SpongeBob SquarePants Will Open on Broadway At The Palace Theatre

Following a critically lauded run in Chicago during Summer 2016, SpongeBob SquarePants will open on Broadway at The(1564 Broadway - Broadway at 47th Street) this FallPalace Theatre . Preview performances begin Monday, November 6th with an official opening on Monday, December 4th.

President of the Nickelodeon Group, CymaZarghami, said:

“We could not be more thrilled to bring Nickelodeon’s iconic SpongeBob SquarePants to the theater in an original musical conceived specifically for Broadway. We are also incredibly honored to be in such a gorgeous house as The Palace, where audiences will be immersed in the fun and surprising world of Bikini Bottom.”

President of The Nederlander Organization, James L. Nederlander said:

“We are very happy to welcome Nickelodeon and SpongeBob SquarePants to Broadway. The Palace is the perfect size and scale for this new musical, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to open our doors to it.”

SpongeBob SquarePants cast will include Ethan Slater as SpongeBob SquarePants, Gavin Lee asSquidward, Lilli Cooper as Sandy Cheeks and Danny Skinner as Patrick.

The full cast will be announced at a later date.

A legendary roster of Grammy Award winners. A visionary director and Tony Award®-winning design team. One of the world’s most beloved and unforgettable characters. Turn them all loose on Broadway and what do you get? SpongeBob SquarePants!

Acclaimed Steppenwolf director Tina Landau and the groundbreaking designers behind Fun Home, Hedwig, and Spring Awakening havebrilliantly reimagined Bikini Bottom for the Broadway stage, 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, SpongeBob SquarePants 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.

Get ready to dive to all-new depths of theatrical innovation at SpongeBob SquarePants, where the power of optimism really can save the world!

SpongeBob SquarePants is a musical production conceived and directed by Tina Landau, book by Kyle Jarrow, orchestrations, arrangements & music supervision by Tom Kitt, with choreography by Christopher Gattelli.

 SpongeBob SquarePants is a one-of-a-kind musical event with original songs by Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of AEROSMITH, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alexander 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, hair and wig design by Charles G. LaPointe and casting by Telsey + Company/Patrick Goodwin, CSA.

Nickelodeon and Sony Masterworks Broadway have recorded the cast album of SpongeBob SquarePants and will announce its release shortly.

 SpongeBob SquarePants will be produced by Nickelodeon with The Araca Group,Sony Music Masterworks and Kelp on the Road.

Nickelodeon's 'The Fairly Odd Phantom' Features Butch Hartman¹s Characters All Together for the First Time

Worlds and characters collide in The Fairly Odd Phantom, an original animated short featuring an ensemble cast of characters from the Nickelodeon animated series created by Butch Hartman: The Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom, T.U.F.F Puppy and the brand-new Bunsen is a Beast. The short, which marks the first-time these popular characters have ever been featured together, is now available across Nick.com, Facebook, and Nick’s YouTube page. Hartman’s latest series, Bunsen is a Beast, premieres today, Feb. 21, at 5:30p.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon, telling the story of Bunsen and Mikey--two new friends who embark on endless fun and adventures in their town of Muckledunk.

In The Fairly Odd Phantom, Danny Phantom and friends capture escaped ghosts in their lab, Fenton Works, but their mission quickly goes awry when secret agent Dudley Puppy messes with the control panel. Soon after, Wanda, Cosmo and Timmy end up in the lab instead of Fairy World, where they are all met by a very different newcomer, Bunsen.

For over 18 years, Hartman has created hit series for Nickelodeon, including The Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom and T.U.F.F. Puppy, with his brand-new series, Bunsen is a Beast debuting today. As part of Nickelodeon’s continued celebration of its rich animation history, Hartman combined his pantheon of iconic characters into one comedic short.

On Feb. 24, Danny Phantom voice cast members, David Kaufman, Grey Griffin, Rickey D’Shon Collins, and Colleen O’Shaughnessy, will appear on a brand-new episode of the toon-talking Nickelodeon Animation Podcast, which gives voice to the creators and talent who bring to life some of the most innovative, hilarious, and heart-tugging animation in the history of television. Episodes are available on iTunes, YouTube, SoundCloud and nickanimationpodcast.com.

The Fairly OddParents (10 seasons), which debuted in 2001, follows Cosmo and Wanda, husband-and-wife fairies, as they wreak havoc and help their godson Timmy overcome typical kid obstacles by granting him wishes.

Danny Phantom (3 seasons), which bowed in 2004, charts the adventures of 14-year-old Danny Fenton, who becomes half-ghost, “Danny Phantom.” Now with paranormal powers, he’s responsible for capturing the ghosts and monsters that roam the Earth.

T.U.F.F. Puppy (3 seasons) debuted in October 2010 and showcases a gung-ho, dim-witted dog named Dudley Puppy who finds himself accidentally thrust into the role of secret agent.

Visit Nick.com, Facebook, Instagram and the Nick App to learn more about Bunsen is a Beast.  Full-length episodes are currently available on Nick.com, Nick On Demand, and the Nick App, available for download on iOS, Apple TV, Roku, Android, and Android TV. 

Hartman began his animation career as an assistant animator on An American Tail.  He created his own shorts for What a Cartoon!, and also wrote and directed episodes of Dexter’s Laboratory, Cow & Chicken and Johnny Bravo.  Bunsen is a Beast marks Hartman’s fourth animated series for Nickelodeon. Hartman joined Nickelodeon in 1998 where he created and produced several cartoon shorts for the Oh Yeah! Cartoons series, including The Fairly OddParents.  Commemorating the 10th anniversary of the animated series, Hartman brought the series to life in the 2010 live-action/CG animated hit TV movie, A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!  The series came to life once again in the original TV movie, A Fairly Odd Christmas in 2012 and A Fairly Odd Summer in 2014. Hartman is also the creator of Nickelodeon’s animated series Danny Phantom and T.U.F.F. Puppy. 

Nickelodeon Brings Back Rocko’s Modern Life for Brand-New, Original One-Hour TV Special

Marking its 25th anniversary of original creator-driven animation to the day and date, Nickelodeon today announces another reinvention of its library content: the greenlight of an original one-hour TV special based on its classic ‘90s hit, Rocko’s Modern Life. With Rocko’s original creator Joe Murray on board as executive producer, the animated Rocko's Modern Life TV special will bring back all the show’s classic characters and offer some surprising new takes on life in O-Town. Additional news of Rocko’s airdate and casting will be announced in the coming months.

"I'm very happy to be rejoining Rocko and my friends from O-Town again,” said creator and executive producer Joe Murray. “What I have found by bringing these characters back is that it's not so much about nostalgia, but a sense that they still feel relevant and fresh to me, and after twenty years, they can't wait to comment on modern life in the 21st century. They still have a lot to say."

Originally airing from 1993-1996, the animated Rocko’s Modern Life follows the adventures of an Australian wallaby named Rocko and his two companions, Heffer Wolfe and Filburt, through their adventures in their home of O-Town.

“Following our news about Hey Arnold! and Legends of the Hidden Temple, greenlighting a Rocko’s Modern Life TV special is another strong example of how we are bringing our library content back for both new audiences and the generation that grew up on them in the ‘90s,” said Chris Viscardi, SVP, Content Development, Nickelodeon Franchise Properties. “It’s a testament to the strength and appeal of these characters that so many people have loved Nick animation for these last 25 years, and we are excited to bring them back for new stories and adventures.”

Today’s Rocko’s greenlight news--25 years to the day of the original launch of the iconic Rugrats, The Ren & Stimpy Show and Doug—follows recent announcements of Nickelodeon bringing back its library content for today’s audiences. Coming in 2017 is Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie, a new, original TV movie that will feature a storyline picking up from where the original series ended in 2004, resolving unanswered questions and plotlines, including Arnold finally getting answers about the whereabouts of his missing parents.

This fall, Nickelodeon will premiere its Legends of the Hidden Temple original TV movie, an action-adventure movie based on its ‘90s game show of the same name. Drawing from the original show’s premise of kids competing to retrieve artifacts from a mysterious Mayan temple, the new action-adventure TV movie version will follow three siblings who embark on a high-stakes, life-or-death mission.