“The Sponge Bob Musical”

*** When I told Jane we were headed into the city on a rainy Friday night to see “The Sponge Bob Musical”, she said “It will cost you”! As I recall, when we saw the Pre-Broadway production as part of Broadway in Chicago, we were not impressed. It was lavish, bold and high-tech, for sure, but it lacked something that a Chicago audience loves, energy! Kokandy Productions continues to bring us highly energetic musicals that use a small space and fewer performers, but make for a special piece of entertainment.

The Chopin Theatre has two stages. The upstairs ( or main) is much larger and has the ability to easily do huge productions. On the other hand the lower or basement theater (there is no way to go if you cannot climb stairs). Kokandy uses the lower-level stage and does so in a unique way. Despite having two large pillars (that hold up the floor upstairs) they put on amazing work. While the rating for this show is recommended, the energy and talent that create this work are far superior to that.

The play is sharply directed and worked around these obstacles by JD Caudill with powerful choreography by Jenna Schoppe and music direction by Bryan McCaffrey, this is a sparkling two hours and 25 minutes of fun. The set (Jonathan Berg-Einhorn) and clever costuming (Jakob Abderhalden) allow cartoon characters to come to life.

The story is based on the Nickelodeon cartoons. In this story, the people of Bikini Bottom discover that a volcano is about to erupt and if so, Bikini Bottom will cease to exist. Sponge Bob ( Frankie Leo Bennett is wonderful in bringing “Bob” to life) and his pals, BFF, Patrick Star ( deftly handled by Isabel Cecillia Garcia) and Sandy Cheeks ( played to perfection by Sarah Patin) come to the rescue and save the undersea world.

These three are just a few of the energetic cast members that Caudill has assembled. Tommy Bullington is quite funny as Eugene Krabs, Parker Guidry is hysterical as the evil Sheldon J. Plankton and the ensemble made up of Quinn Rigg ( who truly shines in the role of Squidward), Amy Yesom  Kim,Jennifer Ledesma, Connar Brown, Maddison Denault, Sydney Genco, Fla Hunter, David Lipschultz, Ele Matelan ( who is also the “Foley” and she is amazing),Nicky Mendelsohn, Nataka Rennie, Shane Roberie, Quinn Simmons and Kelcy Taylor are terrific and again, show great energy and talent throughout the show.

The series, based on the works of Stephen Hillenburg features a book by Kyle Jarrow and has songs from some of the most well-known writers: Aerosmith, Yolanda Adams, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, and a host of others.. No matter how your day went, seeing this cast of player bring this musical to the stage will take you away from that and make you smile. You will walk out of the theater feeling elated and have that happy face you enjoy showing. Jane liked it better than she had thought and was in a great mood, even sending a text to our grandson reminding him of the year that I dressed up as SpongeBob (thanks to George at Fantasy Costumes to go trick or treating with him. Adam was Batman and asked me never to come in character again as I was drawing the attention away from him. I am glad that we can still laugh about that and that Sponge Bob has a special place in our lives. Let him be a part of yours as well.

“The SpongeBob Musical” will continue thru September 3^rd with performances as follows:

Thursdays  7 p.m.

Fridays  7 p.m.

Saturdays  7  p.m.

Sundays  5 p.m.

The Chopin Theatre is located at 1543 West Division ( Milwaukee Avenue/Ashland Avenue/Division)

Tickets $40 (students/seniors $30) and can be purchased  bit.ly/SpongeBobChicago.com

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “The SpongeBob Musical”.