When Spongebob Squarepants debuted on Nickelodeon in 1999, creator Stephen Hillenburg couldn’t have imagined that it could become the global phenomenon that it is now. The show is still on 16 years, there have been two successful movies and, next, there could be a Broadway show.
Yes, a show based on the series is in development and will premiere in Chicago in summer 2016, reports Variety.
The Nickelodeon-produced show will feature music songs written by Cyndi Lauper, The Flaming Lips, John Legend, Lady Antebellum and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. Somehow, the producers also enlisted David Bowie to write a song. Hopefully there will be enough time to squeeze in “The F.U.N. Song.”
“We’re taking our leads from the TV show but this is an original story, with an original design approach, and original songs written just for the occasion by an amazing array of songwriters,” director Tina Landau said in a statement to Entertainment Weekly. “We will present the world of Bikini Bottom and its characters in a whole new way that can only be achieved in the live medium of the theatre. We’re bringing the show’s fabled characters to life through actors — not prosthetics or costumes that hide them — and we’re deploying some unconventional stage craft that will prove that anything can happen in Bikini Bottom.”
Tom Kitt (Next To Normal) will be musical supervisor and the book is by Kyle Jarrow. Other Songs will be produced by Panic At The Disco, They Might Be Giants, T.I., Plain White Tees, Jonathan Coulton and Dirty Projectors.
The Spongebob Musical starts at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago on June 7 and runs through July 3. Casting hasn’t been set yet.