A new kind of cockeyed optimist has arrived at the Palace Theatre in the form of SpongeBob SquarePants, the indefatigably cheery anthropomorphic hero of the globally successful Nickelodeon animated television series, now turned into an outsized Broadway musical. What a welcome the creators of this new musical have contrived for a “simple sponge!” There is more (subaquatic) urban commotion on stage than there is in Times Square outside the theater.
For those not familiar with the animated show, the sponge in question does not look like the actual ocean genus, but instead resembles a synthetic kitchen version that has taken up residence in a similarly displaced pineapple. In the television series, SpongeBob, flanked by a loyal meowing pet snail and his friends, a starfish and a squirrel, is often trying to improve the lives of those around him.
