For families—that is, people with kids—there may be no better local entertainment this summer than driving out to Barboursville for The SpongeBob Musical by Four County Players. Sure, you could go see the latest Pixar-y mega-movie, but films aren’t able to offer one critical element: real live humans performing with the thrill of theatrical danger. That perilous condition can only come from a live performance when anything and everything has the potential to go terribly wrong at any moment.
Now in its respectable 52nd year, FCP has the distinction of being central Virginia’s longest continuously running community theater. Clearly, the nonprofit organization knows what it’s doing. With all of that trust at stake, audience members will be enthralled by a glimmering stage set, catchy musical numbers, and knowing that a host of people are doing all that’s in their power to act, dance, and sing through song after song, working their way through a fictional underwater world based on a hit TV cartoon.
The musical itself tells the tale of titular main character SpongeBob SquarePants, who is rallying his friends to save their beloved Bikini Bottom community when an imminent volcano eruption terrorizes the town. All the familiar surreal sea-creature characters dreamed up by the late marine science educator-turned-animator Stephen Hillenburg are accounted for here: doofy BFF Patrick the pink starfish, cantankerous octopus neighbor Squidward, SpongeBob’s boss Mr. Krabs, etc. In keeping with the off-beat tradition of the TV show, the Tony Award-nominated original score features compositions from big names such as Steven Tyler, John Legend, The Flaming Lips, T.I., Lady A, and Cyndi Lauper. All told, the Broadway production of the show scored 12 Tony noms and won for Best Scenic Design of a Musical.
Can fans hold this community production to the high standards established on the Great White Way? Would that even be remotely fair? No, but getting a seat ain’t free either. That’s showbiz, babe.
