Review | The SpongeBob Musical at The Kings Theatre, Southsea: 'Smells like a hit'
While I am aware of SpongeBob SquarePants and have caught a couple of episodes over the years, it was my children who were the driving force to come and see this one.
For those unaware, SpongeBob is a hugely successful, long-running cartoon TV show – and as the name suggests, our hero is a talking sponge, who lives in a pineapple in the underwater town of Bikini Bottom.
It’s a hyperactive riot, focusing on the madcap adventures of SpongeBob and his anthropomorphic friends.
The musical adaptation is relatively new. It opened on Broadway in 2017, and only made its debut on this side of the pond with a UK-wide tour last year.
This production is the latest from The Kings’ own Arts Academy, so its stars are youngsters and young adults.
However, banish any idea of amateurism because of their ages – the show brings the same kind of zany energy and slick production we’d expect from the Kings’ own Pompey pantos. Its central trio of Stanley Searl (Patrick Star), Ella Burgos (Sandy Cheeks) and Casper Horn in the title role, all excel. Horn in particular captures the mannerisms of his character.
Joseph Mackley as Sheldon J Plankton, the villain of the piece, also gets to have a whale of a time up there.
The plot concerns attempt to save the town from destruction by the imminent eruption of Mount Humongous.
The staging is minimal, with clever use of projected backdrops to change and give additional movement to scenes, so it never feels sparse. And the costumes are a feast of colour and fun – love the sardines and the sea anemones.
The gospel-esque Super Sea-Star Saviour, as Patrick settles into his role as accidental guru, is a highpoint, and Chop To The Top gives Burgos’ impressive vocals a chance to shine.
During the first half there’s a technical problem when the projections suddenly stop and the backdrop is showing the computer’s desktop for a couple of minutes. With consummate professionalism the performers don’t even blink. Let’s blame it on that pesky IT outage…
There’s slapstick, some great dance routines and a lot of laughs for adults and children alike.
As Patrick says at one point: “Life smells weird”, and that may be so, but this smells like a hit.