“Are you ready, kids?”
Audiences of all ages shouted “Aye, aye, captain!” to this familiar question from Patchy the Pirate (Loren T. Christensen, 11) during each performance of this year’s spring musical, Nickelodeon’s “Spongebob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical”. The familiarity of the cartoon is part of what made it such a big hit, producer Mrs. Farrah Beaudry said.
“The audience jumped up and started singing with [the cast], especially the elementary audience,” she said. “It was very cool to see them jump in on that number.”
The show, which ran from Feb. 22-25, follows Spongebob Squarepants (Ethan Medeiros, 12) trying to prove that he is “not a simple sponge” by saving Bikini Bottom from Mount Humongous from erupting.
Mrs. Beaudry said she chose the musical because it met the goals of being family-friendly and giving quality singing, dancing, and acting opportunities to students.
“We wanted something that would be a triple threat to our students,” she said. The “SpongeBob” musical also was more modern than the 2023 spring musical “The Little Mermaid” and other past shows. “It came out on Broadway recently,” she said.
Even so, Mrs. Beaudry knew the show would be risky. “People either love Spongebob, or they hate it,” she said.
The quality of the show’s songs, written by a variety of artists – such as Sara Bareilles, The Flaming Lips, Panic! at the Disco, and David Bowie – convinced her at the Musical Theatre class to go ahead with it.
“I read the show and I absolutely fell in love with it,” she said. “I loved the music.”
The director and choreographer of the 2024 musical was Ms. Abigail Perry, a 2013 grad.
“It was a great accomplishment in itself to watch one of our alumni be able to take on a show of this magnitude,” Mrs. Beaudry said.
Special Education Teacher Mr. Zach Cruse also stepped in for the first time as the show’s assistant director.
“The special effects that went into this show, from bubbles to confetti to four different screens was a great accomplishment for the students that you do not see much,” Mrs. Beaudry said.
Senior and Run Crew Chief Emma Ledsome took most pride in the Mount Humongous set, which moves throughout a scene where Spongebob (Ethan Medeiros) and Sandy Cheeks (Lisbeth Montes) travel up and down ladders. A number of cast and crew members had to keep moving the mountain in perfect sync.
“It’s a very heavy mountain,” Emma said.
Mount Humongous was the skeleton of the mountain walls from previous spring musicals, she said.
“The walls are from the Addams Family (2019), that turned into Cats (2020), and that turned into the walls of the Drowsy Chaperone (2022),” she said.
While the crew took care of the behind-the-scenes work, the show’s actors also put a lot of effort into their roles on stage.
Sophomore Parker Vile, who played Patrick Star, said he and co-star Ethan Medeiros made it their New Year’s Resolution to only watch Spongebob on TV.
“I felt it helped with developing my character,” Parker said
Playing Patrick was quite a switch from playing five smaller characters, such as ‘Man Ray N.o. 2’ in “The Little Mermaid” last year.
“I had a lot of room to play with because not everyone knows those characters,” he said. “But for Spongebob, everyone [knew] Patrick and Spongebob and all of the main characters from the show.”
An added challenge came during Friday night’s show, when the fire alarm went off during “Super Sea Star Savior”, one of the big songs between the Sardines and Patrick.
“I was confused, and I had to stay in character, so I just started looking at the Sardines and was like, ‘What do we do?’,” he said. “And they all crowded around me, and they were like ‘Patrick Star, Patrick Star,’ and kept bowing down to me and it was great’,” he said.
Sophomore Quion Johnson Allen, who played Squidward Tentacles, said his biggest challenge was learning tap dancing with add-on legs.
“I’ve never tapped in my life, and I had to learn it in two months,” he said, “and the extra legs…they weighed ten pounds.”
Squidward’s back legs, designed by Mr. Cruse, were wood connected by steel that bent at a joint.
“It was like a piston,” Quion said. “Almost every time I lifted, it would go in and out.”
Senior Damian Berentsen said he watched videos of real newscasters to prepare for his
role as Perch Perkins.
“I tried to replicate some of their mannerisms,” he said. “For the voice, I just tried to match the personality with the singing voice. I kinda worked backwards on it.”
Damian, like a number of the cast members, plans to continue pursuing acting in college.
“I found a love for it here and just wish I had joined earlier,” he said, “but at least I can (hopefully) continue it later in life.”
