ICC Professor Performs in the SpongeBob Musical
Bryce Bresnahan
Feb. 9, 2022
If you’re looking for a nostalgic way to escape reality during these unusual times, look no further than Peoria Players Theatre’s production of The SpongeBob Musical. This production originally appeared on Broadway in 2016 and is based on the iconic TV show SpongeBob SquarePants. Professor Kimberly Roe, who plays Mrs. Puff in the show shares more about the behind-the-scenes production and what makes this musical so relevant in 2022.
When we asked about how the show’s production occurred and what that would look like for any musical, Prof. Roe told us that the music and dancing were the first elements prepared when the musical started production in November of 2021.
“We just kind of all come together to start putting it all together, like ‘ this number goes here’ and ‘this dance is with this number’. It was a really different experience of working on these very separate components of the show and then just coming together and putting it all together.”
Prof. Roe Explained
Not everything went as planned, with changes needing to be made as the show progressed. For example, members of the Electric Skates, a band that appears in the musical, were all supposed to be wearing skates or blades of some kind but had to be cut because it wasn’t working on stage.
Comparisons were made between the ongoing pandemic and some of the themes presented in the musical, such as the town being shut down and mass paranoia over the threat of a volcanic eruption. In contrast to this, another major theme of the show was inclusion and acceptance and the crew’s mindset that The SpongeBob Musical is meant to be a fun, lighthearted experience that everyone can escape to and forget about reality for a bit.
“I personally love that part of the show, I love that part in one of the last songs where it says ‘all are welcome here’ because we have such a diverse cast and people coming from all different cultures and places, and I love that,” Roe said.
The copyrights to perform The SpongeBob Musical has only become available, which director Travis Olson jumped at the opportunity to bring to Peoria. Interestingly, some changes had to be made to the musical to avoid infringement on the original musical and the TV show. For example, the closing performance of the SpongeBob theme song had to be written in a different tempo than the original because they weren’t allowed to sing it exactly like the TV show, Prof. Roe explained.
The SpongeBob Musical has two more shows this weekend, on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. You can order tickets from the Peoria Players website here.