Bikini Bottom is leaving the ocean for the bright lights of Broadway — which, honestly, seems like a bad idea for a population of marine life. But yes, The Spongebob Musical is an honest-to-god thing, and now we’ve got our first look at its decidedly non-spongy cast in action.
Image Credit: EW/Joan Marcus
Entertainment Weekly has the reveal of the first cast pictures from the musical, currently running at Chicago’s Oriental Theatre before making a planned move to Broadway next season. The musical follows Spongebob, Patrick, Sally, Squidward and the rest of Bikini Bottom attempting to stop a nearby volcano named Mount Humongous from erupting and destroying them all… with the power of showtunes, presumably.
Image Credit: EW/Joan Marcus
But man, it is weird to see these characters as humans, rather than being done up in makeup and costumes á la The Lion King musical or something. Sally (played by Lilli Cooper) looks pretty great, but Ethan Slater’s Spongebob just looks like a guy in a jumper and shorts. It’s pretty weird, even for the fact we’re discussing a Spongebob Musical. Would a sponge costume really have been too silly for this endeavour?
Image Credit: EW/Joan Marcus
The thought of Squidward singing, though, is intriguing, even if he’s more of a squid-man than fans would usually expect to see. Tickets are available for the production now.