PRODUCTION HISTORY
Learn about how a simple sponge made his triumphant journey to Broadway and beyond
Chicago Tryout & Broadway
The SpongeBob Musical opened at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago on June 19, 2016 (previews June 7th) through July 3, 2016 in a limited-engagement run for its world premiere. The production was directed by Tina Landau with a book by Kyle Jarrow, and music supervision by Tom Kitt.
The show transferred to Broadway where it had 29 previews and 327 regular performances at the Palace Theatre from November 6, 2017 through September 16, 2018. The show was forced to close due to renovations at the theater; however, The New York Times reported that it had been financially underperforming compared to other large-scale musicals, with it running strongest during school vacation periods. It brought in $1.5 million during Christmas week and its lowest gross was $543,000 the final week of April. Ultimately the show did not recoup its $18 million cost.
2016-2018
National Tour
A non-Equity North American tour opened on September 22, 2019 in Schenectady, New York at Proctors Theatre. Other engagements include Boston, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Toronto, the musical will tour to Dayton, Ohio; Hartford, Connecticut; Houston, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; San Antonio, Texas; and Tampa, Florida. It was forced to cut its run short due to the COVID-19 pandemic and there are no current plans to re-embark.
From Playbill
2019-2020
The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage!
On October 17, 2019, Nickelodeon announced it would air a television special titled The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage!, to be filmed in front of a live audience and featuring members of the original Broadway cast including Ethan Slater, Danny Skinner, and Gavin Lee as SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star, and Squidward Q. Tentacles respectively. Additionally, Tom Kenny reprised his role as Patchy the Pirate.
Nickelodeon premiered The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage! on December 7, 2019. A DVD was released on November 3, 2020 with both the full-length special and sing-a-long versions included.
2019
Interested in watching the pro-shot? Click the links below! These are all paid and only available with a subscription (Paramount Plus/Prime) or one-time purchase (Amazon DVD/YouTube).
German Tour
The German-language tour through Germany, Austria, and Switzerland started on October 1, 2022 in Berlin and was the first public display of the musical in a continent other than North America. It ended on December 17, 2022. The show was entirely translated into German with no scenes cut, although the costumes and sets were redesigned. The center of the set was a giant pineapple that can be opened.
2022
UK Tour
The musical premiered in the UK at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton on April 5, 2023, including five weeks at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. Other cities included Birmingham, Bradford, Oxford, Dublin, Manchester, Belfast, Cardiff, Blackpool, Peterborough, Wolverhampton, Norwich, Leicester, Aberdeen and Plymouth. The tour concluded on September 9, 2023 at Theatre Royal in Newcastle.
2023
