“The SpongeBob Musical,” originally premiered June 7, 2016, is a musical based on the “SpongeBob SquarePants” television series and directed for the stage by Tina Landau. “The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage!,” released in 2019, is a live recording of the musical directed by Glenn Weiss.
The musical follows SpongeBob Squarepants (Ethan Slater), Sandy Cheeks (Christina Sajous) and Patrick Star (Danny Skinner) as they try to save their city, Bikini Bottom, from a volcano eruption. Despite facing insecurities and challenges, the three are determined to work together and win.
The first thing I noticed while watching “The SpongeBob Musical” was the voices of the performers. I had heard Slater’s normal voice in an interview on TikTok before watching the musical, but when I watched the musical, I was impressed by how close his voice sounded to SpongeBob. While I noticed Slater’s voice change the most, I found the other performers’ voices impressive as well. Although they can’t get their voices to exactly how the original show’s characters’ voices are, they were close enough.
The musical opens with a scene in the original show with SpongeBob, Patrick and Squidward Tentacles (Gavin Lee) learning theater etiquette. This scene has SpongeBob and Patrick disruptingSquidward, leading to Squidward getting kicked out of the theater because he yells at them. It is a good nod to the original show and a great way to start off the musical.
The musical transitions to the introduction of SpongeBob and his pet snail, Gary. Despite having every other original character played by a performer, the musical did not have a performer playing Gary. While Gary only says “meow” occasionally in the original show, I was disappointed with this choice, as having an actual person in this role could have been very comedic.
Another disappointment in the musical was the props. Although sometimes the lack of true props and setup was funny, most of the time, it just made the setting feel lacking.
Despite the voices and references to the original show, the musical didn’t feel completely like “SpongeBob SquarePants” to me.
One aspect of the musical that didn’t feel like the original show was most of the songs. While SpongeBob likes to sing, I think most of them, especially SpongeBob’s solos, don’t fit into the theme of the world of “SpongeBob SquarePants.” However, nearly every song in the musical was written by a different person, which is distinctive.
Another aspect of this musical that I don’t think fits with the original show is the plot. Although the overall message of the “SpongeBob SquarePants” episodes is positive, the musical took this optimism to an extreme level, specifically with SpongeBob’s character. I understand why they wanted an uplifting message for kids, but for a musical to be closely associated with such a well-known and liked show, I think it should have more of the same feel as the show.
There were significant references to and a few quotes from the television show it is based on. However, I wish there were more references to make themusical feel more like “SpongeBob SquarePants.”
One other aspect of the musical that didn’t feel like the original show was the duration. Episodes of “SpongeBob SquarePants” include two sets of 12-minute-long episodes. The musical, on the other hand, was a little under two hours.
The musical could have been shortened to at least an hour and a half by cutting long, drawn-out songs and dance segments that don’t fit the “SpongeBob SquarePants” theme. While watching the musical, I caught myself not paying attention several times because of how drawn out many moments were.
Even though I didn’t enjoy watching the musical, it does have redeeming qualities.
One of the enjoyable aspects was the talent of some of the cast members. Sajous had impressive vocal talent, which was entertaining to watch. Lee was good at portraying Squidward’s demeanor. Squidward also had a tap dance performance scene in this musical that was interesting to watch and fitting to his character.
I also liked the unique portrayal of Sheldon Plankton (Wesley Taylor) and Karen Plankton (Katie Lee Hill) and their relationship. It made me wish Plankton had more scenes in the musical.
I enjoyed the occasional good comedic timing. Sometimes, things were so ridiculous I found them to be funny, an aspect the show is known for. Some of these moments were due to the use of sound effects, and even though they were overused, their comedic timing landed with me.
One other redeeming aspect was the guest appearance by Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob and the French narrator in the “SpongeBob SquarePants” television show.
In the musical, Kenny makes a couple of appearances as Patchy the Pirate and narrates the musical like he does in the show. I thought his appearance in the musical was amusing and a strong reference to “SpongeBob SquarePants.”
If you want to watch something chaotic, something you can make fun of and have two hours to waste, I recommend watching “The SpongeBob Musical.” The musical is currently streaming on Paramount+.
