SpongeBob hero to rise up in Firestone production of under-the-sea musical

Firestone Community Learning Center's cast of "The SpongeBob Musical" is having a great time "under the sea," rehearsing for next week's production of the show based on the Nickelodeon cartoon.

The 34-member cast is pulling out the comical stops as they bring to life this story about the quirky aquatic denizens of Bikini Bottom. The town citizens become panicked after learning that Mount Humongous will soon erupt and destroy their home.

Can SpongeBob SquarePants, played by junior Kyle McFalls, save the day? Or will someone with an evil scheme prevail?

In this show, amid a bevy of colorful sea creatures, you've got the leggy, tap-dancing Squidward (senior Stanley Niekamp), the science-minded squirrel Sandy Cheeks (senior India Wray), and cultist sardines in light pink dresses.

The story, of course, is full of colorful quirkiness. For instance, when villains Plankton (Kingston McNary) and his waterproof supercomputer wife Karen (Roxy Nichols) cause an avalanche, it's represented by colorful beach balls of different sizes rolling onstage.

Amid all the tongue-in-cheek humor, Mr. Krabs (Andy Rambler) accuses Plankton of having something up his sleeve, to which Plankton retorts, "I'm a one-celled organism. I don't even have sleeves!"

Fun time at Firestone's 'SpongeBob' rehearsal

At rehearsal last week, Fairlawn resident Wray, 18, said she loves playing the intelligent Sandy Cheeks, who invents an "eruptor interrupter" device to try to quell the volcano.

"She sets an example for little girls: It's okay to be involved in science and math and be knowledgeable, no matter what. Because at the end of the day, you are doing something strong," she said.

Wray was having such a fun time at an after-school rehearsal Feb. 29, at one point during a number, she laughed until she cried.

Senior Rylee Horowitz's cranky character Old Man Jenkins is the one who makes Wray's Sandy Cheeks a "scapesquirrel" by blaming the impending volcanic eruption on her, a land mammal who wears a spacesuit to breathe underwater.

"He's also just very funny," Horowitz said of her geriatric character. "There are a lot of bits where he, like, can't hear what's happening."

The musical score has original songs by 14 different artists, including Sara Bareilles, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend and David Bowie. The show's music styles include pop, rap, gospel, country and jazz.

Senior leaders in Firestone theater program

Both Wray and Horowitz, performing in their final high school musical, are theater students in Firestone's Akron School for the Arts. They said things have come a long way since they were freshmen and could do only online plays during the pandemic. They didn't get the chance to jump into live high school theater until they were sophomores.

The theater program also didn't have a resident technical director during their junior year, so theater students stepped up to the plate.

"With that obstacle in front of us, it really gave us the chance to get hands on more than we would have thought we would have," Wray said, adding that last year, "without the technical director, the heart of the show fell into the students' hands, so we had to make the props during class."

Wray, who was a cheerleader her sophomore and junior years, stepped down from cheering as a senior to become more involved in Firestone's shows. This year, in addition to "SpongeBob," she did the staged reading of Eric Mansfield's "Trial by Fire," "The Fairest," and "Alicia from the Real in Wonderland" in the fall. This year, she's also been a Firestone Theatre ambassador to prospective students both in eighth grade and for freshmen choosing College & Career academies.

Akron resident Horowitz, 17, has stepped up with Niekamp to run physical and vocal warmups at "SpongeBob" musical rehearsals.

"The purpose of those warmups is to get people in the mood for rehearsal and ready to work and get people just excited," said Horowitz, who is Firestone's thespian troupe president. "I think we did a pretty good job of that as well as encouraging the younger students to be there and be participating."

The theater program's new technical director is Sam Stone. A big part of her job is teaching all theater students technical skills in the scene shop to help them become well-rounded theater artists.

Both Horowitz and Wray plan to continue theater after graduation; Horowitz will be committing soon to a university to study theater, and Wray plans to get involved with shows at Ohio University, where she'll study sociology.

Horowitz dove back into theater as soon as she could sophomore year, including stage managing the first musical back, "Sunday in the Park with George," and performing in the comedy "On the Verge." This year, she played Renfield in the school's production of "Dracula."

"Those experiences really fostered my love for theater even more because it's such a close community," said Horowitz, who started doing theater when she was a kindergartener at the Lippman School.

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

Details

Musical: "The SpongeBob Musical"

Where: Firestone Theatre, 470 Castle Blvd., Akron

When: Opening 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 14, continuing 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday

Cost: $10-$17

Information: Akron.Booktix.com or 330-761-3275

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Can SpongeBob save the day? Check out Firestone musical next week