The SpongeBob Musical was an unexpected success on Broadway. Director Tina Landau was an unlikely person to bring the show to the stage in a compelling and convincing way. How to bring a beloved cartoon character to life without seeming campy or trite? Cartoon creator Steven Hellenberg was afraid that the show would focus too much on spectacle and fluff and not on the innate optimism of the title character. He wanted to find a way to capture an indy feel without giving in to the commercialism that had not worked in bringing other cartoon franchises to the Broadway state.
Landau watched the series to determine what kind of artistry would work. She wanted the characters to be believable and exciting. Think about it: the cartoon follows a yellow dish sponge whose best friends are a starfish and a squirrel from Texas. Landau, in a bid to convince Nickolodeon of the veracity of her idea, described her concept as a "... handmade, messy, splatter of paint, glue stick smeared, visual representation" of Bikini Bottom and SpongeBob. The real world and the cartoon world work by different rules, but part of what makes cartoons so fun to watch is that there are no obstacles when creating the reality of the characters. How do you bring an absurd cartoon to life? Landau started workshops with performers where she would say, "We are going to make a lot of stuff, and no one owns anything." The actors were free to create and they took a year working in this way. Landau decided that the show was going to create its own world and that no foam suits would be used.
While recognizing the fact that all of the characters in the SpongeBob cartoons are uniquely different, Tina Landau decided that each song should be written by a different artist or group, and composer Tom Kitt was brought in to work with each of the song-writing groups.
The show was finally ready for an audience in 2016 and it made its debut in Chicago. The creators were eager to see if the show appealed to adults as well as to children. The Chicago production received rave reviews and The SpongeBob Musical opened on Broadway in 2017. The Palace Theatre in New York was redesigned so that the audience felt that they were part of the essence of Bikini Bottom.
SpongeBob is relateable and timeless and it somehow manages to transcend our electronic era. The show and its characters are recognizable, without trying to become a carbon copy of the cartoon. The truth is that SpongeBob should not have worked as a live action show. In reality, the show teaches us lessons that connect people of all ages. Little did they know when they were creating The SpongeBob Musical back in 2017 how important the show's central message would become in 2022: That we can still look forward to each day's potential to be the Best Day Ever.
- Pat Santanello
