Review of The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage!

I've been following this show since Chicago and seeing it on television felt like it brought closure to a long journey. I saw on Twitter that a lot of people said it was disrespecting Hillenburg by being released after his death, so I wanna make it clear that this show was greenlit by him and Nickelodeon years before his death, and I believe the filming rights were as well. TV seemed like a natural progression - Nick gonna cash grab, especially since SpongeBob is nearing the end of its 20-year-run. The magic they preserved here made it stand out to me in a way unlike other proshots (i.e. Shrek, Newsies, She Loves Me). Yes, it's a corporate cash grab, but knowing the love and care that Tina and the cast put into this show for years made it a cash grab worth my watch. Ethan's at the forefront of this, and he's having a ball. Everyone is! Big highlights for me were Ethan and Wes, but everyone put their heart and soul into this and it shows. At the end of the day, of course it's gonna suffer a little. Some of the problems have plagued the show from the start, like the mix of talent providing songs in pre-production holding the show back from ever evolving past needing those songs and leading songs like Daddy Knows Best and Chop to the Top feeling more like cabaret numbers than integral to the story. Others are new things that didn't translate from the stage, like the lack of the bicycle Rube Goldberg machine that was a really nice touch to the "boulder" scenes. But in the end, do I care? No! I'm so, so, so happy that this show finally got the taping it deserves (and happy that I won't be stuck watching shaky bootlegs forever). As everybody moves on with their careers (go watch Indoor Boys season 3!!), I'm grateful that this milestone was immortalized for us to keep watching.