The SpongeBob SquarePants musical is airing on TV. Why theaters are thrilled
On Sept. 16, 2018, Ethan Slater braced himself for the final performance of "SpongeBob SquarePants." The Nickelodeon musical had been open on Broadway for nine months, and it received generally positive reviews and 12 Tony Award nominations. But the Palace Theatre was closing for multiyear renovations, forcing the undersea spectacle to shutter as well.
That last audience was filled with devout fans, some who had seen the show dozens of times. Families had flown in from out of town, millennials came dressed in cartoon costumes. And before anything had really begun, they were all on their feet and cheering loudly at the entry of foley artist Mike Dobson, who performed hundreds of sound effects that animated the actors onstage.
Backstage, Slater - who portrays the porous, persistently optimistic sponge - was moved to tears.
"Even though he wasn't visible on the Broadway stage, the foley was such a quintessential part of the show," he recalled of Dobson, who was
