Lots of lavish fun for kids, adults to soak up in 'SpongeBob Musical'

Despite the usual post-Christmas drought of shows in Northeast Ohio, theatergoers can splash around in one of the most hilarious, trendiest and delightfully wettest Broadway productions this year -- "The SpongeBob Musical." It also proves to be the perfect live-theater companion to the concurrent hit film, "The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants." Despite Beck Center limiting weekend evening performances to focus on what is sometimes called kiddie matinees, the Broadway "SpongeBob" is decidedly winking at adult audiences. After all, few offerings in normal children's theater bring together the talents of David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, Panic at the Disco, Plain White T's, They Might Be Giants, Yolanda Adams, Sara Bareilles, Alex Ebert, The Flaming Lips, Lady A., T.I., Tom Kenny, Andy Paley, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry (of Aerosmith). Their music makes up a singularly solid score for this unlikely Broadway hit, continuing through Jan. 4 at the Beck Center for the Arts. Although this show made its local debut in the summer of 2022 at the the Blank Canvas Theater, marking its first full Northeast Ohio regional production since the show debuted on Broadway in 2017, the Beck production triumphs with fresh talent, marking the theater company's relatively new relationship with Oberlin College's Music Theater program. 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 Beck production, veteran director Scott Spence capably translates the subversive immersive (aquatically and otherwise) spirit of the show into an invitingly lavish production. He has made great use of class-A performers -- with special nods going to Seth Crawford in the titular consummate nerdster sponge, Tripp DeMille as his oafish starfish pal Patrick, Tyler Ferrebee as the corpulent restaurateur Eugen H. Krabs, Chris Richards as as the one-eyed size/morals-challenged Plankton, Michael Glavan as the four-legged sad-sack Krabbie-Paddy flipper Squidward and Morgan Thomas-Mills as the all-singing-dancing-menacing Patchy the Pirate, being chased around the Beck Center by Lakewood Police as he reminds us about audience decorum. What's even more surprising, Spence and his team — choreographer Lauren Marousek, set designer Tim McMath, animated projection designer Brittany Blaschke, sound designer Carlton Guc, costume designer Inda Blatch-Geib and lighting designer Jaemin Park — have created nothing short of an 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 and the rest of the Bikini-Bottom denizens (portrayed by an exceptional supporting cast in multiple roles) against the mortal threat of an erupting Mount Humongous. His genius squirrel girl pal Sandy (beautifully performed and sung by Olivia Johnston, alternating with Grace Pressley) 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 Larry Goodpaster 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 several years ago. As ersatz as all too many children's and holiday theater may be, this "SpongeBob" is the real deal, with a lot of joy for adults as well as children to soak up. Contact Howard Gollop at howieeg@gmail.com.