SpongeBob Voice Star Tom Kenny Joins Nick’s ‘SpongeBob Musical’ Event as Patchy the Pirate (Video)

We’ve now got an airdate — and a teaser

Tom Kenny again lives under the sea, though perhaps adjacent to a pineapple this time. The voice of the beloved cartoon character SpongeBob Squarepants has joined Nickelodeon’s upcoming “The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage!”

He’s not taking on his usual role, however — the titular one played on Broadway by Ethan Slater, who will reprise that role for the now-scheduled Dec. 7 Nick event, which starts at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Kenny is joining the stage company as Patchy the Pirate. He’ll perform an original Sara Bareilles song, “Poor Pirates.” The whole thing was filmed for television in front of a live theater audience.

In “The SpongeBob Musical,” the stakes are higher than ever, as SpongeBob and all of Bikini Bottom face the potential of total annihilation of their undersea world, according to Nickelodeon. Chaos erupts. Lives hang in the balance. And just when all hope seems lost, a most unexpected hero rises and takes center stage.

Watch a teaser above — that’s also new today.

“I’ve had a blast portraying live-action suburban buccaneer and President of the SpongeBob SquarePants Fan Club, ‘Patchy the Pirate,’ since the character’s first appearance in Season 2 of ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ way back in 2000,” Kenny said on Tuesday. “I loved The SpongeBob Musical, and I was thrilled to be included in it both in pre-recorded (‘French Narrator’) and songwriter (‘Best Day Ever’) forms! But to now have the opportunity to actually step onstage and perform alongside members of the original Broadway production is truly a unique honor. It’s ‘meta times 10,’ and I think Nickelodeon’s audience will really get a kick out of it!”

Kenny isn’t just coming in for one song. Prior to the Patchy’s on-stage debut, SpongeBob’s No. 1 fan gets his own Nickelodeon special, Nov. 30’s “Patchy’s Playlist.” During the special, which starts at 11 a.m. ET/PT, Patchy highlights fan-favorite songs of the animated series, including “Ripped Pants,” “The F.U.N. Song,” “Sweet Victory,” and more.

The pirate character will also appear in five original short-form videos leading up to the big musical event. Those will air from Dec. 2 to Dec. 6.

Here’s the rest of the cast for the televised musical event: 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 also includes Kyle Hamilton, Katie Lee Hill, Curtis Holbrook, Jesse JP Johnson, L’ogan J’ones, Jai’len Josey, Kelvin Moon Loh, Lauralyn McClelland, Vasthy Mompoint, Bryonha Marie Parham, Oneika Phillips, Jon Rua, JC Schuster, Abby C. Smith, Robert Taylor Jr. and Allan Washington.

“The SpongeBob Musical: Live On Stage!” is a musical production conceived and directed for the stage by Tina Landau. The book is by Kyle Jarrow. Orchestrations, arrangements and music supervision are by Tom Kitt, with choreography by Christopher Gattelli.

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.

It is produced for television by Austin Shaw, and directed by Glenn Weiss. Paul J. Medford, Susan Vargo, Doug Cohn and Rob Bagshaw of Nickelodeon executive produce the screen adaptation. 

In addition to Bareilles, the musical event includes songs from Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Jonathan Coulton, Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, The Flaming Lips, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper, Rob Hyman, 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.

Additional songs come from Kenny, David Bowie, and Andy Paley. Additional lyrics by Jonathan Coulton. Additional music is by Tom Kitt. “The SpongeBob Theme Song” comes from Derek Drymon, Mark Harrison, Stephen Hillenburg and Blaise Smith.

The SpongeBob Musical is now on tour across North America.

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