‘The SpongeBob Musical’ is playing at the Churchill Theatre and the Allegro cast is ready to share a fun-fuelled two-hour extravaganza with Edinburgh. With songs written by titans of the music industry and the reputation and popularity of the show and movies creating a buzz already, Allegro is sure to make a bang this Bonfire Night. SpongeBob finds his home of Bikini Bottom under threat of destruction when a nearby volcano is about to erupt. With the help of his friends, he must find a way to save his home while the powers that be fail to do anything useful and the villainous Plankton crafts schemes among the chaos.
Joe Purcell is fantastic as SpongeBob. He portrays never-failing energy and ineffable optimism that completely fit the characters of our lead Sponge. His vocals are excellent and are very impressive at times. Purcell is a constant figure throughout and carries the cast with each giant, leaping step. Stuart Williamson as Patrick, brings a believable dopeyness to the five-pointed figure that is charming. He has a stage presence that makes the audience watch him and one that elevates his co-stars. However, it feels Williamson lacks energy occasionally. This could be a character choice for Patrick as he is a bit slow, but it gets slightly overshadowed by the high-octane energy levels on stage.
Coast Kinloch shines as Sandy Cheeks. She demonstrates excellent singing and on-stage presence, all whilst maintaining a challenging accent. Kinloch packs her performance with energy and charisma that can’t help but infect the audience. Harrison Owens is brilliant as the ever-miserable Squidward. This could be an easy role to be boring or one-dimensional but Owens finds the peaks and valleys constantly, always making Squidward’s appearances appealing and using physical comedy expertly.
Russell Coid is exquisite as Mr Krabs. Coid oozes confidence and ignorance in his portrayal, always finding a laugh while giving an impressive vocal and physical performance. Considering Coid is hindered with clumsy boxing gloves, he still manages to portray a greedy shop owner who has ignored family and friend a like to get a buck. He makes Mt Krabs likeable even tho he is arguably despicable. Rosie Sugrue plays Pearl Krabs. She puts on display some immense vocals while aptly giving a daughter unhappy with her ignorant father and dreaming of running away as a singer.
Ronnie Noble and Anna Spencer are both fantastic as Plankton and Karen The Computer respectively. Both are hilarious almost every second they are on stage. They clearly have excellent chemistry and have a real grasp of their characters. Noble utilises an expert understanding of physical comedy through his OTT performance and Spencer gives a more straight-edged portrayal while still making sides ache.
The band are excellent here and musical director Louisa Everett does a great job conducting. Getting involved in the action with the odd Pirate hat and also being literally handed props from on stage gives an inclusive feel to the music. The Ensemble bring a brilliant energy and life to the production, with incredible dance displays and clear characters, they elevate their principals and shine of their own accord too.
The direction from Dominic Lewis and Felicity Halfpenny is great. The overall silly feel and SpongeBob-ness of the show is apparent. Creative decisions are made to bypass extremely technical things for some incredibly funny moments. The cast, including the ensemble, feel very prepared and aware of each of the respective characters. The UV scene during ‘Simple Sponge’ delivers the visuals you would expect from a Broadway production. The special effects and quirks that come with this production have been integrated well.
George Cort’s lighting design is great and incredibly impactful, lifting the energy of musical numbers and scenes. The back video wall, supplied by the brilliant MM Sound and Lighting helps fill out the sometimes empty scenes and is a super effective way to help tell the story on stage, especially with the interactive animation.
In terms of music, this production has a lot thrown at it with a score created by a band of A-list of music icons. The band sounds tremendous and performers give their all to do these gigantic numbers justice. However, the one prominent issue with this production is through no fault of Allegro, and is rather the mix of the sound from Ian Cunningham. There were far too many microphone cues being missed with dialogue and during the musical numbers themselves, meaning that despite the energy and effort being there from the performers, they weren’t supported technically. Also, the balance seemed off at points, meaning some band elements were way louder than others; on the off occasion, only the drums could be heard. This is something that can be easily fixed that would ensure a sharper show, therefore hopefully the sound controller will rectify these issues as the week goes on.
Overall, ‘The SpongeBob Musical’ is a huge success and something that everyone at Allegro should be extremely proud of. This is one to catch this week, not just as it’s immeasurably fun, but also so all the hard work of the cast and everyone involved doesn’t go to waste.
Get your tickets here – https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/allegroscio
Theatre Scotland 
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