Grand Rapids Civic Theater - Spongebob the Musical

Grand Rapids Civic Theater - Spongebob the Musical

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is Talk of the Town onnews radio WOULD thirteen hundred and one oh
six nine FM. Steve Kelly andBrett Pikita from West Michigan's Morning News here
once again with our friends from theGrand Rapids Civic Theater GRCT dot org as
SpongeBob Thumb Musical is under Oh yeah, I love that show. You know
they call up the electronic babysitter whenyour kids find a show they want to

(00:22):
watch. I was right there withthem. Nadia, Let's start with you.
Nadia Skidmore is the director of marketingand Communications. Did you think you'd
find yourself in a role where you'dbe supporting SpongeBob finally becoming a musical?
You know, absolutely not, Butgoodness, am I ever glad to be
here. And it is a moredelightful and perfect and relevant musical than what

(00:48):
I ever could have imagined. AndI'm so glad that we get to open
our season this way. I wasgoing to say congratulations on that a new
season begins for you. And thisis also the community premier of SpongeBob the
Musical in the West Michigan Rand Rapidsarea. And tell people, you know,
your first reaction if you don't know, is that okay? You know?
Yeah, it was a funny cartoonshow, all this stuff. This
thing brought home a ton of nominationsat the Tony Awards when it came out.

(01:12):
Right, absolutely did it, Absolutelydid, and so kind of in
a way that we think, youknow, back to the nineties and early
two thousands, it's like, ohmy gosh, they're making The Lion King
into a musical, The Little Howhow do we do that? Well,
like this right where we take,you know, these very well known iconic
characters that so many people grew upwith or watch their children grew up grow

(01:36):
up with, and bringing such humanityand all of these real life touch points
to these characters and to these storylinesand allow it to unfold right before your
eyes in this really beautiful, touchingand entertaining way. And it's just it's
delightful. And I did get tosee it in New York actually on Broadway,
and I had the best time.Grct dot org for a ticket information.

(01:57):
Herrick Hand is the assistant director andis here as well. So Eric
talked to us a little bit aboutthat adaptation. If we're used to watching
SpongeBob, how does it play asa musical, and is it, you
know, still generally the same audience, you know, I think it's a
universal audience, right, There's likepeople like me who grew up as a
teenager loving it and being obsessed withit. But it also reaches to kids,

(02:20):
you know, there's a lot offamily friendly elements to it. And
it's it's interesting because it's you know, taking that cartoon and making it real
but very stylized. Has been aunique challenge for sure. I was impressed
too that the music that's involved andwho's involved behind that music. I mean
Aerosmith, I mean these guys.It's awesome. The list of people that
are involved at Panic at the Disco, I mean, they're all kinds of

(02:42):
different ranges. Yep. David Bowieas well. It's it which provides its
own fun problems to tackle as aproduction team, where you're coming in with
all these different aesthetic influences. Right, Normally, you would have one or
two people that write the music fora musical and and you can nail in
on tempo and rhythm that they haveunique through lines through. But for this
one, it's all different kinds ofgenres and tempos and it's yeah, it's

(03:06):
been a lot, but I thinkpeople are gonna love it, notwithstanding the
challenge of working under water. Youhave to I'm sorry you were going to
add I was, I was,and then I saw your face and that
was really joyful. So, youknow, along the lines of those like
multiple genre things, you know,get to overhearing some of the conversations that
happened throughout the halls of the theateror before and after rehearsal, and I

(03:30):
remember hearing something that was like,okay, so we're going to need some
helis for the electric skates, butthen for this other number, I want
to make sure that there are cowboyboots and that there are tiny scrolls with
cowboy hats. And it's like,oh yeah, yeah, So clearly we're
talking about SpongeBob Q exactly. ZachAvery is here making his debut, right,
this is your first role. Whenyou get an Academy Award later,

(03:51):
there's gonna be reference to this.I'll always remember my time as SpongeBob with
Civic Theater. Yes, correct,So talk to us a little bit about
this big leap into a crowd ofpeople waiting to be entertained. How exciting
are you to play SpongeBob. Well, I can't imagine a better show to
make my main stage debut with GrenarPacific Theater. It's one of my most
favorite characters from one of my mostfavorite cartoons. I grew up with the

(04:15):
show, so to know that it'sa wonderful musical that I get to be
a part of is a dream cometrue. And yeah, it's just a
really fun time that people who arefans young and old can find something in
the show that they're going to reallylove. And yeah, it's it's just
it's a really fun time. Youcan't see it, but what it contained
just smile. We're seeing right now, just talking about not only that,

(04:36):
but he's got the voice. Somebodysounds like SpongeBob right here on the radio
and he's not even in character.Thank you, I appreciate you do.
And now tell us the backstory,because it's kind of cool. You're more
than just a fan, you're kindof like a super fan a little bit
because you had what your bedroom wastheme SpongeBob. It was, Yes,
yes, there's some there's some lockedaway photos of a huge SpongeBob posters and

(04:58):
bedspread and a big TV. Soyeah, I'm I'm a bit of a
super fan, so yeah, adream come true to be my most favorite
character on stage, and I feellike I bring something to it that is
part me and then also also partof what I really loved about the show
and then the character. Okay,when your parents found out, were they
ecstatic or were they like, ohmy gosh, it's SpongeBob there. They

(05:21):
were so happy, just like you, Steve. I mean they My mom
loves the show just as much asI do, so when they found out,
they were just as excited as Iwas. I don't know if you've
been you sporting events, right,even at the college level, when they
play that crazy music in between totry to play kate the crowd, right,

(05:43):
the SpongeBob theme comes on. Theydo that at Whitecaps games and the
crowd goes crazy. Still when younot even let me ask you this,
when you saw this in New York, what's the response that you see from
the crowd and what can we expectwith the civic theme, It's just so
joyful and immersive, right, Likeit's just you become a part of this
undersea world. And what I lovetelling people is that it doesn't matter if

(06:06):
you grew up with SpongeBob. Iwas somebody who I was kind of the
generation in between. So I wasnot a parent of kids who watched SpongeBob,
nor was I one of the kidswho watched SpongeBob. And so I
went into the show pretty blindly.I mean, I just feel like just
due to like pop culture exposure,Like I was familiar with the main characters
of the show. I understood whereBikini Bottom was and what it was,

(06:29):
and so like I knew that,but I had never watched a full episode
of the show. When I satdown in the audience in New York,
and it was just the most joyful, energetic experience. And what I loved
so much about it is that ithas these really great themes about community connection
and relationships along with all these otherlike little subplots and little sub themes throughout,

(06:54):
and it's just undeniably special. Igot a question for Zach I want
to ask you as you go throughthis, because you have a certain thought
process. Obviously he's a super fanof what SpongeBob should be, so that
helps you with your character, Buthow does it help you with the rest
of the cast? I mean,are they nailing squid Word? Are they
nailing Patrick in your mind? Becauseas you know, there's that pressure of

(07:16):
that's what the audience knows already predetermined, so you have to try to live
up to that absolutely, just likeEric said earlier. And no one's acting
over the top in a way thatfeels disingenuine. But for people who are
familiar with the characters, you're gonnasee iconic features and in the dynamics between
the characters really played out really well. So squid Word really doesn't like SpongeBob

(07:39):
all that much. Mister Krabs isvery selfish and controlling. It's all those
sort of dynamics that I really lovedwatching as a kid, and they're played
out on stage just the same way, and it's it's just as funny as
it was back then. How technical, let's bring Eric back in. How
technical is it? How many marksto hit songs? Lights? Is it

(08:01):
going to be crazy? Is afan to take it all in? Yes?
Yeah, I don't want to usethe word overwhelmingly technical, but it
has been. The production meetings havebeen long and intense and a lot of
different discussions. There's you know,hundreds and hundreds of different props, that

(08:22):
we're bringing on stage, multiple fullstage set pieces. We actually have a
live fully artist on with us who'smaking the sounds like the little SpongeBob squish
squish as he's walking and things likethat, and so yeah, there's a
lot of myriad different elements to pullin and come together. But you know,
we're ready to take a tackle thatchallenge. Is it tough for you

(08:43):
on the production side, because likeNadia said, there's gonna be people in
the audience that maybe have seen thisat Broadway or another. I mean to
live up to that right absolutely.It's it's it's it is tough, and
it will be. You know,it's been a month long, intense challenge
to make sure that everything is comingcrossing, playing correctly and bringing that authenticity
both to the cartoon version into whatwe're trying to bring here on stage as

(09:05):
well. That's awesome. I'm afraidwe're out of time, but I would
like to thank Brand Rapid's Civic Theaterfor engaging Brett the most you ever had
when we did something about Shakespeare.I had to wake him up. I
did. I just shake Brett.I've never seen him as fired up as
he has about this show. I'mamazed, like Nadia said, when you
see these things like Lion King andstuff come to life. I mean,

(09:26):
it's it's so difficult. It'd belike doing like Star Wars on the stage
and the fact of there's already thatpredetermination and it's animation. Now you're bringing
it to life on top of that. Grct dot org for ticket information.
Eric hand Zach Avery Naughtia Skidmore.Thank you so much for coming in.
Thank you very much, Thank youvery much. This is Talk of the
Town on news Radio with thirteen hundredand one oh six nine FM.