Review: THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL, Birmingham Hippodrome - Tour
Photo credit: Mark Senior
Last night, we headed down to Bikini Bottom in Birmingham to watch The SpongeBob Musical.
In the show, we follow the story of our hero SpongeBob SquarePants (Lewis Cornay) who “lives in a pineapple under the sea” in Bikini Bottom, and other members of the community including best friend Patrick the starfish (Irfan Damani) and outsider scientist, Sandy the squirrel (Chrissie Bhima).
When a cataclysmic event threatens to wipe out the town, SpongeBob has no choice but to step up and and try to save the city.
Boasting a score written by a plethora of rock and pop stars, the songs in SpongeBob, whilst catchy and entertaining overall, lack cohesion, which meant we struggled to feel any connection or investment in the numbers. The story is fun, and there are plenty of bright costumes and silly moments but it lacked any depth so even when the stakes were meant to be at their highest, it didn’t really hit home.
The most enjoyable thing about this show was getting to watch the super talented cast play a range of whacky and rememberable characters.
Cornay is a stellar SpongeBob and is extremely watchable throughout, showcasing his comedy and vocal talents ‘(Just A) Simple Sponge’ was a particular highlight in the show, including some mesmerising glow in the dark sponge choreography.
Bhima is another standout as Sandy. Her vocals are absolutely stunning and she is thoroughly engaging throughout. Damani also played the lethargic loveable Patrick to perfection.
We would of loved to have seen more of icon Divina De Campo who is a highly entertaining Plankton but the character feels like a bit of a side thought from the writers and deserves a bit more of a better through-line. Stage regular Gareth Gates is an amusing Squidward and has a cracking solo in the second act (‘I’m not a Loser) but once again, we would have loved to see more of him.
We also found there was a constant “low budget” humour used throughout the piece, which can work really well with some shows, but we found it jarred slightly with this.
For us, SpongeBob felt like a show for kids and not a show for the whole family.
Sunny, funny, but not quite on the money.
** Two stars
Reviewed by: James Edge
The Spongebob Musical plays at Birmingham Hippodrome until 15 April and continues touring until September. To book tickets for select touring venues, please click here.
