'Frozen' fires up Disney delights; 'SpongeBob' soaks up top talent

Summer theater winds up with two animated screen hits that have recently made a splash on the Broadway stage and finally are making their way to Cleveland. 'Frozen' Bringing "Frozen" to Playhouse Square in the dog days of summer seems perfect timing. But can a Broadway show about ice be too slick for its own good? Indeed, the long-awaited local stage debut of Disney's latest animated hit — delayed at least by two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic (which even caused an early closing on Broadway) — goes into hard drive to hit all its marks. But these are not dramatic marks; they are hit-song marks and special-effects marks. Yes, Elsa (powerful Caroline Bowman) — the ice queen who rejects the Scandinavian royal court that first rejects her in fear of her magic wintery powers — ascends the glacial mount of her new ice palace to burst into a new icicle pantsuit as she belts out the runaway hit, "Let it Go." Yes, the cuddly snowman Olaf, deftly handled by the onstage puppeteer actor F. Michael Haynie, insinuates his lovable goofiness into the hearts of the audience. Yes, the stage erupts into one glittering ice spectacle into another, sending chills into even the most overheated audience member. What doesn't seem to erupt into any sensation at all is the tepid book/script by Jennifer Lee — at odds with itself in pursuit of a narrative that vacillates between sisterly bonding and male heroism-cum-villainy. The plot of course worked for the original animated Disney film. But despite Michael Grandage's knowing direction, the Broadway script doesn't satisfactorily get us to all the new songs written for the stage version, and the new songs by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez don't quite make wading through the drama all that much worth getting to. Yet, if anything makes it worth the journey, it's unsurprisingly the literally electric scenic design, plus costumes, by Christopher Oram, extremely well-lit by Natasha Katz. From Rob Ashford's choreography to even David Bryan Brown's hair design, this is a class-A Disney attraction all the way. It may not be truly great musical theater, but that's not really the point when it comes to Disney on Broadway. 'The SpongeBob Musical' What do David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, Panic at the Disco, Plain White T's, They Might Be Giants, Yolanda Adams, Sara Barielles, Alex Ebert, The Flaming Lips, Lady A., T.I., Tom Kenny, Andy Paley, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry (of Aerosmith) have in common? Their music makes up a singularly solid score for the surprising Broadway hit "The SpongeBob Musical," continuing its final weekend at the Blank Canvas Theater, marking its first full Northeast Ohio regional production since the show debuted in 2017. In transferring the popular two-decade-old Stephen Hillenburg cartoon series into a Tony-nominated critical/box-office sensation (nominated for nearly the same number of Tony Awards as "Hamilton" and in fact winning in the category of best scenic design), original director/co-conceiver Tina Landau quickly dispenses notions of slightly more elaborate Nickelodeon character pageant. There are no giant styrofoam heads and appendages here. Rather, Landau and her cast reconceptualized the motley ocean dwellers as distinctly human (except for the occasional crab-pincer hands or third eye), inviting the audience to mentally complete the cartoon aquatic illusion. Assuming the directorial reins for the (at last) Cleveland production, Patrick Ciamacco brilliantly translates the subversive immersive (aquatically and otherwise) spirit of the show into an invitingly intimate production. He has inspiringly whipped a cast of varying talents into a class-A act. (A special nod goes to Zach Palumbo in the titularly nerdy title role, Jabri Johnson as the one-eyed evil Plankton and David L. Munnell as the four-legged sad-sack Krabbie-Paddy flipper Squidward.) What's even more surprising, Ciamacco and his team — choreographer Liz Baumgartner, set designer Perren Hedderson, animated projection designer Noah Hrbek, sound designer Merrill Edleman, wig designer Adam Cooper and costume designer Jenniver Sparano, plus director Ciamacco doing his own lighting design — have created nothing short of a pocket-size Broadway extravaganza. Author Kyle Jarrow's plot — befittingly and hysterically meretricious for a two-plus-hour Broadway show with intermission — pits SpongeBob, his starfish pal Patrick (Louis Schwartz) and the rest of the Bikini-Bottom denizens against the mortal threat of an erupting Mount Humongous. His genius squirrel girl pal Sandy (Alexis Maxine) saves the day with a special invention, an "Eruptor Interrupter," and life resumes and presumably goes on swimmingly. Again, all would be for naught were that overpopulated score to erupt into a mountain of musical mayhem. But overseeing composer Tom Kitt — who wrote even more music for the show with lyricist Jonathan Coulton — has steered clear of any musical clashes. What's more, local music director Matthew Dolan has helmed an amazingly precise and stimulating orchestra, once and for all topping a top-notch production that more than makes up for the unfortunate absence when the non-Equity national tour bypassed Cleveland a few years ago. As ersatz as "Frozen" may be, this "SpongeBob" is the real deal. Contact Howard Gollop at howieeg@hotmail.com. IF YOU GO WHAT: KeyBank Broadway Series presents Disney's "Frozen" WHEN: Now through Sept. 11 (times vary) WHERE: KeyBank State Theatre, 11519 Euclid Ave., Cleveland TICKETS: $39 to $165 INFO: (216) 241-6000 or PlayhouseSquare.org IF YOU GO WHAT: "The SpongeBob Musical" WHEN: Now through Aug. 21 (times vary) WHERE: Blank Canvas Theatre, 1305 W. 78th St., Cleveland TICKETS: $25 (no children's prices) INFO: (440) 941-0458 or blankcanvastheatre.com