The SpongeBob Musical has booked Chicago's Oriental Theatre and they now have cast the parts of Squidward, who will be played by Gavin Lee, and Patrick, who will be played by Danny Skinner. The role of arch villian, Bikini Bottom Plankton, will go to Nick Blaemire. The previously cast parts of SpongeBob SquarePants and Sandy Cheeks are being played by Ethan Slater and Lilli Cooper. It is due to make its pre-Broadway debut on June 7.
Did we mention that everyone should brace themselves, because this won't be their kids' SpongeBob? A much more abstract SpongeBob Squarepants will grace the stage, hence the human actors in cartoon parts. EW has these comments from director, Tina Landau, about the process for determining how to do a play of a cartoon: "Before there was even a story, from very early on we did movement and physical workshops to explore the idea of whether we could really create these characters onstage without using literal representations of what they look like in the cartoon. The DNA is the same, but the form is so radically different, we're not approaching it literally. We're not trying to take the cartoon and put it onstage. We're trying to create a live theatrical event."
Nickelodeon has understandably been very protective of its most famous property and cash cow, so they have had a hand in preapproving everything. You have to have music for any SpongeBob project, and a lot of famous musicians have worked on the score. According to Variety, the SpongeBob Musical has an all-star cast of musicians contributing songs—artists such as the late David Bowie, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, The Flaming Lips, Lady Antebellum, and John Legend. We will have to see if the inhabitants of Bikini Bottom and their music succeed.
