52 | DECEMBER 19 • 2019 

T

wo swimmers 
have dived into 
the imaginary 
world of SpongeBob. Tina 
Landau, once a competi-
tive swimmer, 
is director of 
The SpongeBob 
Musical touring 
Dec. 24-29 at the 
Fox Theatre in 
Detroit. Tristan 
McIntyre, buoyed by a 
recent deep-sea adventure 
with buddies, portrays the 
villain in the musical.
The two, who also attend-
ed Beverly Hills High School 
in California but years apart, 
are helping turn stages into 
fluid fantasylands energized 
by music. Composers are a 
stream of Grammy Award-
winners that include Steven 
Tyler and Joe Perry of 
Aerosmith, Lady Antebellum 
and John Legend. 
“I like the energy, joy and 
message this show contains,” 
says Landau, who earned her 
theater degree at Yale. “It’
s 
about community, taking 
care of others and accepting 
each other. It’
s also about our 
need to look at each moment 
as precious and each day as the 
best day ever.”
The musical builds on the 
popular animated cartoon 
series, SpongeBob SquarePants, 
launched in 1999, that follows 
the adventures of SpongeBob, 
an optimistic sea sponge, and 
his undersea friends. 
“We did not want to rep-
licate or imitate what works 
best as animation,” Landau 
explains. “We wanted to see if 
actors, through their essence 
and abilities, could bring these 
characters to life in human 

form, allowing audiences to 
believe they’
re the characters 
while creating an experience 
that feels very live.”
The stage plot advances 
with SpongeBob and his 
Bikini Bottom townspeople 
discovering a nearby volcano, 
which is going to erupt the 
next day unless SpongeBob 
can figure out what to do.
“It’
s about a community fac-
ing the prospect of the end of 
the world and how each reacts 
and what the community goes 
through in response to that,” 
says Landau, whose work on 
the Broadway production of 
SpongeBob brought her a 2018 

Tony Award nomination for 
Best Direction of a Musical.
Landau, 57, has received 
12 Tony nominations. She 
has worked on more than 
20 productions at Chicago’
s 
Steppenwolf Theatre Company, 
where the direction of the 
Diary of Anne Frank had a 
great impact because of her 
Jewish background.
“I went to Amsterdam and 
visited the house,” recalls 
Landau, who divides her 
time between homes in New 
York and Connecticut. “I also 
took the opportunity to travel 
through Europe and saw the 
sites of some of the concentra-

tion camps. It changed my 
life.”
A life-changing experience 
for McIntyre, related to his 
maternal Jewish heritage, 
was travel offered by Taglit 
Birthright Israel. 
“My Birthright experience 
expanded my interest in trav-
el,” says McIntyre, who will 
move from California to New 
York after the SpongeBob 
assignment. 
McIntyre, 21, graduat-
ed from the University of 
Southern California School 
of Dramatic Arts this past 
spring. One week later, he 
was hired for the tour.
“I play the guy who 
wants to eliminate Bikini 
Bottom and create his own 
town,” McIntyre says. “I 
sing ‘
When the Going Gets 
Tough’
 to get everyone to 
go along with a scheme.”
McIntyre used to watch 
SpongeBob on TV as a 
child. Now, he tries to watch 
an episode a night to rein-
force the nature of the char-
acter he is portraying.
“When I was 5, I watched 
some kids in a talent show 
and told my parents that’
s 
what I wanted to do,” recalls 
McIntyre, whose first job was 
in a television commercial.
His introduction to singing 
and dancing came through 
an after-school program 
called Taste of Broadway, and 
through regular attendance at 
an arts camp, where he is now 
a director. 
“I like that through 
SpongeBob we create a show 
about coming together and 
supporting each other,” 
McIntyre says. “Our message is 
to scatter and spread joy.” 

Tina Landau

Arts&Life

theater

The SpongeBob 
Musical

Bringing the animated series alive 
challenges actors and the director. 

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Sheldon Plankton (Tristan McIntyre) and Karen (Caitlin Ort) in action

details
The SpongeBob Musical runs Dec. 24-29 at the Fox Theatre in Detroit. 
Tickets start at $35. (313) 471-3200. foxtheatredetroit.org.

313 PRESENTS/NICKELODEON

