Millennial Theatre Company turns Youngstown Playhouse into Bikini Bottom with “The SpongeBob Musical.”

The show has been on Director Joe Asente’s radar since he saw it on Broadway.

“Several of our board members went to see it and immediately fell in love with the show,” he said. “I walked out thinking we have to do this one day. When the national tour got canceled due to COVID and the rights came out, I knew we had to hop on it as soon as possible.”

This will be an area premiere for the musical, and Millennial’s second collaboration with Youngstown Playhouse. MTC staged “Grease” at the community theater last summer for a sold-out run.

“The folks at Youngstown Playhouse are great to work with,” Asente said. “Last year, we were planning our season, and they wanted to put ‘SpongeBob’ on as a Youth Theatre show. They contacted me to make sure we didn’t have any overlap on our seasons, so I sent what we were considering, and they suggested partnering on this show, and I was absolutely thrilled to do that again.”

MTC has had success with similar shows, like “The Little Mermaid” and “Shrek the Musical.”

“‘Little Mermaid’ seemed like an odd choice to some, but it’s one of those movies of our generation’s childhood, and it also appeals to a wider family audience,” he said. “Flash forward to ‘Shrek,’ and it’s the same … Another property that has those qualities is ‘SpongeBob.’ It appeals to our generations and continues to be popular to a new generation.”

The inspiration for the musical is well known. The ever-cheerful SpongeBob, who lives in a pineapple under the sea, along with his best friend Patrick Star, neighbor Squidward and the other denizens of Bikini Bottom have appeared in more than 300 episodes on Nickelodeon since its debut in 1999. It’s currently in its 14th season.. It’s also spawned a couple of films, comic books, theme park rides and loads of merchandise.

One of the things that appealed to Asente is the creative freedom the show allows. The production notes when acquiring the rights to stage the musical encourage theater companies to put their own stamp on the show. MTC’s staging will have most characters played by actors, but some will be played by puppets. There is a blacklight number, a skateboarding number and a stretching sofa that turns into different objects during the course of the show. Some of the ideas were inspired by the “special skills” actors include on their resumes during auditions.

“We tried to implement as many as we could, playing off people’s strengths,” Asente said.

MTC rented its set from Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center in Midland, Pa., after seeing its production, but the theater is creating its own costumes.

“In the Broadway version, (director) Tina Landau described it as suggesting the character without slapping someone in the face with it. We wanted to do the same thing. We didn’t want anything cartoony, like you would see in a theme park. Everything is implied, for Mr. Krabs, instead of giant red claws, he has giant red boxing gloves … We wanted to play off of the fun colors you see in the set.”

Ty Hanes designed the costumes and also plays SpongeBob SquarePants. The rest of the cast includes Tyler Stouffer, Jacob Nash, Grayson McCrory, George Maillis, Ryan Stewart, Kaleigh Ceci, Brianna Rae Quinn, Liz Amstutz, Tyler Moliterno, Ben Doss, Daniel Chiaberta, Marissa Snyder, Ethan Blevins, Natalina Kazimir, Lacey Farina, Lauren Engle, Halina Bakeris, Aubrey Vernon, Trevor Patchen, Sam Campbell, Jackson Linko, Briana Wagner-Matijevic, Mia Gagliano, Rebecca Williams, Heleena Thomas, Kady McClain, and Kailey Meehan.

The music director is Anthony Ruggiero, and the choreographers are Hannah Stephens and Aubrie Morrison.

Instead of a score written by a single composer or writing team, “SpongeBob the Musical” features an all-original score from a diverse collection of contributors, including Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, David Bowie, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, Panic! At the Disco, The Flaming Lips and T.I.

“All of the songs are original to the show,” Asente said. “They outsourced the writing to those individual artist to get their style and feel … It’s not a jukebox musical.”

Asente said fans of the animated series will enjoy the in jokes and references buried in the story, but one doesn’t need to know who or what a Squidward is to enjoy it.

“It’s smart, it’s funny, it has a lot of heart. And there’s a deep message as well about inclusion and positivity, about being together and working together.”

If you go …

WHAT: Millennial Theatre Company — “The SpongeBob Musical”

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday through Aug. 6

WHERE: Youngstown Playhouse, 600 Playhouse Lane, Youngstown

HOW MUCH: Tickets range from $21 to $25 and are available online at millennialtheatre.org and by calling 330-788-8739.