The SpongeBob Musical

for a previous production "Plenty energetic and likeable, the show could benefit from an small injection of authentic edginess...A touch of darkness would serve it well...Slater anchors a terrifically talented cast...The show is always most alive when the songs arrive...A couple of songs and characters fall flat...The unquestionable highlight belongs to Lee’s Squidward, who absolutely steals the show in Act II...This very solid and artistically admirable foundation needs a slight shift in worldview." Full Review

for a previous production "A score made up of singles by different songwriters and unified by Tom Kitt works quite beautifully in the anarchic playpen Landau has created with her designers... At times, it feels too much like we are watching the goings-on in a hyper-kinetic Munchkinland...The transition to Broadway now needs to involve a dialing back of excess and more attention to truth...Sometimes the production slows down enough to allow actors to communicate directly with the audience. Often it does not." Full Review

for a previous production "The show is full of wildly energetic performers and playful, imaginative stagecraft...It features a seamless musical mashup of more than a dozen songs with zesty pastiche numbers that move from hip-hop, soul, disco, and heavy metal to pure Broadway...In many ways the star of the production is set and costume designer David Zinn whose romper-room creation spills into the theater’s balcony boxes...For all the exuberance, the show exhausts itself long before it’s over." Full Review

for a previous production "A deep-sea delight splendid to see and gorgeous to hear. A tribute to Neptune, this wickedly winning offering takes us on an enthralling 150-minute amusement ride, delivering equal joy to children and non-kids...Fueling the fun is an electric/eclectic score, a whole greater than its parts...It’s a labor of love by a living jukebox of contemporary standard bearers...Poseidon couldn’t be prouder of this sea spectacle with its big-hearted bottom-dwellers." Full Review

for a previous production "Entertaining, eccentric, electrifying and if I could give it a rating greater than highly recommended I would. I say this because it is creative, fun, and most of the audience members were adults escaping the stresses of everyday life if only for a couple of hours...Great energy from the company and a fantastic display of choreography...There are so many great musical numbers in the show, to many to mention, written by talented artists." Full Review

for a previous production "Zinn's witty, whimsical visuals are among the delights of this musical...The show features a droll, irony-free book that gently sends up blowhard politicians, money-grubbing capitalists and snarky rock stars...Robustly sung by a spirited young cast. They make a splash, but it's not all smooth sailing...Subplots involving scheming restaurateurs and errant pirates threaten to capsize the sponge-saves-the-day narrative...Landau brings a cartoon sensibility to this merry romp." Full Review

for a previous production "The story is well told, albeit a bit longer than it need be...There are some wonderful portrayals which is not easy for an actor–playing a fish or a squirrel, but they pull it off...Under the direction of Tina Landau, I expected smooth sailing and as always, she came through with flying colors...The purpose of theater is to be entertained and we were...While I am still not 100% sure who the audience is for this show, I would have to think younger families will be drawn to it as a shared ente... Full Review

for a previous production "This lovely, vibrant, ambitiously produced parable is tailor-made for Mom and Dad and the kids to share...The songs express the gamut of emotions from loneliness and self-doubt to resolve and triumph, both personal and communal...The fantastical, funky Technicolor undersea décor draws the viewer right to the heart of the story before the band has played a lick or a word has been spoken." Full Review

for a previous production "Landau's and Jarrow's pre-Broadway tryout does right by the little guy by cleverly translating the franchise's hallmark style, running gags, metacomedy, and personalities to the stage. Songs by a cavalcade of contemporary musicians somehow manage to get upstaged by a slop-rock rundown of the TV show theme song, but even the most generic show tunes are well-executed toe tappers. The real heart of the show, though, is its spectacular design." Full Review

for a previous production "Manages to adapt a beloved character to the stage without alienating its target audience or the general theater demographic...Thanks to Landau’s wildly imaginative staging, which theatricalizes everything from umbrellas to cardboard boxes, the cartoonish absurdity of the source material is captured expertly...By the time you leave the theater, the faults don’t stick so much as the musical’s overarching message of the power of unbridled optimism...A buffoonish bonanza with real heart." Full Review