Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...It's a zany ride, but "The SpongeBob Musical" is an uplifting show about never giving up, finding your inner strength and working together as a community for the greater good. Sure, it's geared toward kids, but not exclusively so. Given the Barbie mania that's currently sweeping across cinemas, adults are ready for some light summer fare, too - so if your Barbenheimer double bill ends on a note of existential dread, why not get a pick-me-up from this talented young cast?"
Chicago Sun Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...Unfortunately, the show conceived by Tina Landau and based on Stephen Hillenburg’s cartoon series clocks in at two-hours-plus, leaving Kokandy Productions and director J.D. Caudill with a bloated, garish musical that will play best to young children with exceptionally sturdy attention spans, It’s elevated by a cast that rises above the material, but Kokandy’s “SpongeBob” is also marred by occasionally sloppy production values and vexing directorial missteps."
Chicago Reader - Recommended
"...The SpongeBob Musical had its pre-Broadway run here in 2016. I missed that, but I can't imagine it was any more delightful than what Kokandy Productions has concocted in the basement at the Chopin. Stephen Hillenburg's Nickelodeon series about the plucky and absorbent title character inspired this toe-tapping, whimsical explosion featuring songs by a murderers' row of artists, including David Bowie and Brian Eno, Cyndi Lauper, Panic! at the Disco, and (in a delightful send-up of themselves as personified by "the Electric Skates"), Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, who contributed "Bikini Bottom Boogie.""
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...Although the script could've used a bit of trimming (the climax seems absurdly long and drawn out), this is a gorgeous, happy, family-oriented musical that's a lot of fun for everyone. It's an eye-popping spectacle of color and creativity, populated with endearing, effervescent characters, all portrayed by a large, talented cast of triple threats. The message is positive and the show sports some delightful and catchy songs, like "Bikini Bottom Day," "BFF," "Poor Pirates" and the show's ear-worm, "Best Day Ever." Kudos to JD Caudill and their magnificent cast and crew for taking Chicago audiences deep down under the sea to cool off this Summer with this mind-blowing, magical musical."
Chicagoland Musical Theatre - Recommended
"...A common thread to the criticism surrounding the musical based on the cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants is that you are either already on board with these characters or you’re left adrift. It’s certainly valid, but it was never going to be an issue for me when I first saw its long-ago Chicago tryout. Like any kid would be for an aggressively promoted new cartoon circa 2000, I was there from the jump. And, nearly twenty-five years out, even the Squidward-iest among us would be hard-pressed to say SpongeBob didn’t live up to its promise and then some."
Chicago On Stage - Highly Recommended
"...Caudill’s lively direction and Schoppe’s inventive and playful choreography make for a show that will keep audiences energized, engaged, and smiling from the preshow featuring David Lipshutz as a SpongeBob-infatuated pirate named Patchy through to the ending, when on opening night a young girl was spontaneously (?) pulled from the audience to join the cast in its final bows."
PicksInSix - Recommended
"...Waves of gleeful Hawaiian melodies welcomed the patrons into the Chopin Theatre's basement black box for Kokandy's 2023 Season kickoff production of Nickelodeon's "The SpongeBob Musical." Bathed in buckets of coral, curtains of kelp and barnacled pillars, the audience floated into the bubble-filled venue, while a cartoon montage of the most recognizable SpongeBob characters dashed across shower curtain screens. Submerged in this experiential environment, the venue was brimming with excitement for the underwater opening night adventure to come."
