a bubble-like dome and possesses great scientific skills).  
 
As the day progresses a violent tremor rocks the town.  A television news report relates that a nearby volcano is about to erupt.  Oh, what to do?  Stay and be destroyed?  Flee?  Find a way to save the city by neutralizing the danger.   

Hey, this is an escapist farce.  There has to be a plot device that contains danger, a bad guy and a happy ending to fulfill the formulaic story requirements.   
 
So, off to climb the volcano, get rid of the danger (thanks to an invention by Sandy), and defeat an evil villain.  And, of course, our hero has to be the title character—SpongeBob.
 
The process of saving the town is filled with lots of singing and dancing, climbing the walls of the volcano, skateboarding rockers, and ideally lots of overdone farcical acting. 

Donald Bianchi, the creative genius and founder of Dobama Theatre had many pet phrases that he used when directing.  Among his “Donisms” was his saying that to be successful, a production had to have “ziztfleish,” the Yiddish/German word which implies "the ability of the performance to grab and hold the audience’s attention, thus getting the viewers to focus on the stage. 

The test of this was to watch the audience members and bring aware of what they were doing.  Shuffling in their seats, rattling the programs and whispering to others, were signs of negative ziztfleish.  
 
Though the Beck cast puts out full effort, a combination of the difficulty of doing farce, and a lack of directing creativity, left the Beck production lacking in the fantasy factor, thus the audience, primarily young kids, had difficult sitting still.  The parade of youngsters up and down the aisle, jumping around in their seats and asking questions of their adult companions, was of a high level.  
 
These kids are used to action loaded and farcical schticks.  They obviously didn’t find it in this performance.  As the restless four-year-old blond cutie sitting in front of me, who was using her chair alternately as a bed and trampoline said to her father at intermission, “This isn’t fun like tv SpongeBob.”  Nope, no ziztfleish!
 
The show needs a farcical, quirky set, creative costumes, goofy and over-the-top acting.  In-other-words, everything that would make for escapist enjoyment.  The cast needs to have the direction that allows them to excite the viewer and hold their attention.  
 
The Beck staging has some of those things.  It just doesn’t have all of them, or enough to come close to duplicating the wonderful Broadway version.  
 
The set needed more Rube Goldberg gimmicks and fantasy graphics.  The volcano needed to be more treacherous and hold more potential danger.  The actors needed to be more playful.  Be bigger than life!  The lighting, the sound effects, the costumes need to excite. 
 
Kudos to Lauren Marousek for her creative choreography.  The high points of the show were the wonderful tap dancing and kick-line sequences.
 
Probably, of interest to Beck patrons is that SPONGEBOB was produced in New York by the Araca Group, Cleveland natives Matthew Rego, Michael Rego, and Hank Unger, who are members of Beck’s Alumni Hall of Fame.  The show added to the group’s ever-expanding list of Broadway hits, which include such smashes as URINETOWN, WICKED, ’ NIGHT MOTHER, THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE, ROCK OF AGES, and THE OUTSIDERS, last year’s Tony winner for best musical.
 
Capsule judgment: “Spongebob Squarepants The Broadway Musical” delighted on Broadway.  The Beck production is an acceptable, if underwhelming version!
 
For tickets to SPONGEBOB, call 216-521-2540 or go on line to beckcenter.org.

Cleveland Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. ANNIE (Cassidy Theatre)

10.5% of votes

2. COME FROM AWAY (Weathervane Playhouse)

7.1% of votes

3. LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (Near West Theatre)

6.6% of votes

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