Arts & Culture
SpongeBob Squarepants musical serves up family fun alongside key social and environmental themes
UC Santa Cruz’s version of the production opens Nov. 14 at the Theater Arts Mainstage
When people ask her what she’s doing this fall, UC Santa Cruz Assistant Professor of Performance, Play, and Design Rebecca Wear has a ready response.
“I tell people that I am directing a piece about a community facing the dual crises of climate change and xenophobia,” Wear said. “And then I say, ‘in other words, the story of SpongeBob SquarePants, the musical.’”
The work, which had a run on Broadway from 2017-2018, is based on Nickelodeon’s hit animated television show, “SpongeBob Squarepants,” released in 1999. The original cartoon series famously told the story of the title character, an obnoxiously upbeat sea sponge who lives in a pineapple in the underwater town of Bikini Bottom and works at the Krusty Krab, a fast-food restaurant.
There were several reasons Wear wanted UC Santa Cruz students to perform “The SpongeBob Musical,” which will be at the campus’s Theater Arts Mainstage from November 14 to 23, 2025. One is that she thinks students will appreciate the world of SpongeBob, which she calls “zany and eclectic.”
The series was created by animator and marine scientist Stephen Hillenburg who who became interested in creating the series based on his fascination with ocean and marine life inspired by legendary French oceanographer, Jacques Cousteau. UC Santa Cruz has long had deep research and teaching strength in marine and coastal sciences, so Wear thinks the attention to undersea life and oceans in the story will attract many members of the campus community.
Also, the heart of the musical is about how to face a crisis in solidarity, Wear says, with SpongeBob and his fellow undersea dwellers dealing with a volcano explosion that threatens Bikini Bottom in much the same way that climate change threatens our own communities today. The musical manages to address this in a way that celebrates diversity and includes original songs by Cyndi Lauper, David Bowie, The Flaming Lips, John Legend, They Might Be Giants, and many more high-profile musicians.
Its appeal will go far beyond campus, Wear thinks.
“I’m excited that we’re doing an intergenerational piece that I think the local Santa Cruz community is going to come out for,” she said. “I’m hopeful people bring their kids and their grandmothers and have fun with our students, who are amazingly talented.”
Angelina Valderrama, a third-year student and the musical’s stage manager, agrees that Santa Cruz residents will want to see the show and thinks the musical’s message of unity will resonate.
Valderrama has spent most of their life doing theater, and they love the way it creates community. Valderrama has found that at UC Santa Cruz, calling it a wonderful place to study.
Eleven Turoff, a fourth-year student, who plays Patchy the Pirate in the musical, agrees. Patchy, who acts as a sort of narrator, was the role she wanted, so she leaned into her pirate side when auditioning.
“Patchy has a solo that kicks off Act Two, and it was my favorite song in the show, so I figured, why not gear my audition towards a more pirate-y sort of character,” Turoff said. “The song is called ‘Poor Pirates,’ and it’s really fun. The lyrics go, ‘Poor Pirates, P-O-O-ARGH.’”
Both Valderrama and Turoff loved the animated SpongeBob Squarepants series when they were kids and quickly fell in love with the musical, too.
“This show offers a large range of characters that can be played by so many different people of different backgrounds,” Turoff said. “It’s a very diverse show, and it’s just super fun. I think it’s really campy and has a little bit of comedy, which I think people could really use right now.”
Both students say the show addresses climate change and environmental crisis themes through the threat of the volcano, and Valderrama says xenophobia comes up in the way Bikini Bottom reacts to the squirrel, Sandy, who comes from Texas and is good at karate and inventions.
“She is the only land animal there,” Valderrama said. “She is seen as the outsider and an outcast, and she proves that she is not that different, because she cares about Bikini Bottom as much as they do.”
UC Santa Cruz undergraduate students can attend the SpongeBob SquarePants musical for free (ticket required). General admission “Pay What You Like” tickets are available for a recommended fee of $5–25. See full performance schedule and details on the events calendar.