By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Well, folks, it’s back to Bikini Bottom. Do I get any frequent diver points for having visited the home of SpongeBob SquarePants and his friends so often?
This is my third trip since April 2022 when the Waterville Playshop introduced the musical to the area. A few months later I was in Perrysburg for another visit, and now the Children’s Theatre Workshop is bringing “SpongeBob the Musical Youth. Edition” to the stage of the Ohio Theatre for shows this weekend. The show, directed by Lucas Fiscus with music direction by Lena Miller and choreography by Pippin Green , is on stage tonight (Aug. 9) and Saturday at 7 p.m. with a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. at the venerable venue on LaGrange in Toledo.
With each production the cast has gotten younger from adults to teens to now a youth show, with all the quirky energy that involves. The cast is led by BGHS sophomore Alice Walters in the title role. She shows her range here — last summer with CTW she starred as Belle in “Beauty in the Beast.”
She’s perfectly at home donning SpongeBob’s red necktie, yellow shirt and, sunny disposition.
Regardless of the venue, the show retains its essential appeal — a silly show with a lot of heart. SpongeBob greets us in the opening declaring this will be another “Bikini Bottom Day,”maybe even the best day ever if he can convince his boss Mr. Krabs (Eve Barman) that he is more than just a sponge and can handle the responsibilities of being manager of The Krusty Krab.
But Krabs dismisses him, instead assuming his daughter Pearl (Ramona Lindsey) will take over the business. But Pearl has stars in her eyes.
Still SpongeBob is ever the optimist even when confronted by his polar opposite the ever pessimistic Squidward (Owen Close) who tells him the world is a place of misery and despair.
But to SpongeBob it’s still their world.
But that world is literally shaken when the volcano in Mount Humongous starts rumblings and is set to erupt the next night.
These all may be fanciful creatures, but they act in familiar and relatable ways, especially when faced with catastrophe.
The mayor (Tristan Jeffers), ever the politician, equivocates on what should be done. The greedy Krabs wants only to bring in as much cash as he can in the few hours left.
“I just want somebody to look at me the same way my daddy looks at money,” Pearl moans.
Out of ideas the mayor calls together the city residents to solicit their solutions to the impending doom.
Krabs’ rival Plankton (Liam Close), the show’s would be super villain, and his wife Karen ( Evelyn Merricle) come up with a plot to hypnotize the whole populace into wanting only chum burgers. This involves packing all the Bikini Bottom dwellers into a large pod and abandoning the town. It will also be costly, though, so a benefit concert is planned.
Patrick (Isaac Stott) , SpongeBob’s best friend and rather a dim bulb, blithely suggests maybe everyone should just close their eyes and nothing will happen.
This seems like wisdom to the sardines, and he attracts a cult following, something he’s ill prepared to handle.
Then the squirrel scientist Sandy suggests a plan to defuse the eruption. This being the most reasonable solution, at least in cartoon universe terms, is quickly dismissed. Further Sandy is attacked as a scientist and as an outsider.
Still she and SpongeBob are heroes at heart and set off on their mission despite the lack of support. Even Patrick who is distracted by the his duties as guru abandons them… at first.
Being a junior version, the show has been trimmed of talk, and a few tunes and reprises, to focus on the song and dance.
The creators of the show Kyle Jarrow, book, and Tina Landau, music production, commissioned songs from a variety of popular songwriters. The songs are a grab bag of popular indie, hard rock, hip gospel, country, and even a jazzy tap number. So we get “BFF” by Plain White T’s, “(Just a) Simple Sponge” by Panic! at the Disco, “Super Sea Star Savior” by Yolanda Adams, “Bikini Bottom Boogie” by Steve Tyler and Joe Perry, “I’m Not a Loser” by They Might Be Giants, “Chop to the Top” by Lady Antebellum, and the rousing anthem “Bikini Bottom Day” by Jonathan Coulton.
These are performed by the cast to recorded tracks. Walters does a fine job despite the songs being pitched at the bottom of her range. (Her mother, Karen Waters, explained the licensing agreement prohibits changing keys when using the recorded tracks.) Liam Close as Chum also displays an exceptionally strong voice that shows real promise.
In the end, Bikini Bottom survives, though the lessons learned from its brush with oblivion, will, I suspect, be quickly forgotten.
SpongeBob, Patrick, Sandy, Squidward, Krabs, Pearl, Plankton and the lot will not have changed on my next stop to their neighborhood.
