Portland Playhouse is going somewhere it’s never been: to a pineapple under the sea via The SpongeBob Musical. The Playhouse has put on plenty of musicals before, but according to the director Brian Weaver, “we’ve never done anything as shamelessly ridiculous as this.”
Just because it’s ridiculous doesn’t mean that The SpongeBob Musical lacks meaning. The story kicks off as an undersea volcano begins to rumble and threatens to annihilate SpongeBob’s home of Bikini Bottom. The undersea town’s inhabitants are suddenly staring doom in the face. Each takes a different approach to imminent annihilation.
“Everyone reacts in a very specific way,” says Weaver, who is also one of the Playhouse’s co-founders. “Mr. Krabs takes it as an opportunity to make as much money as possible. Plankton takes it as an opportunity to take over the world and mind control everybody. Patrick sits on his couch and watches reruns…. A lot of the townspeople start rioting and turning against people who are different from them, like Sandy the Squirrel. I think it’s a pretty accurate depiction of our world and how people react in extreme adversity.”
Turning a two-dimensional Nickelodeon cartoon into a three-dimensional stage musical requires interpretation. The idea is less about actors creating a one-to-one costume. It’s more about capturing the attitude and essence of Spongebob and friends and creating distinct characters for the individual production. “We do nod to the character voices and physicality,” says Weaver, “but people know Squidward because he’s a pessimist, and he has a migraine. And SpongeBob because he’s an optimist, Patrick because he’s sedentary. The characters have core attributes that the actors are able to bring alive so people instantly know who they are.”
For Ben Tissell, who plays SpongeBob, that means tapping into his own better nature. “I’m trying to look for as much overlap between me and SpongeBob as possible,” says Tissell. “He’s such an optimist and has such a bright outlook. Sometimes I’m that way to a fault.I’m enjoying those commonalities.”
Susannah Mars, who plays Squidward, goes somewhere else when she plays the grumpy cephalopod. “I have a very strong recollection of my Jewish grandma,” she says. “That’s where he’s coming from. A place of a lot of angst, a lot of annoyance. He complains a lot, but then again, SpongeBob’s annoying as hell.”
By necessity, this production is more compact than the Broadway show, which featured moving sets and pyrotechnics. However, Portland Playhouse’s production of The SpongeBob Musical has something the Broadway production lacked: It’s what’s known as an actor-muso show. That means that the people on stage, portraying the characters, are also the orchestra. SpongeBob plays the guitar. Karen Plankton plays the accordion. To portray Squidward, Mars learned to play clarinet. As the cast sings, dances, and tells jokes, they also provide the music that would usually emerge from an orchestra pit.
The Portland Playhouse is based in an old church, and has a much more intimate setting than most Broadway theaters. “Actors with instruments can create the soundscape and architecture of the story themselves,” says Weaver. “The theatrical technique is sometimes called ‘poor theater.’ Not that we’re broke, but we’re not Broadway, which means it has to be human-powered. I think it makes the comedy much more about the actors.”
It’s not really a spoiler to say that Bikini Bottom isn’t destroyed by a volcano at the end of The SpongeBob Musical. It’s based on a lighthearted cartoon, after all. “Ultimately in the story of the show, SpongeBob is an undying optimist,” says Weaver. “He teams up with Patrick and Sandy, and they band together to save the world. Everybody who was running around doing foolish things realizes how foolish they were.” Positivity, smarts and friendship win the day. The apocalypse never comes.
The SpongeBob Musical is at Portland Playhouse, 602 NE Prescott, May 2-June 7, $5 – $59.95, portlandplayhouse.org, all ages
