Ever since I was a small child, I loved Spongebob, i spent hours watching and if you mention certain episodes from the first few seasons I could quote them directly, so when I began reading reports of a Spongebob musical hitting Broadway, I was surprised to say the least. Broadway does love putting music to movies and other licenses that were never made for this format, but Spongebob? A cartoon, I wondered how they could pull off the costumes and sets, let alone the music. After seeing it perform in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, I decided to look up behind the scenes, look up some official images, read the synopsis, and listen to the soundtrack. This is my series Judging A Book By It's Album Cover, where even if I can't see a show, I will research it as much as I can, especially listening to the cast recording and reviewing it. Many people are like myself either don't live in New York, can not travel to New York while a show is playing, and rely on either the civic theater, a touring cast, or watch videos and listen to the cast album. So on with the show, is this worth seeing/checking out , or was this best left in a pineapple under the sea.
The plot follows the citizens of Bikini Bottom as they deal with a volcano erupting in two days that will destroy the city and wipe out all life as they know it, as Spongebob, Patrick, and Sandy try to climb the volcano and drop a device that will stop the eruption, the town goes into absolute chaos. And that is simplifying things, this show has about five different plot lines, from an evil plan , to a concert being put on, people clinging on to their old lives until the end, and the main plot with the main characters, the multiple plots remind me of Sesussical yet from reading to synopsis, there are plots that really don't add anything to the main story and are used to just remind the audience that they used characters from the show, where as in Sesussical all the characters are simple due to being from one and done stories in children book, this show has characters doing out of character things, that people who are fans of the show will pick up , there is one plot line that has to do with patchy the pirate , spongebobs number one fan, that is really clever even though it has nothing to do with the main story, but it takes place before the show, right after intermission, and at the end that is really great, not intrusive but pretty funny.
Moving on one thing I can say is very good and I will not be surprised if this show wins a tony award in this category is the design. This must have not been an easy feat but the cast and the sets are great, bright and colorful, from the images and videos I have seen, they have captured the look and feel of the show.
And finally what we mostly have to judge the show on without seeing it, the soundtrack. It has high points and low points, as stated earlier there are times you wish the main trio had one or two more songs instead of the side characters that add nothing to the over arcing story. There are some tunes that are great when they land, others are pretty forgettable. The show could have more then one plot and be fun, but some characters only get one song, and that makes you wonder if they really needed that one song to begin with. There is a song right before act 1 ends that comes right out of nowhere for the excuse of having a big group number, that not only leads to an out of character moment but leads to another song to resolve the unnecessary conflict that is also not as good. But that being said, not every is like that, the opening is great, the song right before intermission, is big, grand , and uses the large cast well, and some of the songs are pretty fun. Here are a few songs I can recommend for those interest into looking into the soundtrack.
. Bikini Bottom Day
.Just a Simple Sponge
. Hero is my Middle Name
. Tomorrow is
. Best Day Ever
.Just A Simple Sponge
This show if you are interested is great for children even as a first show, the bright colors, fun songs, and inventive sets will grab their attention. there is no language or dirty jokes for those with really young children, this may be a way to see if they will like musicals.
Overall this show is somewhere in the middle for me, there are parts I enjoy and parts I could not care about, but I do feel that the good outweighs the bad surprisingly, if i were to rate it I would say a 3 and a half out of 5 and I personally want to see it. But form your own opinion, maybe give the soundtrack a listen. But until next time, Have a Great Day.
Sources for this Review
Play Bill.com Coverage and Videos
Wikipedia - plot synopsis
Spongebob Squarepants the Musical Soundtrack
Official Cast Release Photos
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