SpongeBob SquarePants

SpongeBob SquarePants is the eponymous protagonist of The SpongeBob Musical. A kindhearted sea sponge living in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom, SpongeBob goes through every situation with a positive attitude. SpongeBob assembles the team of Patrick and Sandy shortly after learning that Mount Humongous threatens the livelihood of his friends and neighbors.

Act I
The show begins with SpongeBob’s alarm ringing and waking him up. He gets himself ready for the fantastic day ahead of him and feeds his pet snail Gary. He leaves his pineapple house and says good morning to his neighbors: his best friend Patrick Star and co-worker Squidward Tentacles. On SpongeBob’s walk to the Krusty Krab, he greets another one of his friends, Sandy Cheeks at her treedome. He and Sandy experience the first of many tremors here. SpongeBob continues walking to the Krusty Krab and greets everyone he encounters.

SpongeBob finally arrives at the Krusty Krab, where his boss Mr. Krabs has brought his whale daughter Pearl, telling her that she will become manager of the Krusty Krab some day. Pearl is disinterested, but SpongeBob expresses his dream of becoming manager to Mr. Krabs, but Mr. Krabs dismisses him on the grounds of being “just a simple sponge.”

Multiple tremors occur in Bikini Bottom, and the public is informed on Mt. Humongous potentially erupting. The people of Bikini Bottom fall into a panic, but SpongeBob remains hopefully in everything being ok. Sandy gives SpongeBob her calculations and predicts the volcano will erupt by sundown the next day. This causes SpongeBob to join Bikini Bottom in their collective panic.

SpongeBob immediately runs to Patrick’s house to calm him down by providing fun distractions and reiterating they are best friends. At The Mayor’s town meeting, Plankton begins convincing the town to leave Bikini Bottom for safety. SpongeBob rebuttals, and suggests they find a solution that would allow everyone to stay in their beloved home. Plankton muddles SpongeBob’s credibility by calling him a simple sponge and fry cook, and successfully convinces nearly everyone in town to support his plan.

SpongeBob stands firm in his belief that the town can be saved, but thinks back to Mr. Krabs calling him a simple sponge and wonders if there's anything he can do. He decides to make a team made up of himself, Patrick, and Sandy. Patrick is recruited with ease, but Sandy takes more convincing, due to the town ignoring her science and discriminating against her for being a land mammal. SpongeBob sympathizes with her and doesn’t object at her wish to leave, but makes it clear that she is crucial in stopping the volcano. Sandy comes up with an idea, and SpongeBob is able to convince her to join the team.

Not long after this, a cult of sardines comes and declares Patrick their Super Sea Star Savior. SpongeBob and Patrick have a falling out, and Patrick goes with the sardines. As nighttime begins, Sandy comforts SpongeBob and encourages him to keep hope.

Act II
SpongeBob wakes up the next morning and is reminded of the terrible reality he's in; a volcano is threatening the lives of everyone in Bikini Bottom, and his best friend abandoned him. Though SpongeBob is sad and scared, Gary pushes him to continue and SpongeBob tells Gary that he must be strong if he (SpongeBob) does not return.

Sandy and SpongeBob meet up. Sandy reveals the ingenious bubble device she’s made and named the Erupter Interrupter. The two march to the volcano. Once there, SpongeBob panics at the enormous size of Mt. Humongous, but climbs up with Sandy and pushes back his fears.

As SpongeBob and Sandy climb closer to the top, Plankton and Karen use the Avalanche Maker 300 to create a rock slide that makes SpongeBob lose balance and nearly fall off the volcano. Fortunately, Patrick flies up to save SpongeBob with Sandy’s jetpack. He apologizes for leaving the group, and the two rekindle their friendship. The trio reaches the top, and SpongeBob is the only one with a body type capable of dropping the Erupter Interrupter into the volcano. SpongeBob is initially doubtful, but Sandy and Patrick remind him that his optimism and persistence got the team here in the first place. After hearing this, he climbs and drops it in.

The trio looks down and sees that Bikini Bottom is in chaos and goes down quickly to stop it. SpongeBob calms everyone down and inspires everyone to spend their possible last few minutes alive enjoying each other’s company. As everyone braces themselves for the volcano, bubbles fly from the sky, confirming that Bikini Bottom is saved. Mr. Krabs reconsiders his thoughts on SpongeBob and says he may become manager of the Krusty Krab someday. SpongeBob suggests that the town have a concert and plays a ukulele during said concert.

Act I

 * “Bikini Bottom Day”
 * “Bikini Bottom Day (reprise)”
 * “No Control”
 * “BFF”
 * "When the Going Gets Tough"
 * "(Just a) Simple Sponge"
 * "Hero Is My Middle Name"
 * "Tomorrow Is”

Act 2

 * "Bikini Bottom Day" (reprise II)
 * “Chop to the Top”
 * “(I Guess I) Miss You”
 * "(Just a) Simple Sponge" (reprise)
 * “Best Day Ever”
 * “Bikini Bottom Day" (reprise III)
 * “SpongeBob SquarePants Theme Song”

Appearance
In the Chicago production, SpongeBob wears a yellow sweater vest over a white short-sleeved shirt, red necktie, flannel shorts, black sneakers, and almost knee-length socks with blue and red stripes. Slater also wears a messy yellow wig.

When the musical made the transition to Broadway, SpongeBob’s outfit was modified. He wears a yellow and white gingham shirt with suspenders, brown plaid pants, and black boots. His pants are cuffed to show his (shorter) socks and Slater bears a wig resembling his natural red hair. Compared to his original outfit, Chicago SpongeBob looks a lot more scruffy than the more squeaky-clean and boyish outfit look in the Broadway Musical.

Personality
SpongeBob’s guiding characteristics are his optimism, compassion, and enthusiasm. There isn’t a bad bone in his body and he always assumes the best in people. SpongeBob views the world through a very idealistic lens, not seeing the negative aspects of the world as clearly as most of Bikini Bottom’s citizens and looking at life with a ‘glass half full’ mentality. Though the citizens of Bikini Bottom often write off SpongeBob as a naive and ineffectual annoyance, SpongeBob proves himself to be a tenacious leader when Mt. Humongous threatens eruption. He assembles the team responsible for saving Bikini Bottom and binds it together with his kindness and personability.

SpongeBob is an optimist, but he isn’t blind to the negative feelings of others and tries his best to comfort them. He’s also very understanding, fully sympathizing with Sandy’s desire to leave Bikini Bottom after being blamed for the crisis. He immediately runs to Patrick’s house upon learning everyone needs to stay inside, knowing that his best friend would need his help calming down.

SpongeBob is a perfect blend of adult and child. On the one hand, he’s responsible, hardworking, and quick-witted, having his own home, taking care of a pet, and having a job. On the other, he’s very cheerful and goofy, enjoying activities such as blowing bubbles and eating ice cream.

Though a positive outlook is SpongeBob’s default outlook, he isn’t cheerful all the time, in fact being very vulnerable and sensitive. Early on in the musical, Mr. Krabs dismisses SpongeBob as a “simple sponge”, and spends the entire musical dealing with feelings of inadequacy because of it.

Voice
SpongeBob speaks in a high-pitched voice, filled with energy and happiness most of the time. He uses a more grounded and realistic tone during serious moments.

Interests

 * Eating Ice Cream: SpongeBob mentions during “(Just A) Simple Sponge” that one of his special talents is consuming large amounts of ice cream.

Skills

 * Cooking: The sole fry cook at the Krusty Krab, SpongeBob’s amazing cooking skills have made the restaurant into the most prosperous in Bikini Bottom.
 * Elasticity: SpongeBob’s genetic makeup allows him to stretch farther than most people in Bikini Bottom. At the beginning of the musical, SpongeBob stretches his arm out to grab his toothbrush. After the avalanche on Mt. Humongous, Sandy grabs SpongeBob’s hand to prevent him from falling, but his arm extends. This skill makes SpongeBob the only person in his team capable of dropping the Erupter Interrupter into Mt. Humongous.

Paraphernalia

 * The Erupter Interrupter: The Erupter Interrupter is a device made by Sandy to stop the volcano’s eruption. Although Sandy carries it for the majority of Act II, SpongeBob is the one who ultimately drops it into the volcano.
 * Ukulele: SpongeBob plays a ukulele during the concert at the end of the musical, leading out “Bikini Bottom Day (reprise III)”.

Patrick Star
Patrick is SpongeBob’s neighbor and best friend, the two care for each other very much and value the other’s advice and feelings. An entire song is dedicated to their friendship, aptly titled “BFF”. During this song, SpongeBob cheers Patrick up and the two revel in the fun friendship they have. Patrick is the first person SpongeBob recruits for his group, who gleefully joins.

Though SpongeBob and Patrick are good friends, they have a falling out later in the musical. Patrick doesn’t feel like he’s paid attention to, so once the Sardine Corps claim Patrick as their “Super Sea Star Savior”, he accepts immediately despite SpongeBob’s mission not being finished. Patrick asks SpongeBob not to ruin this moment for him, and the two have a falling out, and Patrick leaves.

During Act II, Patrick and SpongeBob sing about how much they miss each other. Patrick decides to leave his luxurious life as the sardines’s cult leader and use Sandy’s jetpack to catch up with SpongeBob and Sandy on Mt. Humongous, getting there just in time to catch SpongeBob before he falls. The two make up and rekindle their friendship.

Sandy Cheeks
After Patrick, Sandy is SpongeBob’s closest friend. They share a love for karate and inspire each other for the entirety of the musical. SpongeBob doesn’t always understand the big words she uses, but he has immense trust in her.

In the Television Special, Sandy is the only character who returns a greeting to SpongeBob after he greets her. During the town hall meeting, SpongeBob is the sole person standing with Sandy on her suggestions to use science against the volcano, though he didn’t understand what exactly her solution was.

SpongeBob chooses Sandy and Patrick for his team to stop the volcano. He finds her in Jellyfish Fields, upset over the discrimination she is facing. She expresses a desire to leave Bikini Bottom, and though Sandy is one of SpongeBob’s best friends, he completely understands her desire to leave and doesn’t object, but manages to convince Sandy into helping Bikini Bottom against the volcano.

When Patrick leaves SpongeBob’s team, the sponge is distraught, but Sandy is able to motivate him into continuing the mission. She does this again when the duo reaches Mt. Humongous. SpongeBob is frightened by the volcano’s size, but Sandy calms him down and pushes him to “chop to the top”.

Squidward Tentacles
Despite their ideological differences and the fact Squidward openly and regularly expresses disdain towards him, SpongeBob considers Squidward a close friend. Though Squidward is much more pessimistic and sees SpongeBob as a nuisance, SpongeBob respects his opinion and goes out of his way to have conversations with him.

Squidward is the first person SpongeBob talks to after learning that Mt. Humongous may erupt, believing that people shouldn’t be panicking. Squidward tells SpongeBob that the world is a terrible place, but SpongeBob spins his words in a more positive way. Later, SpongeBob goes to tell Squidward about his team once it's fully assembled as well as his plan. Squidward laughs and doubts the plan will succeed.

In Act II, SpongeBob and his team fly back down to Bikini Bottom to quench the fighting. During SpongeBob’s speech, Squidward attempts to interrupt him, but SpongeBob tells him to hush in a deep voice. Once SpongeBob is done, Squidward tells SpongeBob that the world is simply a terrible place, but SpongeBob tells him that he doesn’t believe that.

Once Bikini Bottom is saved, the town throws a concert. During it, Squidward sings “A sponge can be handy when you’re cleaning up spills”, showing that Squidward has some respect for his neighbor.

Sheldon J. Plankton
SpongeBob seems to consider Plankton an acquaintance and doesn’t notice his conniving and manipulative nature. SpongeBob objects to Plankton’s plan of evacuating Bikini Bottom with a giant escape pod but doesn’t hold anything against him when he disregards his opinion and essentially muddles his credibility. Plankton and Karen use the Avalanche Maker 300 to kill SpongeBob and Sandy on the volcano, unbeknownst to our two heroes. The villainous duo arrives at Bikini Bottom shortly after SpongeBob, Patrick, and Sandy. Plankton refers to SpongeBob and Sandy as “fools” and tells the town that they perished in the avalanche and must hurry into the escape pod. SpongeBob simply thanks him for worrying about them, being displeased with the conduct of everyone else in Bikini Bottom.

Eugene Krabs
Mr. Krabs is SpongeBob’s boss, who SpongeBob looks up to like a father. Mr. Krabs has a casually dismissive attitude towards SpongeBob and is the source of SpongeBob’s inner plight during the entire musical. When SpongeBob expresses a desire to become manager of the Krusty Krab one day, he says that he’s just a simple sponge and will only ever be a fry cook. He uses the phrase “simple sponge” again after the town hall meeting. Although SpongeBob has a high opinion of Mr. Krabs, SpongeBob calls him out for using the crisis to exploit people once he, Patrick, and Sandy return. At the end of the show, seeing how SpongeBob saved Bikini Bottom and kept it from chaos, Mr. Krabs reconsiders his previous ideas on him and says that he may become manager one day.

Gary the Snail
Gary is SpongeBob’s beloved pet snail. Gary can only meow, but SpongeBob always understands what he is saying. At the beginning of the show, he is sure to give breakfast to Gary. During the second reprise of “Bikini Bottom Day”, Gary aggressively meows and motivates SpongeBob to do his part in saving the town. Gary also provides SpongeBob with some tools. Before SpongeBob leaves, he tells Gary to be strong if he doesn’t come back and the two express their love for one another. At the end of the show, Gary leaves the pineapple house to see SpongeBob.

Trivia

 * The SpongeBob Musical specifies SpongeBob’s exact species of sea sponge as Aplysina fistularis.