Breaking: Ethan Slater, Gavin Lee & More Will Reunite to Film SPONGEBOB for Nickelodeon

Following a critically lauded run on Broadway, members of the original award-winning Broadway company of The SpongeBob Musical: Live On Stage! will reunite to film the show for television in front of a live theater audience. The live television production will capture all-new depths of theatrical innovation where the power of optimism really can save the world. The SpongeBob Musical: Live On Stage! will air on Nickelodeon this December.

Rob Bagshaw, Executive Vice President of Nickelodeon Live Action Unscripted and Live Events, said: "What better way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS than to bring this wildly imaginative Broadway musical to Nickelodeon for a wider audience. We could not be more excited that fans and families of all ages will now have the opportunity to experience live actors portraying these beloved characters in a whole new way with The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage!"

Tina Landau said: "I'm so thrilled to be able to revisit the show in a new light and with our original cast members. The whole creative and I are excited to go back into the world of Bikini Bottom and discover its new life in TV broadcast form. But above all, I'm deeply grateful for the opportunity to share the joy and spirit of our show with a wider audience. That's what matters most to me - the joy."

The SpongeBob Musical: Live On Stage! cast will include Ethan Slater as SpongeBob SquarePants, Gavin Lee as Squidward Q. Tentacles, Danny Skinner as Patrick Star, Brian Ray Norris as Eugene Krabs, Wesley Taylor as Sheldon Plankton, and Christina Sajous as Sandy Cheeks. The ensemble will include Kyle Matthew Hamilton, Katie Lee Hill, Curtis Holbrook, L'ogan J'ones, Jai'len Josey, Kelvin Moon Loh, Lauralyn Mcclelland, Vasthy Mompoint, Bryonha Parham, Oneika Phillips, Jon Rua, JC Schuster, Abby C. Smith, Robert Taylor Jr., Allan Washington.

Adapted from the beloved Nickelodeon series, the Broadway musical was hailed by The New York Times as "brilliant" and "effervescent candy-for-the-spirit" by New York Magazine. This new musical earned its place on 2017's "Best of Broadway" lists including Broadway.com, BuzzFeed, Chicago Tribune, The Daily Beast, Deadline, ET Online, Forbes, Time Out New York and Variety.

Named Best Musical by the Drama Desk Awards and Outer Critics Circle and earned 12 Tony Award nominations - the most nominated musical of the 2017-2018 theatre season - winning for Best Scenic Design of a Musical (David Zinn).

Acclaimed Steppenwolf director Tina Landau and the groundbreaking designers behind Fun Home, Hedwig, and Spring Awakening have brilliantly reimagined Bikini Bottom for the Broadway stage, on tour and now for television, bringing the spirit of SpongeBob to life with humanity, heart, and pure theatricality. With an original score from some of the biggest names in Pop and rock, The SpongeBob Musical: Live On Stage! explodes with energy.

Stakes are higher than ever before as SpongeBob and all of Bikini Bottom face the total annihilation of their undersea world. Chaos erupts. Lives hang in the balance. And just when all hope seems lost, a most unexpected hero rises up and takes center stage.

The SpongeBob Musical: Live On Stage! is a musical production conceived and directed for the stage by Tina Landau, book by Kyle Jarrow, orchestrations, arrangements & music supervision by Tom Kitt, with choreography by Christopher Gattelli, produced for television by Austin Shaw with television direction by Glenn Weiss. Nickelodeon's Vice Presidents Paul J Medford and Susan Vargo serve as Executive Producers, alongside Senior Vice President of Music & Talent Doug Cohn and is executive produced and overseen by Executive Vice President of Unscripted and Live Events Rob Bagshaw.

This one-of-a-kind television musical event features original songs by Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, The Flaming Lips, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, Panic! At The Disco, Plain White T's, They Might Be Giants and T.I. (Clifford Harris, Jr.) Domani Harris and Darwin Quinn and a song by David Bowie and by Tom Kenny and Andy Paley. Additional lyrics by Jonathan Coulton. Additional music by Tom Kitt.

The design team includes scenic and costume design by David Zinn, lighting design by Kevin Adams, projection design by Peter Nigrini, sound design by Walter Trarbach, hair and wig design by Charles G. LaPointe and casting by Telsey + Company/Patrick Goodwin, CSA.

The Original Cast Recording is available now from Masterworks Broadway wherever music is sold and streamed.

The SpongeBob Musical is now on tour across North America.

Airdate, additional programming plus further casting will be announced at a later date.

Since its launch July 17, 1999, SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS has reigned as the number-one kids' animated series on TV for the last 17 years, while generating a universe of beloved characters, Pop culture catchphrases and memes, theatrical releases, consumer products, a Tony award-winning Broadway musical and a global fan base. SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS is the most widely distributed property in Viacom International Media Networks history, seen in more than 208 countries and territories, translated in 55+ languages, and averaging more than 100 million total viewers every quarter. SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS is created by Stephen Hillenburg and produced by Nickelodeon in Burbank, Calif. The character-driven cartoon chronicles the nautical and sometimes nonsensical adventures of SpongeBob, an incurably optimist and earnest sea sponge, and his undersea friends.