Bikini Bottom Boogies all Night
Every two years, the Boys’ School stages a musical. This year the bar was set underwater in the famed Bikini Bottom. The SpongeBob Musical Youth Edition brought the small screen’s most famous sea sponge to JC Chalmers Hall, performed entirely by Year 7 and 8 students across five outstanding performances.
The production was six months in the making with many moving parts. A large cast, leads, ensembles, production team, crew, staff and parents, came together to bring the musical to the stage. The result was loud, colourful, and full of joy.
Forbes Leighton (understudy Jay Hughes) headlined as SpongeBob with all the relentless optimism the role demands. His He was supported by his friends Patrick (Edward Moon) and Sandy (Lucas Van Goch Old), as well as a standout performance from Solomon Myocevich as Pearl who delivered a vocal performance that belied his years.
This year’s production introduced a striking new LED screen with moving backdrops. Gone were the scene-change scrambles and the props used felt more intentional. Instead, the focus stayed firmly on the boys. The screen design, costumes, colour, and choreography worked seamlessly to support the characters as they navigated the storyline.
The costuming, deserving of its own mention, was aptly bright and lifted straight from the early 2000s. It delivered a healthy dose of nostalgia for anyone who grew up with the colourful cartoon.
The leads were well cast across the board, and even in Principal Peter Cassie’s unofficial role as Head of the Audience, the production kept revealing itself. “I noticed something new each night,” he said.
A special mention goes to the staff who steered the ship. Head of Hamilton House and teacher Sabine Bartlett took on producing, directing and choreography, while Leoni Willis handled costume creation, wigs and screen graphics. Head of Music Teresa de Vries served as musical director, and the skills of all three were passed on to the boys to great effect.
By all accounts, the show went off without a hitch. And if you happen to catch a parent humming “Bikini Bottom boogie all niiiiiiiight” somewhere in the carpark over the coming break, well, that's just the production doing its job.
