A legendary roster of Grammy Award winners. A visionary director and a Tony Award-winning design team. One of the world's most beloved characters. Turn them loose on Broadway and what do you get? The musical The New York Times declares, "BRILLIANT!"
"Wonders pour from the stage in a ravishing stream of color and invention" (Time Out New York) as Broadway's best creative minds reimagine and bring to life the beloved Nickelodeon series with humor, heart and pure theatricality in "a party for the eyes and ears" (Daily Beast). Be there when SpongeBob and all of Bikini Bottom face catastrophe - until a most unexpected hero rises to take center stage. The New York Times hails Ethan Slater's performance as our uber-absorbent champion, "a once-in- a-lifetime match of actor and character." Get ready to explore the depths of theatrical innovation in SpongeBob SquarePants, a "Broadway Extravaganza" (The New Yorker), where the power of optimism really can save the world.
What, you might ask, does it signify when we start our discussion of a new musical by praising the sets and costumes? Well, just what you think it signifies. My guess is that SpongeBob SquarePants will be a favorite with its target audience, sending enchanted crowds pouring forth from the playhouse agog with delight and loaded down with show merchandise. Which, I suppose, is the goal of new Broadway musicals of this ilk. So everyone should be delighted, except for those who aren't.
Given the cartoon's manic vibe, it seemed impossible to me that 'SpongeBob' would fly - or make that swim - on the stage. How to translate the wacky animated creatures into live bodies was an obviously daunting task, not to mention capturing the rather subversive humor that children find so appealing. Well, hats off to director Tina Landau and her gifted company for being able to ride the wave so entertainingly. Enhanced by pitch-perfect sound effects, they managed to replicate the loony shenanigans of the Bikini Bottom dwellers, all the while making it somewhat palatable for adult tastes.
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