Created by Tina Landau
Creative Direction by Dominic Lewis and Felicity Halfpenny
Musical Direction by Louisa Everett
Review by Annie Aslett
If the question “Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?” means anything to you, you’ll be buzzing/horrified to find out that The SpongeBob Musical is a thing now! Brought fantastically to life by musical theatre society Allegro, this isn’t necessarily a kids show, but rather a show for people who grew up with SpongeBob SquarePants – as the animated series premiered in 1999 and is still running today, this covers a wide and enthusiastic audience. Watching this show feels like a fever dream, and reviewing it is even more bonkers: coming up, the dichotomy of Squidward and why SpongeBob SquarePants is one of the most challenging male vocal roles in modern musical theatre.
Since its premiere on Broadway in 2017, The SpongeBob Musical has seen performances across the world, including London’s West End, and now Bikini Bottom arrives at the Church Hill Theatre, presented by Allegro and produced/directed by Dominic Lewis, Felicity Halfpenny and Louisa Everett. The show is a pure nostalgia trip for any SpongeBob fan, as we see SpongeBob, Patrick, Sandy Cheeks, and a whole host of iconic Bikini Bottom residents tackle an apocalyptic event in the form of the impending eruption of Mount Humongous. This feels just like a classic SpongeBob episode, so it won’t spoil the plot to say that Mr Krabs is motivated by capitalist greed, Plankton mua-ha-ha’s his way to a failed dastardly plot, and the moral of the story is the importance of friendship. The plot is fundamentally unimportant to the enjoyment of this production, alive as it is with committed character performances, joyful prop/costume design, and some fantastic musical numbers brought thunderingly to life by the massive cast.
One of the advantages of Allegro’s production is this 40-strong cast; more on the principals later, but the ensemble cast, decked out in fabulous costumes by Lewis, Halfpenny and Kate Dixon, gives the big dance numbers real impact, not to mention a gorgeous ensemble sound, and create some of the show’s highlights. “(Just a) Simple Sponge”, an emotional ballad by SpongeBob and the Singing Sponges, is genuinely visually stunning as the stage goes black and the glow-in-the-dark sponges begin their dance. This number epitomizes The SpongeBob Musical’s great success: the show is all the better for having been taken seriously as a musical by the original creator, Tina Landau; the songs and set pieces are technically fabulous but inherently whimsical and ridiculous because, at the end of the day, it’s an “I Want” song sung by SpongeBob SquarePants. Allegro has nailed this tongue-in-cheek tone, from the fourth-wall-breaking props (led by Emma Murray) to the dedicated background acting from the ensemble (a shout out here to ensemble member Elaine Carse, who gets some of opening night’s biggest laughs without a word).
Carrying the show is Joe Purcell as the eponymous sponge; Purcell launches himself into the exhausting role with aplomb; bringing a canonically hyperactive animated character to the stage was never going to be restful. Purcell brings a zealous physicality and professional vocal performance but is at his best when selling the humour of the script in SpongeBob’s inimitable style. Delivering SpongeBob’s idiosyncratic nasality is no mean feat, but Purcell nails the impression throughout. This must be vocally exhausting in speech, let alone through song; the high-pitched quality of SpongeBob’s iconic voice translates to a song list full of tricky high notes, which Purcell tackles deftly. Purcell’s foil is Stuart Williamson as Patrick Star; where SpongeBob is a fast-talking whirlwind, Patrick is a more docile soul. Williamson has nailed Patrick’s adorably bumbling softness and gets a lot of laughs. Occasionally, Patrick ends up reading as shy rather than mellow; if played a bit bigger, the perfect Patrick is within Williamson’s reach.
It’s astonishing to find out that her outing as Sandy Cheeks marks Coast Kinloch’s debut am-dram role – Allegro have surely cast a future star here. The first note in my notebook from opening night reads: “Sandy Cheeks – pipes!!” Kinloch sustains this stunning vocal performance all night with a professional ease that wouldn’t be out of place on a West End stage, all while balancing Sandy’s nerdy-badass energy (complete with gravity-defying karate kicks and high-speed scientific explanations) with her sadness at being ostracized as a land mammal living among sea-dwellers. Another mind-bending vocal performance comes from Rosie Sugrue as Pearl Krabs. While Sugrue hits all their incredible notes, you can tell that their focus is on delivering this vocal; hopefully, as the run goes on, her confidence to sell the performance will develop.
Robbie Noble and Anna Spence could fill their own two-hour show with their shenanigans as Plankton and his computer wife, Karen the Computer. Both ooze charisma and talent, making them spellbindingly funny as a pair. Look out for the highlight number “When the Going Gets Tough”; Noble is absolutely killer.
Fan favourite Squidward Tentacles is a marriage made in heaven between Harrison Owens’ joyous performance, the incredible costuming and Ian Brown as the live-on-stage soundboard; Owens squelches across the stage, his four legs moving in perfect synchronicity, enthralling the audience every time he appears. Owens more than lives up to the attention drawn by his costume; his face is seemingly elastic and gets the closest of any cast member to selling Squidward as an animation. Squidward is dichotomous (see) in this story, both deeply cynical and dour yet full of big childhood dreams of performing his own musical. Owens has the balance nailed, and the arc of seeing Squidward so desperate to perform, teasing us throughout before being cut off by other characters, is fantastically sold and makes the already fabulous tap number take off.
This production is a triumph of the creative team, brought to life by a flourishing cast who will undoubtedly continue to grow as this limited run continues. Don’t miss out on your chance to see this new musical before it inevitably gets toured around the country by a big company at double or triple the price of a ticket to Allegro’s fantastically professional production. The SpongeBob Musical continues at Church Hill Theatre until Saturday, 9th November.
A Flourishing Cast
Spongebob The Musical runs at Church Hill Theatre, Edinburgh until 9th November.
Running time – Two hours and twenty minutes with one interval
Photo credit – Rachel Bolton
Review by Annie Aslett – contact@corrblimey.uk
Annie is a not-so-recent graduate of the University of Edinburgh with a degree in French and Spanish, along with a Masters in Translation from the University of Glasgow. A Spanish teacher for three years, she decided to leave the classroom behind to pursue personal goals and has since been regularly reviewing for Corr Blimey’s Glaswegian wing. Annie is a life-long lover of musical theatre, whose childhood performances included a rousing production of Snow White in The Hall and a heartfelt rendition of Go, Go, Go Joseph in The Living Room.
