STAGE TUBE: Director Tina Landau Talks THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL

On Thursday, May 19, the cast and creative team of THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL arrived in Chicago - and BroadwayWorld.com was on hand to meet the team! Today's entry: director, co-conceiver, and hometown Steppenwolf Ensemble member Tina Landau discusses the world premiere. Keep an eye on BroadwayWorld.com all week for SPONGEBOB updates from local contributors Misha Davenport and M. William Panek.

The SpongeBob Musical will begin performances on Tuesday, June 7 at Broadway In Chicago's Oriental Theatre (24 West Randolph Street, Chicago, IL). This is a limited engagement through Sunday, July 10, 2016.

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

The SpongeBob Musical will be a one-of-a-kind musical event with original songs by Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of AEROSMITH, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Dirty Projectors, Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, 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.

For more information on The SpongeBob Musical, visit TheSpongeBobMusical.com.