Ethan Slater, Lilli Cooper & More Will Lead THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL in Chicago!

The SpongeBob Musical just announced casting for the Chicago engagement. Ethan Slater will make his Chicago debut in the role of the iconic SpongeBob Squarepants and Lilli Cooper will play SpongeBob's close friend Sandy Cheeks. The cast will also feature Gaelen Gilliland, Curtis Holbrook, Stephanie Hsu, L'ogan J'ones, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Mark Ledbetter, Kelvin Moon Loh, Vasthy Mompoint, JC Schuster, Abby C. Smith, Jason Michael Snow.

Additional casting will be announced shortly.

The SpongeBob Musical will begin performances on Tuesday, June 7th at Broadway in Chicago's Oriental Theatre (24 West Randolph Street, Chicago, IL). This is a limited engagement through Sunday, July 3, 2016.

The SpongeBob Musical is co-conceived and directed by Tina Landau with choreography by Christopher Gattelli, book by Kyle Jarrow, music supervision by Tom Kitt.

Landau told EW.com that the show's plot will not be taken from the television series. In the musical, "the citizens have just learned that a nearby volcano named Mount Humongous will erupt at sundown the next day. Amid the antics and fantasies of the community over the ensuing 24 hours, SpongeBob takes it upon himself to save the day and rescue his city from certain destruction."

The SpongeBob Musical will be a one-of-a-kind musical event with original songs by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of AEROSMITH, Jonathan Coulton, Dirty Projectors, The Flaming Lips, John Legend, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper, Panic! At the Disco, Plain White T's, They Might Be Giants and T.I., and a song by David Bowie with additional lyrics by Jonathan Coulton.

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 and casting by Telsey + Company/Patrick Goodwin, CSA.

The SpongeBob Musical will be produced by Nickelodeon with Sony Music Masterworks and The Araca Group.

Since premiering on Nickelodeon in July 1999, SpongeBob SquarePants has emerged as a pop culture phenomenon. The series has been the most-watched animated program with kids for more than 13 consecutive years, and over the past several years, it has averaged more than 1 million total viewers every quarter across all Nickelodeon networks. As the most widely distributed property in Viacom history, SpongeBob is seen in over 185 countries and translated in more than 50 languages. The Paramount Pictures feature film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water premiered Feb. 6, 2015, landing at #1 opening weekend and going on to be a major hit globally. The character-driven cartoon chronicles the nautical and sometimes nonsensical adventures of SpongeBob, an incurably optimist and earnest sea sponge, and his undersea friends.

The SpongeBob Musical will be part of the Broadway In Chicago series. Group tickets for 10 or more are now on sale by calling Broadway In Chicago Group Sales at (312) 977-1710. Individual tickets for The SpongeBob Musical will go on sale at a later date. For more information, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com.