By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
I’ve got to hand it to SpongeBob SquarePants every time I find myself in his hometown of Bikini Bottom, he’s always there to greet me as chipper as can be. He’s ever anticipating the best “Bikini Bottom Day Ever.”
Even when the going gets tough, he keeps his head up and his smile charged, and goes to work.
Some crustaceans may think he’s just a simple sponge who doesn’t absorb much, but he has the heart of a hero, and is not a bad singer as well.
“The SpongeBob SquarePants Musical” opens tonight (April 10) at 8 p.m.in the Thomas B. and Kathleen M. Donnell Theatre at the Wolfe Center for the Arts. The show continues Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. with matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased in advance at BGSU.edu/the-arts/tickets.
The musical is based on the long-running cartoon series with a book by Kyle Jarrow and songs by more than 15 pop and rock stars including Brian Eno, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, and Aerosmith.
As our hero (Alejandro Alvarez) rises, ready for the best day ever, he shows up at work at Krusty Krab’s, and walks into a generational spat between his avaricious boss Mr. Krabs (Dominic Merrill) and his daughter Pearly (Aria Evans). He insists that she’ll take over the business when he retires. She doesn’t want to. SpongeBob says he’d like to be manager. But Crusty doesn’t think he has what it takes.
Then their undersea world is shaken, literally by the rumbling of Mount Humongous. As Sandy Cheeks (Jess Driggs), the squirrel scientist, reports is ready to erupt and destroy Bikini Bottom within 36 hours.
These cartoonish projections of human society respond in predictable ways — panic, set to music by Brian Eno.
Unscrupulous business people such as Mr. Krab and Krusty’s arch rival and the show’s arch villain Sheldon J. Plankton (Gabrielle Dunn) with sidekick Karen the Computer (Noelle Warnement) seek to profit from the impending disaster.
The Mayor (Grace Whetstone) and her henchman Larry the Lobster (Owen Minchau) work to keep control of the situation.
The newscaster Perch Perkins (Nykera Gardner) hypes the news as much as reports it.
A stirred up populace, following the lead of Old Man Jenkins (MJ Huizenga) wants to find someone to blame. The sardines just want calming reassurance, whether warranted or not.
SpongeBob wants to be with his buddies Sandy and Patrick Star (Willie Rose), a lazy, dim-witted star fish. They find themselves in the midst of the turmoil.
Sandy, being a scientist, becomes the scapegoat while Patrick accidentally becomes the guru for the sardines.
All of this seems uncomfortably true to life.
Then there’s Squidward Q, Tentacles (Mel Starcher), a cynic whose pessimistic view is life is horrible. The crisis only proves his point. But when he gets appointed to coordinate the benefit concert featuring the hit band the Electric Skates (Liv Lutz, Trey Kratz, and Kyle Metzler), he sees his chance to realize his mother’s dream that one day he would play on Bikini Bottom’s biggest stage and prove that he’s not a loser. The action takes a break for the triumphant production number “I’m Not a Loser” contributed by They Might Be Giants.
It’s a highlight in a show featuring consistently animated choreography by Colleen Murphy. Alvarez brings an athletic spring to his steps.
The creative team, led JD Caudill, director, with scenic designer Bradford Clark, and lighting designer, Baxter Chambers, brings the undersea world to life, sometimes with eye-popping detail as with the home of the jelly fish. Margaret McCubbin’s costuming helps define the personalities of the characters. Each of the townspeople registers as an individual, not just a body in the chorus. Of course, credit also goes to the performers donning those costumes.
The score performed by a 15-piece band directed by CJ Capen complements the visual delights.
Patchy the Pirate (Marian Petrie) makes her appearances before the show and after intermission as SpongeBob’s biggest fan, who intrudes with a band of bar flies to protest prejudice against pirates until “security” removes them. The “Foley Fish,” Mikayla Collins is set up just off stage in the wings providing sound effects. This calls attention to the cartoony facade of the show. But doesn’t obscure the social commentary that’s just underneath that surface. SpongeBob, Sandy, and even Patrick are truly exemplars for our time.
