SpongeBob Squarepants musical serves up household enjoyable alongside key social and environmental themes

When folks ask her what she’s doing this fall, UC Santa Cruz Assistant Professor of Performance, Play, and Design Rebecca Wear has a prepared response. 

“I tell people that I am directing a piece about a community facing the dual crises of climate change and xenophobia,” Wear stated. “And then I say, ‘in other words, the story of SpongeBob SquarePants, the musical.’” 

The work, which had a run on Broadway from 2017-2018, relies on Nickelodeon’s hit animated tv present, “SpongeBob Squarepants,” launched in 1999. The authentic cartoon sequence famously informed the story of the title character, an obnoxiously upbeat sea sponge who lives in a pineapple within the underwater city of Bikini Bottom and works on the Krusty Krab, a fast-food restaurant.

There have been a number of causes Wear wished UC Santa Cruz college students to carry out “The SpongeBob Musical,” which will likely be on the campus’s Theater Arts Mainstage from November 14 to 23, 2025. One is that she thinks college students will admire the world of SpongeBob, which she calls “zany and eclectic.” 

The sequence was created by animator and marine scientist Stephen Hillenburg who who ​took an interest ​in creating the sequence primarily based on his fascination with ocean and marine life​ impressed by legendary French oceanographer, Jacques Cousteau. UC Santa Cruz has lengthy had deep analysis and educating power in marine and coastal sciences, so Wear thinks the eye to undersea life and oceans within the story will appeal to many members of the campus group. 

Also, the guts of the musical is about find out how to face a disaster in solidarity, Wear says, with SpongeBob and his fellow undersea dwellers coping with a volcano explosion that threatens Bikini Bottom in a lot the identical approach that local weather change threatens our personal communities as we speak. The musical manages to handle this in a approach that celebrates range and consists of authentic songs by Cyndi Lauper, David Bowie, The Flaming Lips, John Legend, They Might Be Giants, and plenty of extra high-profile musicians.  

Its enchantment will go far past campus, Wear thinks.  

“I’m excited that we’re doing an intergenerational piece that I think the local Santa Cruz community is going to come out for,” she stated. “I’m hopeful people bring their kids and their grandmothers and have fun with our students, who are amazingly talented.”

Angelina Valderrama, a third-year pupil and the musical’s stage supervisor, agrees that Santa Cruz residents will need to see the present and thinks the musical’s message of unity will resonate. 

Valderrama has spent most of their life doing theater, they usually love the way in which it creates group. Valderrama has discovered that at UC Santa Cruz, calling it a beautiful place to check. 

Eleven Turoff, a fourth-year pupil, who performs Patchy the Pirate within the musical, agrees. Patchy, who acts as a kind of narrator, was the function she wished, so she leaned into her pirate aspect when auditioning.

“Patchy has a solo that kicks off Act Two, and it was my favorite song in the show, so I figured, why not gear my audition towards a more pirate-y sort of character,” Turoff stated. “The song is called ‘Poor Pirates,’ and it’s really fun. The lyrics go, ‘Poor Pirates, P-O-O-ARGH.’” 

Both Valderrama and Turoff beloved the animated SpongeBob Squarepants sequence once they have been children and rapidly fell in love with the musical, too. 

“This show offers a large range of characters that can be played by so many different people of different backgrounds,” Turoff stated. “It’s a very diverse show, and it’s just super fun. I think it’s really campy and has a little bit of comedy, which I think people could really use right now.”

Both college students say the present addresses local weather change and environmental disaster themes by way of the specter of the volcano, and Valderrama says xenophobia comes up in the way in which Bikini Bottom reacts to the squirrel, Sandy, who comes from Texas and is sweet at karate and innovations. 

“She is the only land animal there,” Valderrama stated. “She is seen as the outsider and an outcast, and she proves that she is not that different, because she cares about Bikini Bottom as much as they do.”

UC Santa Cruz undergraduate college students can attend the SpongeBob SquarePants musical totally free (ticket required). General admission “Pay What You Like” tickets can be found for a advisable price of $5–25. See full efficiency schedule and particulars on the events calendar.