Title : He Knows Bikini Bottom. Now He Gets to Swim There | SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical
link : He Knows Bikini Bottom. Now He Gets to Swim There | SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical
He Knows Bikini Bottom. Now He Gets to Swim There | SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical
He Knows Bikini Bottom. Now He Gets to Swim There.
Ethan Slater, pictured here in his Brooklyn neighborhood, said physical comedians had influenced his performance as the title character in “SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical.” Credit Amy Lombard for The New York Times
When Ethan Slater wasn’t cast in Arabian Nights his freshman year at Georgetown Day School in Washington, he decided to try something he’d never done — wrestling. Not only did he take quickly to the sport, ending up on the varsity team, but it also helped prepare him for the high-energy stage role that’s come to define his last two years, and could keep him employed for several more: the ever cheerful SpongeBob SquarePants.
“The sort of stereotypical wrestling practice is that you’re doing burpees, and the coach is yelling at you to keep going, and you feel like you’re going to collapse, but you somehow make it through to the end,” Mr. Slater, 25, told The New York Times whilst in his dressing room at the Palace Theater, where he is making his Broadway debut as the star of SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical.
“I didn’t think I was going to be able to sing this song eight shows a week, or learn these weird lines, or to climb an 18-foot ladder wall upside-down while singing,’’ he explained. “Those things sound impossible, but if you work on it, you can make it happen.”
Surrounded by SpongeBob memorabilia and his costumes for the show, Mr. Slater radiated optimism, very much like SpongeBob himself, which may be why he immediately caught the eye of Tina Landau, the show’s director, and top executives at Nickelodeon. His red hair, slightly nasal voice and the small gap between his two front teeth surely didn’t hurt, either.
But perhaps he was fated for the role from the start.
In 2012, Mr. Slater was a sophomore at Vassar College, and had been acting in plays and musicals since childhood. He had just started dating the woman who would become his fiancée. He insists that he was holding a SpongeBob plush doll and staring right at a SpongeBob poster in his friend’s dorm room when his phone rang.
A casting director asked Mr. Slater if he would like to try out for what was then called The Untitled Tina Landau Project. Mr. Slater had caught his eye auditioning for another gig: an apprenticeship with the composer Stew, who was writing music for a production of Romeo and Juliet that the casting director was helping to put together.
When Mr. Slater looked at the pages of the script — the characters were named Bubble Bert and Bumbling Bub — he realized that the lines were from the early SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Dying for Pie", in which the title character eats a pie that Squidward, his grumpy octopus neighbor, thinks is a bomb.
Mr. Slater playing SpongeBob at the Palace Theater, where the show is now in previews. Credit Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
“By the end of that very first workshop, I couldn’t conceive of doing the show without him,” Ms. Landau said in an interview. “It was so clear that he possesses some essential qualities that SpongeBob possesses.”
[How Nickelodeon set its sights on Broadway]
Mr. Slater’s SpongeBob isn’t encased in some kind of oversize sponge costume (an aesthetic choice by Ms. Landau), so he has to work extra hard to capture the character’s persona onstage. He nails SpongeBob’s cackle and crouched walk, not to mention his relentless, wide-eyed cheer.
“He sounds more like him than he did at the beginning,” said Cyma Zarghami, the president of Nickelodeon. “It’s a little freaky now.”
He is not much different offstage, though he speaks more softly and leaves the cackle for paying audiences. Physically, he is muscular but not tall — ideally built to thoroughly inhabit a sponge whose physical antics are an essential part of its charm.
He began ticking off names: “Buster Keaton. Charlie Chaplin. Laurel and Hardy. Abbott and Costello. All of those comedians really informed the cartoon and they’ve really informed the Broadway musical.”
As the show went through a lengthy development process, Mr. Slater took on other roles, in a 2015 web series called Redheads Anonymous and in the 2016 Off Broadway musical comedy Baghdaddy.
But everything changed when the $20 million project finally had its premiere, in Chicago, and then announced its move to Broadway, where it is now in previews.
Mr. Slater said he never consulted with Tom Kenny, the voice of the cartoon SpongeBob, as he developed his character. They did meet when Mr. Kenny saw the show in Chicago. Great SpongeBobs think alike, as they both happened to show up to a party wearing very similar outfits.
After offering praise, Mr. Kenny had one piece of advice for his theatrical counterpart.
“‘Never wear yellow,’” Mr. Slater said with a laugh.
Click here to watch a spongeriffic video of Ethan Slater singing "Just A Simple Sponge" from SpongeBob SquarePants, The Broadway Musical!
To purchase tickets the SpongeBob SquarePants Broadway musical, visit SpongeBobBroadway.com, Ticketmaster.com or call 877-250-2929.
Full information about the The SpongeBob Musical can be found on the productions official website, thespongebobmusical.com! #SpongeBobBway.
SpongeBob SquarePants - The New Musical Original Cast Recording is available to listen to and purchase today at http://ift.tt/2wgFpiy.
Online / Social Media
Website: SpongeBobBroadway.com
Facebook: http://ift.tt/2v8FbpM
Twitter: @SpongeBobBway
Instagram: #spongebobbway
YouTube: http://youtube.com/spongebobbroadway
More Nick: Are You Ready Kids? SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS Musical Begins Broadway Previews; New Block Of Tickets Available!
Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon and SpongeBob SquarePants - The New Musical News and Highlights!
Thus Article He Knows Bikini Bottom. Now He Gets to Swim There | SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical
That's an article He Knows Bikini Bottom. Now He Gets to Swim There | SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical This time, hopefully can give benefits to all of you. well, see you in posting other articles.
You are now reading the article He Knows Bikini Bottom. Now He Gets to Swim There | SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical with the link address https://capitalstories.blogspot.com/2017/11/he-knows-bikini-bottom-now-he-gets-to.html
0 Response to "He Knows Bikini Bottom. Now He Gets to Swim There | SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical"
Post a Comment