When entering the Haymarket’s wood shop, there is a strong smell of sawdust, clanging of hammers, grinding of saws and scratching of sanders.
Theater students are crammed into a small shed-like classroom working meticulously on creating props for this year’s musical, “The SpongeBob Musical,” to be performed April 24-27.
“The SpongeBob Musical” will be based on the Nickelodeon cartoons, but will feature variations to make it a performance unique to Palo Alto High School.
Sarah Thermond, the program director of the performance says that while lots of the characters and overall plot remain the same, some things differ from the original Spongebob cartoons.
“It’s definitely a new story that I think leans into a little bit more kind of satire and making fun of the town politics than the cartoon usually does,” Thermond said. “There’s a whole sequence where there’s a rock band that shows up that is not present in the cartoon at all, so it adds some fun characters there. Patrick Star ends up with a cult following at some point, and that’s not from the cartoon.”
Thermond said in addition to the differences in plot, Paly’s production of SpongeBob is distinct because of it’s music.
“Instead of a usual musical having someone who composes the music and lyrics, the people who wrote the script actually reached out to a bunch of different pop and rock bands and asked them to write songs for the show,” Thermond said. “So you’ve got like Cyndi Lauper, David Bowie, Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, the Plain White Tees and a bunch of other ones. It’s also very different from the cartoon in that it’s kind of also a tour of a bunch of different musical styles.”
Sophomore Cameron Richards plays Mr. Krabs in the show. Richards says that most of the rehearsals are currently focused on vocals because they are so early in the process.
“Probably 90 percent of our rehearsals are vocal rehearsals, and it’s sort of just getting all the ensembles to know the different harmonies, and then have the main characters know their parts,” Richards said. “That’s the biggest lift for me, probably just because it can be very demanding for your voice and your vocal health can degrade over time.”
To help with the process, Paly choir teacher and vocal coach Michael Najar said he tries to instill enthusiasm for the music into the actors.
“We’re encouraging people to use their voices, which is a huge part of musicals,” Najar said.
Najar said the goal is to see the actors start taking on the life of their characters as they start to master the vocal aspect of the musical, as it gets closer to showtime.
“When you get closer to the end of a musical, the students know more of the music, and they start becoming the characters,” Najar said. “Learning the music and becoming the character is an ongoing process all the way up until the opening night.”
Richards said that every actor has a different process of transforming into their character.
“For every actor, I think it’s different,” Richards said. “For me, I like to do about half and half, sort of an internal, how are you feeling in the scene, sort of textual analysis, and then the other half is sort of just getting up there and trying things out.”
There is also a lot of work going on behind the scenes.
The costume department, the hair and make-up department, the lighting department, the props department, the sound department and the deck crew all play vital roles in the musical. These departments are responsible for designing the sets, props and costumes among many other things.
Stage manager junior Omkar Perinkulam oversees everything having to do with the technical side and collaborates directly with the program director.
“I am calling the show, giving instructions to the soundboard. … I give out the cues to the deck crew to execute set changes,” Perinkulam said. “I am at most of the rehearsals, taking notes on things.”
Another important role is the deck crew, which is in charge of moving various props onto the stage during the musical. Sophmore deck crew member Wyatt Saxon explained his responsibilities.
“I do a lot of moving around stuff,” Saxon said. “I operate the fly rail, which is how we raise and lower things [props] during the musical.”
Perinkulam said that most people on the crew are currently spending about two and a half hours per week on the musical.
He says that the workload for the crew ramps up as the musical grows closer, sometimes up to six hours per day.
Thermond said she is looking forward to the musical.
“I think it’s the weird balance of everything,” she said. “It is mostly a funny show, but it also makes some pretty interesting statements. … There are definitely jokes that are meant for an older audience, even though it’s accessible for a younger audience. I think the show has a lot more going on in it than people might be expecting, and it’s kind of fun to do a musical that people don’t already know.”
Richards encouraged students to come to the show.
“It’s a really fun show,” Richards said. “It’ll be a little goofy, but I hope everybody comes to see it if you can.”
