Director Tina Landau previews the big stage debut of the world’s most famous sponge.
Who lives, who dies, who lives in a pineapple under the sea?
The DNA is the same but the form is so radically different, were not approaching it literally.
Were not trying to take the cartoon and put it onstage.
Were trying to create a live theatrical event.
Its an original story not pulled from the television series, says Landau.
Puff and Old Man Jenkins made the cut; Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy did not).
Additional casting is on the way.
she recalls of previewing SpongeBobs human concept to the core audience.
The main response was, We finally got to see him in real life.
They felt they were getting to spend time with him in his authentic form.
Its the same way that Bikini Bottom is, she points out, citing Dadaism.
Its a lot of unexpected materials that create our own makeshift, colorful, psychedelic world of Bikini Bottom.
at the Disco, and Lady Antebellum as well as a song from the late David Bowie.
has written a nihilistic, rabble-rousing rap for Plankton akin to Ya Got Trouble fromThe Music Man.
They Might Be Giants gives Squidward his big dance number involving a chorus of tap-dancing sea anemones.
We really wanted that difference.
The SpongeBob Musicalbegins its world premiere performances on June 7 at Broadway in Chicagos Oriental Theatre.
Landau hopes her production honors the most important ingredients of the world inhabited by the iconic pop culture pore-bearer.
And he said, The light, the sky flowersand bubbles.
