Monday, June 20, 2016

to see the SpongeBob Musical

Yesterday I went with mommy to go see Nickelodean presents The SpongeBob Musical at the Oriental Theatre in downtown Chicago, directed by Tina Landau.

SpongeBob is a sponge who has a tv show and a movie he lives in a pineapple under the sea. He hangs out with his friends Patrick Star and Squidward Tentacles in their town Bikini Bottom. On this day there was a volcano that was trying to destroy the world. Sheldon Plankton was trying to hypnotize everybody and wasn't helping and Mr. Krabs just wanted to make more money. But Patrick Star, Sandy Cheeks (the squirrel) and SpongeBob decided to help the world and save the day and be heroes and be brave.

All the actors were very talented and they sounded and looked and walked just like their characters on TV.  Ethan Slater played Spongebob and he was so funny and cool because because he was a really good singer and gymnast because he could climb on ladders while he was singing and he could talk really loud. Patrick Star was played by Danny Skinner and he was cool and he could fly with Sandy's jetpack. The person who played Squidward Tentacles was Gavin Lee and he looked like him because he had four legs like Squidward and he could tap dance with all four legs he was really good at being grumpy like Squidward. The person who play Sandy Cheeks (the squirrel) was Lilli Cooper and she could talk really fast and she kinda sounded like Sandy too. Pearl Krabs was played by Emmy Raver-Lampman she had a really really good singing voice and I think its really cool that she was in Hamilton (I recognized her from pictures in our Hamilton book.) I also LOVED Jason Michael Snow who played Patchy the Pirate because he was so funny and he made jokes about Chicago and my favorite was when he slid down a rope and said "See I told you I'd be back!"

The music was great. We sat close to the conductor and music director Julie McBride who was so funny, she wore a pirates hat to help Patchy hide, conducted with a spatula and she played fighting with mini characters in a doll house size version of Bikini Bottom. My favorite songs were "BFF" (by Plain White Tees), "No Control" (by David Bowie and Brian Eno) "(Just A) Simple Sponge" (by Panic! At the Disco), "Hero is my Middle Name" (by Cyndi Lauper), "Chop to the Top" (by Lady Antebellum) "(I Guess I) Miss you" (by John Legend) and "Best Day Ever" (by Andy Paley and Tom Kenny).  And the dancing was cool my favorite dance was "I am not a loser" when Squidward tap danced with four legs (choreography by Christopher Gattelli).  I also loved the foley design by Mike Dobson who made squishy sounds when Squidward and Spongebob walked.

 The lighting design by Kevin Adams was awesome especially during "(Just A) Simple Sponge" because the sponges were glowing. The set designed by David Zinn was HUGE there were blue bubbles and giant boulders and tv screens and the houses that SpongeBob, Squidward and Patrick live in. The giant volcano was made out of boxes and ladders. But my favorite part of the set were the Rube Goldberg Machines that shot the giant boulders onto the stage, one of them used a bike that flipped upside down! (Note: A Rube Goldberg machine is a machine that has a lot of silly steps to do a simple task...mommy showed me some cool videos on You Tube) The costumes (also designed by David Zinn) were really fun! I loved the costume for Mr Krabs because he had huge red boxing gloves for claws and it looked cool. Squidward had four legs and Pearl had a P on her shirt and I liked SpongeBob's costume because he looked like SpongeBob without the sponge part. Sandy the Squirrel didn't have a tail but I didn't care. Everybody just looked like human characters and I liked that.

My favorite part of the whole show was when Patrick Star was flying in on Sandy's jetpack and the confetti streamers and beachballs that landed on us at the end of the show.


Everyone in the whole world should see this show because I think everyone would love it as much as I did.
I give it 100 Points because WOAH!!!

LOVE, Gunnar
Me by Patchy's #1 Fan Seat



Me with all of the streamers I caught at the end of the show.