Review: Cygnet's ‘SpongeBob' musical a joyful cartoon come to life
It may seem strange that Cygnet Theatre has followed up its engrossing three-hour, 70-character drama “The Lehman Trilogy” with the cartoon-come-to-life “The SpongeBob Musical.” But the connective tissue between the two - high production values, good casting, fine direction and polished professionalism - is obvious.
Cygnet is closing the first season in its new home, The Joan at Arts District Liberty Station, with a show designed to appeal to families with young children, a demographic the company hasn’t tapped in the past. So while many older audience members in the opening-night audience Saturday were scratching their heads over just what a “SpongeBob” might be, the show is a technicolor G-rated treat for young audiences.
For the uninitiated, “SpongeBob SquarePants” is a 2017 Broadway musical inspired by the Nickelodeon animated comedy series which premiered in 1999 and is still running. It’s about the undersea adventures of SpongeBob, a childlike yellow sea sponge and his ocean friends Patrick, a sweet but dimwitted starfish, and Sandy, a brainy land squirrel in a diving suit.
The musical adaptation was written by Kyle Jarrow and Tom Kitt, with a diverse score by 21 songwriters, including David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper and Sara Bareilles. The plot incorporates all of the TV series’ characters, who have just 24 hours to save their seafloor village, Bikini Bottom, from an undersea volcanic eruption.
The plot is not that gripping and the score is not that memorable. But the imagination, commitment and sense of play created by the show’s director-choreographer Katie Banville will sweep you along anyway, even if you’re a SpongeBob newbie.
And for longtime fans of the TV series, they’ll get a kick out of the fan service nods to signature lines from the show, the meowing sea snail Gary, the French-“ish” narrator, SpongeBob’s staccato laugh and a sing-along theme-song excerpt at the end.
The petite and exuberant Bailey Lee leads the 17-member cast as SpongeBob, a role that requires her to be onstage singing, dancing, tumbling and climbing stairs for virtually all of the two hour-plus musical. Berto Fernández, who is big in stature and voice, is the show’s singing standout as Patrick Star, who in the musical becomes the cultlike leader of a school of worshipping sardines.
Other memorable performances are delivered b Rebecca Murillo as the squirrel Sandy Cheeks, the wickedly funny Drew Bradford as the evil mastermind Sheldon J. Plankton, Kürt Norby as the greedy restaurateur Eugene H. Krabs and Andrew Oswald as a comically sad sourpuss Squidward Q. Tentacles.
Music director, orchestrator and programmer Patrick Marion leads the show’s orchestra, which can be seen onstage through a giant porthole in Mathy’s Herbert’s TV show-inspired scenery. Blake McCarty designed projections, Amanda Zieve designed lighting and Evan Eason designed sound. Foley artist and sound mixer Coleman Ray Clark creates the live sound effects.
Costume designer Kelan Yang’s has re-created the Broadway show’s most famous look, Squidward’s eye-popping four-legged pants, but she has also created fresh and imaginative new looks for all of the other characters.
There’s nothing ocean-deep about “The SpongeBob Musical.” Instead it’s a fun, escapist celebration of the imagination, complete with jellyfish-style umbrellas, a pirate production number, tap-dancing sea creatures and a skateboarding snail.
‘The SpongeBob Musical’
When: 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays; 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays; 7 p.m. June 30; 2 p.m. July 1. Through July 12
Where: Joseph Clayes III Theater at The Joan, 2880 Roosevelt Road, Arts District Liberty Station, San Diego
Tickets: $54 and up for adults. Children 5 to 15 are half-off. No children under 5 will be admitted.
Online: cygnettheatre.org
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This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 5:22 PM.