The Spongebob Musical: empowering, slyly subversive and a dancing crabby patty
19 Dec 2019

by Drew Rowsome -
Photos by BBO NYC

This magic that's happening right before my eyes
Whatever comes there's just one thing to do
Make the best day ever with all of you

Spongebob Squarepants, for anyone who needs an introduction, is a plucky cartoon character who is an eternal optimist. His impulsive inner child, usually altruistic, sometimes bratty, leads him into situations where he must persevere and eventually, comically, set things right. Spongebob Squarepants the cartoon television series is a sly anarchistic mixture of slapstick, satire, homage, and morals both profound and loose. It operates cheerfully on two levels, fun for the tykes and more adult gags for stoners and intellectuals.

The Spongebob Musical takes all of the above and sets it to a tasty pop rock score with the addition of much subtle but pointed political commentary. Unfortunately on opening night the cast had to contend with more than just the imminent eruption of Mount Humongous, an email from the publicist at intermission let us know that "minor technical difficulties affected the projections used during the show." That rendered much of the set a flat palette and obscured an important plot element as well as killing numerous sight gags.

At this point I'm not sure how to assess fairly, but am also going to avoid an analysis on theatre's dependence on spectacle. The Spongebob Musical was still a great show and the problem is supposed to be fixed before the rest of the run. I don't like to extrapolate but the opening number, cribbing gleefully from The Lion King and Ripley's Aquarium as a disco fantasia, was an explosion of colour, action and comedy. One of the many children in the audience overloaded and screamed voluminously and volubly in sheer delight. I almost did as well.

The costumes are vibrant and clever, the cartoon and comic effects with puppets and props are ingenuous and hilarious, and the cast of 30 is a whirlwind of song and dance determined that "whatever comes there's just one thing to do, make the best day ever with all of you." I wish the run was longer so that I could see the full production in all its glory.

None of this would work without a lovable and energetic Spongebob Squarepants, and Lorenzo Pugliese comes as close to being a living cartoon as is humanly possible. Impossibly innocent, fine-voiced and with limbs apparently, and once literally, made of rubber, he never pauses for a second. His main foil, and the soul of a major plotline that vivisects religion and celebrity, Beau Bradshaw as Patrick Star towers physically over Pugliese but they are evenly matched in being fleet of foot and nailing notes. Bradshaw also lands all the jokes about his characters' obtuseness without ridiculing or opening himself for mockery. Their bromance is sweet when "Every little thing that I can think of doing just sounds better, doing it together."

Tristan McIntyre is pure sexual villainy as Sheldon Plankton and slinks and plots with malicious glee. He also makes an extraordinary vocal choice at one point, turning a Stevie Nicks vibrato sustained note into the absolute essence of the evil purr of every Bond villain. His partner in crime and thwarted coital consummation, Helen Regula as Karen the Computer, gets to bring some sizzle and impressive vocal mimicry to an otherwise family-oriented show. Meami Maszewski stops the show whenever Pearl Krabs lets her voice loose to fill every cranny of Bikini Bottom and the cavernous Meridian Hall. Daria Pilar Redus as Sandy Cheeks anchors the most emotional plot (would anyone really want Spongebob managing The Krusty Krab?) in a bizarrely nuanced take on xenophobia and our current political moral failings. 

But it is Cody Cooley who gives an old-fashioned musical turn, tucks the show under his tentacles and scurries away. As Squidward, the Spongebob Squarepants character and Spongebob nemesis we all love to hate and secretly identify with, he puts all four legs to work tap dancing with a chorus line of sea anemones for the empowering anthem "I'm Not a Loser." And he gets a sequinned clarinet solo. This is not to dismiss the rest of the cast who incarnate pirates, "a vast array of undersea creatures," and on one occasion a sidesplitting dancing crabby patty, all while moving set pieces, venturing into the audience, and performing puppetry.

The intertwining plots rollick along with not too much invested in any of them and the gags are more cerebral and absurdist (climbing Mount Humongous with Sandy Cheeks the squirrel becomes a shell game, a jelly fish taser, Patrick's pronouncement "Life smells weird" becoming sardine dogma) than side-splitting, but the journey is irresistible. The songs, despite being written by talents strong enough to be an entire unforgettable underwater Coachella, could have used more Broadway pizzazz and momentum, but are remarkably cohesive (except for David Bowie and Eno's contribution which could be an outtake from Low. That's a compliment) in context. And I did leave singing the hook from "Best Day Ever" despite the rugrats flooding out of the theatre chanting the curtain call rendition of the "Spongebob Squarepants Theme Song" at top volume. As the song goes,

 This magic that's happening right before my eyes
Whatever comes there's just one thing to do
Make the best day ever with all of you