Who Lives in a Musical on Broadway? SpongeBob SquarePants

A SpongeBob SquarePants musical is officially headed to Broadway, starting with a Chicago tryout slated for next spring – and the show is chock-full-o big names. Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Jonathan Coulton, Dirty Projectors, The Flaming Lips, John Legend, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper, Panic! At the Disco, Plain White T’s, They Might Be Giants, T.I., and David Bowie are all contributing material to the performance.

The SpongeBob Musical will kick off June 7, 2016 at Chicago’s Oriental Theatre, running through July 3rd, followed by a move to Broadway for the 2016-2017 season.

Tina Landau will direct, Kyle Jarrow wrote the book, and Tom Kitt (Next to Normal) will supervise the music. The sets and costumes were designed by David Zinn, the lighting by Kevin Adams, projections by Peter Nigrini, and sound by Walter Trarbach.

“I was drawn to this project not only for its wild theatrical possibility, but also because I felt SpongeBob, at its core, is a layered and hilarious ensemble comedy,” Landau said. “We’re bringing the show’s fabled characters to life through actors — not prosthetics or costumes that hide them — and we’re deploying some unconventional stage craft that will prove that anything can happen in Bikini Bottom.”

“SpongeBob himself is of course its center and beating heart — the eternal innocent in a sea of cynics,” Landau continued. “He’s also the classic underdog hero, and so our production sets him on a hero’s journey with real stakes, all the while retaining the show’s trippy humor and irreverence.”

Unlike shows such as The Lion King, which is basically a straight adaptation, SpongeBob will feature all-new content. “We’re taking our leads from the TV show but this is an original story, with an original design approach, and original songs written just for the occasion by an amazing array of songwriters,” Landau explained. “We will present the world of Bikini Bottom and its characters in a whole new way that can only be achieved in the live medium of the theater.”

So what will the show’s plot be about? According to Nickelodeon: “The end is near. Only one sponge can save the day. But he’s going to need help from some of the greatest songwriters in rock and pop music history. The SpongeBob Musical unleashes anarchic absurdity under the sea… and on Broadway. A rousing tale of a simple sea sponge who faces the unfathomable. It’s a celebration of unbridled hope, unexpected heroes, and pure theatrical invention.”

You had me at “SpongeBob.”

[via Deadline]