Sara Bareilles, Flaming Lips, Plain White T's, and More Open SpongeBob on Broadway

SpongeBob SquarePants celebrated its opening night at Broadway's Palace Theatre on December 4. Conceived and directed by Tina Landau, the show includes a book by Kyle Jarrow, music supervision, orchestrations, and arrangements by Tom Kitt, and choreography by Christopher Gattelli.

The cast includes Ethan Slater as SpongeBob SquarePants, Gavin Lee as Squidward Q. Tentacles, Lilli Cooper as Sandy Cheeks, and Danny Skinner as Patrick Star, all of whom will reprise the roles they originated in the musical's world premiere production at Chicago's Oriental Theatre in June 2016. The ensemble also includes Brian Ray Norris as Eugene Krabs and Wesley Taylor as Sheldon Plankton. The ensemble will include Gaelen Gilliland, Juliane Godfrey, Kyle Matthew Hamilton, Curtis Holbrook, Stephanie Hsu, Jesse J.P. Johnson, L'ogan J'ones, Jai'len Josey, Kelvin Moon Loh, Lauralyn McClelland, Vasthy Mompoint, Oneika Phillips, Jon Rua, J.C. Schuster, Abby C. Smith, Robert Taylor Jr., Allan Washington, Brynn Williams, and Matt Wood.

Based on the popular Nickelodeon cartoon, the production is described as follows: "Stakes are higher than ever before as SpongeBob and all of Bikini Bottom face the total annihilation of their undersea world. Chaos erupts. Lives hang in the balance. And just when all hope seems lost, a most unexpected hero rises up and takes center stage."

SpongeBob SquarePants features original songs by Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alexander Ebert of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, the Flaming Lips, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, Panic! at the Disco, Plain White T's, They Might Be Giants, T.I., and songs by David Bowie, Tom Kenny, and Andy Paley. Coulton also contributes additional lyrics.

For tickets and more information, click here.