**** Highly Recommended **** I absolutely loved the Kokandy production of The SpongeBob Musical! SpongeBob is colorful, campy and true to the cartoon. The musical numbers, all written by different people, shouldn’t have worked together, and yet they totally do! The enthusiastic and energetic cast, all wearing neon-bright, multi-colored costumes and wigs, were terrific, dancing and singing their heart out! What a fun show! 4 BIG Spotlights
The SpongeBob Musical is based on Nickelodeon’s cartoon series created by Stephen Hillenburg and conceived by Steppenwolf ensemble member Tina Landau. Kyle Jarrow wrote the book with original songs by Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alexander Ebert of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, The Flaming Lips, Lady A, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, Panic! At the Disco, Plain White T’s, They Might Be Giants and T.I., and songs by David Bowie, Tom Kenny and Andy Paley. Additional music was written by Tom Kitt, additional lyrics by Jonathan Coulton.
The Kokandy production is directed by JD Caudill, with music direction by Bryan McCaffrey and choreography by Jenna Schoppe. The Chopin Studio Theater is really small, but Scenic Designer Jonathan Berg-Einhorn figured out a way to use every inch, wisely, choosing to hang shiny metallic foil fringe all round and decorate it with multiple pool-noodle starfish.
Before the show starts, Patchy the Pirate (David Lipschutz) interacted with the audience before being chased out to the lobby. Patchy and Pirates got their own production number, Poor Pirates, at the beginning of Act II.
All of the elements that make the cartoons so much fun to watch are here – sweet, optimistic SpongeBob SquarePants (Frankie Leo Bennett), his pet snail, Gary, his best friend Patrick Star (Isabel Cecilia Garcia); his other friends, Squidward Tentacles (Quinn Rigg) and Sandy Cheeks (Sarah Patin). Spongebob still wants to be a manager at the Krusty Krab, but his boss Eugene Krabs (Tommy Bullington) wants his daughter Pearl (Jennifer Ledesma) to take over. Meanwhile, no one ever eats at Sheldon Plankton’s (Parker Guidry) restaurant, the Chum Bucket.
After a bunch of seaquakes, a news reports that a nearby volcano, Mount Humongous, will erupt and destroy Biking Bottom at nightfall tomorrow and a Doomsday Clock (with skulls representing the hours) is counting down the hours. Just to keep everyone nervous, every so often, people have to duck when a bright orange lava ball rolls through
As everyone is panicking, the villainous Sheldon Plankton and his wife, Karen the Computer (Amy Yesom Kim) see an opportunity to make some money. Plankton convinces The Mayor (Connor Brown) that the only way to stay safe is to leave Bikini Bottom in escape pods only he can order.
Since money is short, Pearl Krabs, who LOVES the Electric Skates, urges The Mayor to put on a concert to raise money. They hire the Electric Skates (Maddison Denault, David Lipschutz and Nicky Mendelsohn) who sing Bikini Bottom Boogie, written by Seven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith. Brilliant rock and roll!
Squidward thinks he should be the headliner at the concert, but no one listens. He has a great song, I’m Not a Loser which turns into a Broadway-style production number featuring Squidward and the ensemble in a fun tap dance routine, which brings down the house!
Meanwhile, Sandy Cheeks, Bikini Bottom’s resident genius, has a new invention, the “Eruption Interrupter”, which she thinks will stop the volcano. The catch – it has to be thrown into the hole at the top of the volcano. SpongeBob and Sandy ask Patrick (who’s become an influencer) to go with them, but he doesn’t want to leave all his devoted followers, so SpongeBob and Sandy set out to climb the mountain and save Bikini Bottom.
At the very end of the show, after the curtain calls, the entire cast sings – and dances – to the SpongeBob SquarePants Theme Song. In a very cool move, they invited some of the kids from the audience to dance with them. They were thrilled!
I don’t recommend The Spongebob Musical for children under eight or those kids who have never watched the cartoon.
Kokandy’s production of The Spongebob Musical runs through September 3rd at the Chopin Studio Theatre, 1543 W. Division Street, Chicago. Parking is hard to find in this neighborhood. I recommend one of the parking apps.
Running time is 2 hours, 15 minutes, with an intermission. Performances are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:00 pm; Sundays at 5:00 pm. Tickets range from $30-$40. FYI bit.ly/SpongeBobChicago or www.kokandyproductions.com.