Henderson Rec Players’ ‘The SpongeBob Musical’ Is Packed with Herring, Humor, and Heart

The North Carolina-based community theater's take on the feted Broadway musical provoked personal and cultural reflections

McGregor Hall production of The SpongeBob Musical July 13, 2024 in Henderson, North Carolina
mcgregorhall.org

The year was 2004. The Indonesian dub of SpongeBob SquarePants had been airing on a national channel for less than a year by the time that year’s deathly tsunami struck the nation’s Aceh province where the most number of deaths were recorded. A local boy, no older than 10 years old, was reported to have been holding onto a large tree trunk for days amidst the rubble and the decay. He was found alive while wearing a bootlegged SpongeBob SquarePants T-shirt and shorts.

His story made brief rounds internationally (most notably picked up by Indonesia’s leading newspapers Kompas and The Jakarta Post) and caught the attention of none other than the cartoon’s creator Stephen Hillenburg. He proceeded to reach out to the boy and present him with SpongeBob SquarePants paraphernalia, and — if my memory serves me right — financial aid. A quick Google search would not yield any results on the story whatsoever, now largely forgotten over time akin to sinking sand. 

Somehow, this specific memory rang loud and clear in my mind while seated at McGregor Hall over the weekend of July 13 and 14, 2024, watching the original Broadway reenactment of The SpongeBob Musical by North Carolina’s Henderson Rec Players. Perhaps not coincidentally, the two dates consecutively marked the birthdays of Tom Kenny — the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants — and the famous sponge himself.

Although not my first theater experience since relocating to North Carolina, seeing something I was already familiar with and a fan of felt oddly comforting, even tear-inducing. It became more than just the musical: I was transported to my childhood bedroom where I first tuned in to SpongeBob SquarePants, the living rooms where I accompanied my niece watching it as a 20-something while constantly moving houses, the early mornings I left the TV on as it was playing and I was getting ready for classes, the late afternoons I rushed home after school to religiously tune in to the series. Twenty years later these memories came flooding back, I more porous to them than ever.

To my surprise, the Sandy Cheeks arc grabbed me by the guts the most. The typically tough, no-nonsense gal transforms into a more exuberant and soulful character thanks to Keiyitho Omonuwa’s spirited performance, buoyed by an engaging script that retains the original series’ frantic, offbeat tone yet stands on its merit. 

In The SpongeBob Musical, Sandy is the unsung heroine, the voice of reason ignored by the residents of Bikini Bottom based on her mammality — that she was portrayed by one of the few Black actors in the ensemble is in itself an inspired choice. Undeterred, Sandy sets on a mission to save Bikini Bottom from an impending volcano eruption using science, which, by this point, is misleadingly thought of as the cause of the eruption, leading to a witch hunt against Sandy herself. In a way, this arc is the very embodiment of “Every disaster movie starts with a scientist being ignored.” With the help of SpongeBob and Patrick (played by Matthew Emig and Zachary Zahand, respectively), hilarity and chaos ensue, especially as the dynamic duo themselves experience shake-ups in their friendship. 

Despite the occasional hiccups that you would expect from a live theater production (sound issues, actors flubbing their lines, et al.), Henderson Rec Players’ take on the Tony Award-winning musical was compact and tightly choreographed. Under Mark Hopper’s direction, not one second of the play’s over two-hour running time felt disjointed, out of place or awkwardly paced. 

Inevitably, it’s the musical numbers that do the heavy lifting: from David Bowie’s industrial-lite “No Control” to the swaggering boom-bap of T.I.’s “When the Going Gets Tough” via Yolanda Adams’ gospel-inflected “Super Sea Star Savior” and the stark, sparse balladry of John Legend’s “(I Guess I) Miss You” — arguably the play’s most heart-rending moment with fantastic vocal interplay by Zahand and Emig, improving on the original cast recording — there’s a myriad of stylistic turns that cater to the all-ages audience without fail. 

Of course, it would not be SpongeBob SquarePants without its off-kilter, surrealist brand of humor, the series’ tried-and-true trademark for over 25 years and what makes it ahead of its time, even prone to censorship. This defining quality also shines through in The SpongeBob Musical (yes, Patrick’s (in)famous “The inner machinations of my mind are an enigma” and “Is mayonnaise an instrument?” made the cut), only exceeded by its emotional core; whenever earnestness veered closely into the cloying territory, a tense scenario would ensue, only to be offset by a comedic relief. 

It’s this push-and-pull that keeps the musical endlessly engaging, buoyed by across-the-board solid performances by all cast members, with notable standouts being Micah Jones as Plankton and Craig Askew as Eugene Krabs — even then, the side characters such as Squidward (Mary Pearce), Pearl Krabs (Sarah Wheeler, who delivered some of the musical’s high points thanks to her rousing singing parts), Perch Perkins (Greg Flowers), The Mayor of Bikini Bottom (Molly Hamelin), and even Old Man Jenkins (Laura Parker) captured the essence of their respective characters, rendering the production with a well-rounded feel throughout.

Aside from being a testament to Mark Hopper’s technical vision and musical excellence (all the numbers were played by a live band), The SpongeBob Musical is ultimately a story about resilience, underpinned by the delicate dance between self-actualization and the power of community. It is also a microcosm of our modern society, with eerily stronger resonance nearly seven years after its initial Broadway run. While navigating life in a society divided by the government and the media, do we become simple-minded in the pursuit of survival and sufficiency? In times of despair and potential apocalypse, how do we keep our heads above the proverbial water and care for each other in the process? 

The SpongeBob Musical’s response to these questions is by putting the unlikely heroes at the forefront, capitalizing on the audience’s familiarity with SpongeBob, Patrick, and Sandy who then keep the audience on their toes as the three discover ways to rise above their self-doubt and limiting self-belief. In particular, Sandy’s earlier admission to constantly feeling like the odd one out both on land or underwater struck a major chord with me as a new immigrant in the US. 

Similarly, SpongeBob’s journey toward realizing his skills and strengths despite Mr. Krabs’ and Squiward’s constant belittlement without losing his buoyancy and optimism proves to be deeply moving, poignantly contrasted by “I’m Not a Loser,” a They Might Be Giants-written, Squidward-starring number which serves as an imaginary closure to his lifelong bouts with — as per his earlier admission — dashed hopes, shattered dreams, broken promises, and abject misery. As I came to learn first-hand, feasting on fear, dwelling in despair, and romanticizing suffering can only get anyone so far in life; it was taking multiple leaps of faith, despite said fear, despair, and suffering, that took me the furthest … as far as literally halfway across the globe.

Only time will tell how or when the Bikini Bottom Way (“All are welcome here!”) will apply to me as I continue to integrate myself into American society. Until then, I will continue to trudge through the in-between, quietly reassuring myself, “I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready…

The SpongeBob Musical by Henderson Rec Players ran from July 13 to 21, 2024 at McGregor Hall, Henderson, North Carolina and was directed by Mark Hopper. For the upcoming schedule, visit Henderson Rec Players’ Facebook page and McGregor Hall’s website.

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