SpongeBob Musical - UK & Ireland tour / Southbank Centre

I stand corrected ;-)

I absolutely loved the show on Broadway, but would imagine that there will be a lot that would need to be changed for the tour, especially the design in the auditorium that made the audience feel like they’d stepped into the world of Bikini Bottom before the show had even started.

Similarly there may be some of the fabulous stage design that may be difficult to rig for a tour.

The Broadway cast were wonderful. Then the non-Equity cast tour that followed really weren’t of the same quality, thus making the whole enterprise feel much more like a kid’s show to me.

As others on here have said, this is a very difficult show to market, possibly made even harder by another version of a SpongeBob show ( of the big cartoon suit variety) that toured the UK some years ago. It was a very poor affair, not well received and absolutely aimed at kids.

I’m sceptical about how successful a UK tour will be. If it’s coming here, I do wish that that it was the original Broadway version in a West End Theatre, but I guess that’s way too big a financial risk for any producer to want to take.

I was at the recording of the first day of the Plymouth pro-shot. I thought it really failed to capture the absolute joy and innovation of the Broadway show.
The biggest problem for me and a decision I couldn’t understand, is why they filled the theatre up with children who didn’t get any of the subtler comedy or metaphorical material at all. I’m pretty sure there was canned laughter on it too, which didn’t help.

Perhaps the only way to get a full-ish audience in Plymouth in the afternoon was to invite school groups in, but personally I thought that was a mistake and did nothing to persuade anyone I raved about the show to that it was anything other than a show for kids.

I wish they’d shot it in the evening and had a more mixed age of audience there. This show is very dear to my heart and I’d hate to see it go pear shaped on an underperforming tour here. I may be completely wrong about the concerns I have about it. I hope I am ( and I also hope they can find a triple threat actor as charismatic as Ethan Slater to take on the main role).

Ooo, I hope you’re wrong too. I can’t believe that Tina Landau & David Zinn’s work could be bettered on this project.

It 100% is a Selladoor production. You might get a bit of scaffolding for the set, if you're lucky.

There's a company called Showpath Spongebob UK Limited, that was registered with Companies House in October 2021.

Three directors - Hunter Arnold, David Hutchinson and Gavin Kalin. It's David Hutchinson, I think, who is the Selladoor connection.

Of course this could be for something else. All three of them seem to be involved in interactive experiences.

I respectfully disagree - i dont think the show needs a huge set etc, but i thought that production was terrible (design/direction wise, the kids were great!)

Yes Selladoor were contracted to deliver the interactive stuff, although its now managed by a seperate company within Selladoor. They run the 'Lifesize Monopoly' in Tottenham Court Road, the 'Saw Experience' in Tower Bridge and there's a third event, which is much more family friendly, opening in County Hall next year.

I did some digging in Companies House as mentioned above and it seems the same 3 people have set up two different companies: GameTrack and ShowTrack as part of their larger Path Entertainment company, but the only productions that have had their own limited companies set up are the SAW experience and a Paddington experience (idk if that’s the Rockafella production or another thing). But all of their most recent company listings with websites (Labyrinth Productions and Path Entertainment) outline that theyre for immersive theatre experiences (live entertainment with dining and drinking experiences etc.) rather than musical stage productions.

I’m not an expert but it was a Selladoor production then wouldn’t it be listed as Selladoor rather than a brand new limited company? They didn’t set up one for the Selladoor Footloose Production, only the interactive experiences currently through Path Entertainment.

Either way, I just hope and pray that this isn’t some half-assed reimagining. The original production was perfect for what it was, they’d be mad to change it.

Unless they're using the same marketing company as Waitress.

where can one find said poster?