The original Broadway cast of ‘Spongebob the Musical’ was featured in a Nickelodeon television special in 2019.
LOGAN – After a late March lull in local theater premiers, two fairly contemporary musical comedies will debut here in April.
Those will be the Dolly Parton musical 9 to 5 by the Theatre Arts Department at Utah State University and Spongebob the Musical by the Cache Theatre Company (CTC).
9 to 5 the Musical is based on the 1980 feature film of the same name. After starring in the movie along with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, music icon Dolly Parton composed the score and lyrics for the stage version of the corporate revolt comedy that debuted on Broadway in 2008.
The USU production will be guest directed by Valerie Rachelle.
Rachelle is a professional director who heads the Oregon Cabaret Theatre in Ashland, OR. She is well known locally for her summertime work with the Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre. Her other professional credits include stints with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Syracuse Opera and the Utah Shakespeare Festival.
Evening performances of 9 to 5 are scheduled at 7:30 p.m. April 15 and 16 as well as April 20 to 23 in the Morgan Theatre in the Chase Fine Arts Building on the USU campus. A 2 p.m. matinee performance is also slated for Saturday, April 16.
As usual lately, the USU Theatre Arts Department will host a pre-show panel discussion of 9 to 5 on Friday, April 15. That event is supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Utah Humanities non-profit group with funds from President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
Participants in that panel discussion will likely include Rachelle and USU faculty members.
The CTC production of Spongebob the Musical is slated to be performed at Ellen Eccles Theatre from April 22 to 30.
Cache Theatre Company has seemingly found a niche for itself performing fairly contemporary and seldom-seen musicals. SpongeBob certainly fits that description, as did the recent CTC triumphs Bright Star, Spamalot and Legally Blonde.
Spongebob the Musical is, of course, based on the Nickelodeon network animated television series Spongebob Squarepants.
The musical – with songs by various artists and a script by Kyle Jarrow – premiered to critical acclaim on Broadway in 2017. Subsequent spin-offs of the stage production included a live national tour of North America and a television special with the original Broadway cast that aired on Nickelodeon in 2019.
Evening performances of Spongebob are slated for 7:30 p.m. on April 22, 23, 25, 28, 29 and 30.
Matinee performances are slated at 1:30 p.m. on April 23 and 30.