The Spongebob Musical is a colourful musical based on the equally colourful animated television series. The story follows Spongebob as he gathers his friends to stop an underwater volcano from blowing and destroying his beloved town of Bikini Bottom. Obviously, Plankton is our ever-tiny and ever-diabolical villain who has other plans for the eclectic citizens of Bikini Bottom, but will a lemon-scented avalanche maker be enough to stop Parallelogram Pantaloons from saving the day? 

If you grew up with Spongebob Squarepants, you’ll probably find that the musical version does a fantastic job at adapting into a live stage version. With music written by folks such as Sara Bareilles, Steven Tyler, The Plain White T’s, Cyndi Lauper, David Bowie, Panic! at the Disco, and Tom Kenny (the original voice of Spongebob), this musical features a diverse selection of music that spans different genres that truly capture the wacky world of Spongebob. TotoToo does a mixed job of presenting the material, in my opinion, and a lot of the problems I had with the show were with overall design and vision. 

General Direction

This show is pretty much character work the musical and that’s usually the problem when it comes to live adaptations of kids television shows: they don’t translate all that well; however, the actors do a fantastic job at capturing the nuances of each character. Spongebob (Alex Davidson) played the ever-energetic, enthusiastic sea sponge with such exuberance and vivaciousness that you’d have to question how they’re able to do it every night. Karen (Alianne Rozon) also made a huge impact with both her wicked robotic movements and her robotic delivery. Karen is one of those characters where the humour in all of her lines is the delivery, which landed each time with Rozon. I shouldn’t forget about the understudy run as well; the Sandy understudy (Maya Desrosiers) did an excellent job that rivalled Tifanni Kenny’s Sandy. Both of them captured the quirkiness of this land mammal in mannerisms and both delivered powerhouse vocals to boot. 

There were some issues in character work that did not land as well for me: Patrick Star (Mason Timm) lacked the finer details and nuance when compared to his counterpart in Davidson. Whenever you saw the two together, it was very clear that Timm wasn’t at the same level. For avid watchers of the show, the characters have evolved over time, and Patrick is one of those characters who got Flanderized. You could compare the two Patricks in a colloquial term of pre-lobotomy and post-lobotomy. Having such lines as “the inner machinations of my mind are an enigma” is a quote directly from the show and both nights I saw the performance, it failed to get a laugh from me. I also had issues with Squidward (Luc Cormier), who I felt played it differently, but not in a favourable way. Squidward is a misanthropic, condescending, and apathetic individual who consistently has delusions of grandeur. A lot of Cormier’s acting choices represented him as an individual who was furious with the world and with a voice that reminded me of Harvey Fierstein, with expressions that rivalled Bianca Del Rio: this depiction of Squidward missed the mark for me.

Music Direction

This musical has so many earworms and it’s honestly a shame that it was done to tracks. I believe the decision behind this was the limited space to accompany a band that would do the music justice, which I can accept. The tracks do have a huge glaring issue in the fact that it sounded like the tracks were all coming out from one speaker and were audibly way louder than the mic lines, to the point where I couldn’t hear a lot of the vocals throughout the show. Couple that with issues where a lot of the ensemble sounded like they were whisper singing. The only time I was able to hear the ensemble and where they were all focused as a unit was during the a cappella reprise of “Bikini Bottom Pledge.” I’m a huge sucker for a cappella choir moments like this and my gosh was this tight and beautiful harmonically. 

One huge part of the musical is the live sound effects. The television show is rife with memorable sounds, like characters walking, the dolphin censor, and we can’t forget about “my leg!”. So a live Foley artist is written into a lot of the scene work and music to capture that same magic; however, I found the work done by Steve Vesely lacking the techniques and skills. The job of a Foley artist is extremely difficult and requires astute attention. I couldn’t hear a lot of the SFX and the ones I did hear were a pale imitation of both the Broadway version and the animated series version. 

Choreography

Niamh Webber leads the way once again with her choreography. With varied musical styles come varied dance styles: hip hop to gospel to roller skating, Webber had a lot of work to do. Her hip hop section was a highlight of the show dance-wise for me and I hope to see more of this in future musicals. There were some problems in blocking during the alternate cast run, which I found quite disappointing. The stage felt more empty for that run and I felt it was unfair to the understudies to get a run, but it was not of the same level as the main cast.

During the all-out Broadway tap number of “I’m Not A Loser,” Webber demonstrates some more excellence in choreography with the outstanding movement from the ensemble; however, the star of that number did not shine. Cormier failed to take the spotlight and perform at the same degree as the ensemble members. This also found its way with the Electric Skates, who looked terrified and restricted in their movement on wheels. I would’ve preferred if the main stage was given way to them and the others in the scene to be on the scaffolding behind, so as to allow more freedom of movement and to reduce accidents. I also feel that more practice in roller skates would’ve been helpful, as it looked awkward and stressful for them. 

Design

This show is one of the most technically intense shows you can do. LFX, SFX, props, costumes, sets, etc., there are so many small details that truly bring an animated show into live theatre. At the helm of cues, Laura Walker does a fantastic job at keeping those little additions on time to the best of her ability. The first time I saw the show, the cues were missed here and there, but in live theatre I always forgive these slip ups and in this show specifically, I have more leniency. Walker did improve on the second night I was there and knowing how theatre works, she only had this last week to build and run everything. That’s why I also forgive mic drops, unbalanced audio, and mic issues, as a lot of this technology-focused bit doesn’t get added until the production moves into the performance space. One technical aspect I wish they had done better was the French Narrator (Jean-Loup Lhérisson Pimentel) bit. All of it was pre-recorded and Pimentel does a fantastic job on this hilarious character; however, all of it was marred by not being recorded with a better setup. The audio capture was vastly different from all the other audio we hear in the show and was quite jarring, containing way too many artifacts that would’ve been better if done live.

The set was this beautiful construction that was quite minimal in terms of The Spongebob Musical and by now you know I love minimal sets; however, with this show you cannot make it minimal. You need to be able to capture the same whimsical nature of the show, so I do wish it were a little more intense in its design, as they had a beautiful garbage mountain to represent the volcano. If that had been echoed in other parts of the set, I feel like that would’ve created a better environment to play in. 

Costumes are along the same vein as the sets; however, I would’ve personally wished they pulled back on some of the design, especially with the wigs. Not every character needs to have a wig and because of how many wigs they had, they had to sacrifice on the quality of the wigs. I would’ve preferred less wig work to increase the quality of the important ones and leaned more into hats or headpieces. I don’t think Spongebob needs to be in a yellow wig that rivals Coconut Head from Ned’s Declassified Survival Guide. Some other costume design I didn’t appreciate was Eugene Krabs (Paul Melsness). With the wig, glasses, open shirt with hairy chest, and money necklace, I have to mention that when making design choices, one should be careful of unintentional and unwanted interpretations. For me, the design was bordering on being a Jewish caricature and I have high doubts that was the intent. Along with the pillow stuffing of the body to make Krabs look “bigger” is the wrong way to do body inclusivity onstage. Ana Lorena Fuentes Roman had moments of genius with the pearl-beaded jacket for Pearl, the near-Broadway identical legs for Squidward, and the lavishly dressed Mrs. Puff (Roxane Delisle). There is room for artist interpretations of design; however, a little moderation in design would’ve helped with how the costumes varied in quality. One example would be where the design ruined one of the jokes; Plankton, at one point, says, “I’m a one-celled organism; I don’t have sleeves,” and takes off their jacket to reveal fake tattoo sleeves. An unnecessary addition that detracts from the scene. 

Standouts

There were many outstanding performances throughout both nights I saw and this production truly shined in its casting of the actors. Alex Davidson does a fantastic job as SpongeBob, capturing all of the character’s multifaceted mannerisms. This is my second time seeing Noah Pacheco onstage and both times he’s absolutely stunned me with the range. Alianne Rozon also did a gut-busting, hilarious performance of Karen that is matched with her robotic movements. I also cannot forget the crowd work done by Jacob Atkinson as Patchy the Pirate. Patchy is one of those characters that breaks that fourth wall and needs to have the charisma and humour to make it funny. Atkinson did that and a whole lot more with his quick-witted humour. 

Overall, TotoToo has a splendid show on their hands. It may have its problems in the technical design aspects; however, as a community production, there are leeways that one must consider. I would recommend you go see this show before it leaves The Gladstone, as who knows when another local company will pick up such an intense and demanding production.