‘Are you ready kids? “Aye Aye Captain”, I can’t hear you! “AYE AYE CAPTAIN”, Oohh…, Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?, “Spongebob Squarepants”’ Everyone of us remember this theme song from the famous animated cartoon series Spongebob Squarepants, Nickelodeon’s massive property that has a widespread popularity. The series chronicles the adventures and endeavors of the title character and his various friends in the fictional underwater city of Bikini Bottom.
Till date 2 feature films have been released on Spongebob squarepants namely The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004) and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water that released on 6 February, 2015. Now the popular animated series has paved its way into the Broadway space and will make its world premiere stage debut in 2016 at Chicago’s Oriental Theatre.
The musical is directed and co-conceived by Tina Landau, the writer-director (and member of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater) whose Broadway work has included “Superior Donuts” and “Bells Are Ringing”.
“We’re taking our leads from the TV show but this is an original story, with an original design approach, and original songs written just for the occasion by an amazing array of songwriters,” Landau said to Deadline. “We will present the world of Bikini Bottom and its characters in a whole new way that can only be achieved in the live medium of the theater.”
The book is by Kyle Jarrow and the music supervision is done by Tom Kitt. This musical show will feature original songs by prominent musicians including Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Jonathon Coulton – Dirty Projectors, The Flaming Lips, John Legend, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper, Panic! At the Disco, Plain White T’s, They Might Be Giants with an additional song by David Bowie and additional lyrics by Coulton. The design team includes sets and costumes by David Zinn, lighting by Kevin Adams, projections by Peter Nigrini and sound by Walter Trarbach.
Casting for The SpongeBob Musical will be announced at a later date.
