Ravioli, ravioli, give us the musicaloli
I've always wanted us to have an ongoing blog on our site but never knew where to start...or who would read it. At the very least I'll probably reread it in a few months, and will have forgotten we have a blog at all. It'll be a fun surprise.
"Oh no, SpongeBob? Are you serious? Why?" This is a question I've heard multiple times over the past few months by naysayers and people who are No Fun. And to that we respond with, "Why not SpongeBob?" It's silly, it's colorful, it's two hours where you don't have to worry about anything else!
SpongeBob first premiered in 1999, peak viewing time for multiple members of our production team and board. Many of us hail from the generation that can't help but respond with a, "Me hoy minoy!" or are physically incapable of not singing the phrase, "Two gold doubloons."
The past ten years have been a hail storm of movie and tv show revivals and remakes, because we all draw comfort from things we know. And as we move our way slowly out of the Covid Era, sometimes it's nice to have comfort.
Last year we took The Addams Family to the stage, an adaptation of the 1932 comic and subsequent shows and films. It was a fun and interesting time especially as it was a last minute show change on our end (due to licensing issues with our original show choice), and we wondered, now what? What show would be good for the summer, for kids, for kids at heart, and that will allow our growing creative team to be...well...creative?
In Spring of 2018, Michael and I took a trip to New York to go see his favorite musical (at the time) Jersey Boys, with the understanding that on our second day we would meander through the theater district and check the ticket prices for same day matinees. It came down to Aladdin or SpongeBob. Aladdin had been there for years, and SpongeBob was still a shiny new show, with only a limited run. The choice was pretty obvious. So we turned our noses at friends on Facebook who were not impressed with the idea of a SpongeBob musical, particularly human Squidward having four legs (sorry Clara) and went and sat in the front row of the balcony.
At the time I had seen maybe around 20 Broadway, Broadway tour, or local professional musicals. None could touch the sheer joy I felt throughout this experience. The neon lights, the gigantic Rube Goldberg machine that wrapped the entire theater auditorium, the kazoos; it was so obnoxiously fun.
*Incidentally we went and saw Aladdin in D.C. a year later and it was Not Great, which solidified we had made the right choice back in New York.*
There are some musicals that we would like to tackle farther down the road that deal with more serious topics, and are geared towards older audiences. But for this now we will
continue to be obnoxiously fun, I will continue to use SpongeBob quotes in my day to day vernacular, and the theater will continue to grow its family with love and laughter and fun.