Spokane Children’s Theatre shares ‘joy and light’ with ‘The SpongeBob Musical’

In 1999, the world was introduced to “SpongeBob SquarePants,” the friendliest sponge in the sea.

Along with working at the Krusty Krab restaurant and trying, but failing, to pass his boating exam, SpongeBob spends a lot of time with fellow residents of Bikini Bottom.

There’s his dim-witted but well-meaning best friend Patrick Star, his perpetually grumpy neighbor and co-worker Squidward Tentacles and the smart, Southern squirrel Sandy Cheeks. He also spends a lot of time with his money hungry boss Mr. Krabs and often has to thwart the evil Plankton’s plans to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula.

Since debuting on Nickelodeon, the group’s adventures have taken them through 16 seasons (and counting), spin-off series, video games, comic books, eight films released either in theaters or made for TV, theme park rides and a Broadway musical.

“The SpongeBob Musical” brings the Bikini Bottom crew to Spokane Children’s Theatre, opening Friday and running through Oct. 26.

In a pre-show moment, Patchy the Pirate (Kezia Rhodes), SpongeBob’s No. 1 fan and president of the SpongeBob Squarepants fan club, sits on stage and tells the audience he plans to record a “pirate copy” of the musical before two security guards eventually kick him out.

At the top of the show, SpongeBob (Oliver Donahoe) wakes up and greets the day with his snail Gary (Hannah Miller). He then says hello to friends around Bikini Bottom – Patrick (Mace Lafave), Squidward (June Duggan) and Sandy Cheeks (Ellie Wolff) – and he walks to his job at the Krusty Krab restaurant.

His boss Mr. Krabs (Craig Hirt) tells his daughter Pearl (Madi Brownlee) that she’ll manage the Krusty Krab one day, but she doesn’t want the job. SpongeBob, on the other hand, does but is laughed off by Mr. Krabs.

Suddenly, a tremor shakes the town, and newscaster Perch Perkins (Isaiah Gilchrist) reveals the nearby volcano Mount Humongous will erupt, sending everyone into a panic. The married couple of Plankton (Dekin Carney) and Karen (Evan Luppert) try to convince residents to enter an escape pod that will secretly double as a way to hypnotize the town into liking the food at their restaurant, the Chum Bucket.

The townspeople decide to host a concert to raise money for the pod. Sandy believes science could help solve the problem but the residents ignore her because she is a land mammal.

SpongeBob doesn’t want to leave town and convinces Patrick and Sandy to stop the volcano’s eruption with a bubble device Sandy will build. The plan is interrupted when a group of sardines want to make Patrick their new leader.

Patrick likes the idea and decides to back out of SpongeBob’s plan, leaving his friendship with SpongeBob and the fate of Bikini Bottom at risk.

The show also stars Selma Rhodes, Lilli Watson, Clif Grow, Michael Sandner, Sawyer Hahn, Emerson Hargrove, Kaya Murphy, Clarity Denherder, Bella York, Madison Lenhartzen, Lilith Sainsby, Stone Thorne, Robert Aronson, Torin Davis, Courtney Day, Ellie Eddy, Dannan Hunt, Ahnabelle Huntley, Lauren Jensen and Ambellina Troup.

The musical is assistant directed by Alexa Preston, music directed by Andrea LaPlante, choreographed by Sarah Brown and stage managed by Joshua Domrese.

The musical features music and lyrics by various artists, including David Bowie and Brian Eno, Cyndi Lauper and Rob Hyman, the Flaming Lips and Sara Bareilles. Kyle Jarrow wrote the book, and the musical is based on the TV show by Stephen Hillenburg.

Director Natalie Lemley didn’t watch a lot of “SpongeBob SquarePants,” so when she was approached about directing the musical, she had to do some research.

“I watched (the musical), and I was like ‘Yeah, I can totally get on board with this show, because it’s so bright and sunny and happy and about family and uniting together and spreading joy and light,” she said.

Turning actors into cartoon characters became a matter of interpretation. A complete transformation wouldn’t be possible without expensive costumes, so it came down to focusing elements that made it obvious what character an actor was portraying.

Donahoe, as SpongeBob, has a bright yellow wig and the character’s classic white shirt, red tie and brown shorts. Lafave, as Patrick, has bright pink blush and green shorts with purple flowers, and Wolff, as Sandy, wears a white sweatsuit that looks like a diving suit.

Lemley said Duggan, as Squidward, might have the most challenging costume, because the character has four legs. Duggan tap dances in the show, so it’s taken a lot of work to find a way to get the extra legs to move as they do.

Along with tap, “The SpongeBob Musical” features styles such as Western, hip-hop, roller skating and karate. The music is equally as varied, having been written by a number of musicians and bands.

“It was one of those things that we had to take a little extra time in teaching them, but they all jumped on board and were excited to try, and it’s turned out great,” Lemley said.

Lemley and the crew spent time helping performers add physicality to their characters. A sponge, for example, doesn’t move very quickly underwater, so how would a sponge walk? How would Karen, a computer, move in a way that brought her robotic nature to the stage?

“There’s all of those little pieces that, as we worked on their character development, we tried to incorporate those things in,” Lemley said. ” ‘What little ticks do you have? What things annoy you?’ All these things went into plotting it out.”

Lemley wanted the set to help the actors further get into character and brought a painted backdrop, a bridge, a volcano – complete with faux smoke and lava – and lots of coral to the stage.

In a show of ingenuity, the coral is made of foam and toilet paper tubes that have been spray painted as well as pool noodles.

“I love to be able to see something and be like ‘OK how do I do this, and how do I make it good?’ ” she said. “I think a lot of times things that make theater great is the details. People a lot of times, sometimes overlook the details … I want to create this underwater world, so how do we do it in a cost effective way?”

Though the example isn’t the same, Lemley talked to her cast about overcoming challenges before their first rehearsal without scripts in hand. A potato and an egg will react differently when placed in boiled water, she said, and, faced with a boiling water situation, they could choose to be soft or strong and confident.

The cast, she said, understood immediately and did great with the challenge.

Lemley also spent a lot of time talking about how “The SpongeBob Musical” is about spreading positivity and light with others to help overcome seemingly insurmountable issues. A moment during the show involving flashlights drives the point home.

“I said ‘Your job is not only to share your light with your cast members and to share goodness and hope and positivity and compliments, it’s also to share that with the audience because you don’t know who’s coming in having a really bad day but showed up anyways, and our job is to try and share that joy with them,’ ” she said.