The SpongeBob Musical Finds Its Leading Man

The first wave of casting for the world premiere of The SpongeBob Musical has been revealed. Directed by Tina Landau, the production will run June 7-July 3 at Broadway in Chicago's Oriental Theatre, with plans to open on Broadway in the 2016-2017 season.

Ethan Slater (Diner) will star in the title role, SpongeBob Squarepants, alongside Lilli Cooper (The Wildness) as Sandy Cheeks. The ensemble will be made up of Gaelen Gilliland, Curtis Holbrook, Stephanie Hsu, L’ogan J’ones, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Mark Ledbetter, Kelvin Moon Loh, Vasthy Mompoint, JC Schuster, Abby C. Smith, and Jason Michael Snow.

Casting for the roles of Patrick, Squidward, Plankton, Mr. Krabs, and Gary will be revealed in the coming months.

The SpongeBob Musical, Nickelodeon's stage adaptation of its popular animated television series, will features original songs contributed by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Jonathan Coulton, Dirty Projectors, the Flaming Lips, John Legend, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper, Panic! At the Disco, Plain White T's, They Might Be Giants, and T.I., with an additional song by David Bowie, and additional lyrics by Coulton.

The SpongeBob Musical features a book by Kyle Jarrow (A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant), musical supervision by Tony Award winner Tom Kitt (Next to Normal), and choreography by Christopher Gattelli (Newsies). The design team includes David Zinn (scenic and costume design), Kevin Adams (lighting design), Peter Nigrini (projection design), and Walter Trarbach (sound design).

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