The Spongebob Musical
2021
Sing for America Complex Production
With the events of the past year we had to figure out how we were gonna come back strong and truly make a… splash (no pun intended) this summer. We had to perform something fun, unique, attention grabbing, and something we could get EVERYONE excited about. That’s how we came to the idea of this musical. Not only did it check all the right boxes, but it has a theme that was too perfect not to perform. At a time when we were thinking “the end is coming” we came to realize through a year of trials and tests and struggles that “we only have tomorrow” so let’s make today the “BEST DAY EVER!”
Sing for America is so excited to perform this production that has never before been performed in the Lehigh Valley! Lehigh Valley premieres are kind of our “thing”
This is Sing for America’s 11th summer in business and we have only gotten better with age. We want you to be a part of the magic that we put on stage every year!
Past SFA Allstar: Ian Holmes
‘I Haven’t met the Oompa Loompa yet who could do it’
Ian Holmes was our very own Willy Wonka in “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”, He played Piragua Guy in “In The Heights,” he played the Wiz in “The Wiz” and played Sebastion in “The Little Mermaid.”
Ian is a world renown performer touring with the band Camilla and was in the top 44 of season 4 of American Idol. Check out his website for more information. www.IanHolmesMusic.com
Past SFA Allstar: Tristan J. Shuler
Tristan is a New York based professional actor that has graciously lent his talents to SFA on stage as well as behind the scenes. Tristan has directed Off-Broadway, is an accomplished Playwrite and is very well known for his main role in the Off-Broadway production of “Spamilton.”
Tristan has starred in roles such as the Beast in “Beauty and the Beast,” Prince Eric in “The Little Mermaid,” and Lord Farquad in “Shrek”
Past SFA Allstar: Nazarria Workman
Nazarria played Nina in Sing for America’s production of “In The Heights.”
A graduate of AMDA NY, her credits include Motown: The Musical (Swing) National Tour and Hairspray (Little Inez) at North Shore Music Theatre and Beautiful A Carole King Musical on Broadway (Ensemble – Replacement)
Past SFA Allstar: Veronica Cummings
Veronica Cummings is one of Lehigh Valley’s own amazing talents. With a degree in vocal performance Veronica is an accomplished performer and has graced Sing for America’s stage on a number of occasions.
Veronica has played Ursula in “The Little Mermaid” and The Witch in “Into The Woods”
"We are ready" to make this the biggest sfa summer yet!
Thank YOu!
To every single business and person who helped THOUSANDS find Christmas at the Chocolate Factory
News Coverage
The SFA family was blessed to make a buzz and get great coverage from area outlets
Warner Brothers Studios
From 'Ticket' To 'Toast'
This show was truly a journey, from SFA’s very own GOLDEN TICKET from WB, to the New Years Champagne toast! Please enjoy it with us!
That email was our GOLDEN TICKET to one of the most rewarding, humbling, successful and fun musicals in SFA history. It was time for us to meet Wonka at the gates and prepare to enter the doors of the factory!
We had our work cut out for us this time around with creating a cast. We had to find a crazy Wonka, a loving Charlie, a fun Grandpa Joe, and everyone in between!
We had a lot of awesome auditionees and the cast we were able to put together was phenomenal. We took our inspiration for this production from the original 1971 movie so we needed a cast that embodied that. A group of actors that were able to
Meeting with Ian Holmes and the creative team.
make the audience feel like they actually stepped into the Chocolate Factory not that they were just watching it on stage. And we got all we hoped for and more in the wonderful people that we got to work with on creating this magical show.
Ian Holmes was our Willy Wonka. He was able to channel all the quirks and wierdness along with the love and depth that makes up the title character. Not to mention he sang pure imagination like no other!
We found our Grandpa Joe in Nick Nelson. Although he is no where near old enough to be an actual grandpa, when he was on that stage he completely transformed. He became an old man through and through and made everyone feel like Charlie was his own.
Cassius landed the role of MIKE TV!!!
Abraham Pla and Jacob Piccini were both the ever endearing Charlie Bucket. They both brought something totally different but equally enticing to the character that really made Charlie come to life!
One thing that we did entirely different from the movie were the oompa loompas! We took the biggest and tallest boys in the cast and modelled them after the boy bands of the 90s. It might sound a bit at first but they were a favorite of every performance!!! It was a super fun change that we all were extremely happy with! And those are only to name a few! Every other cast member was just as perfect for their part as the ones mentioned. It was a great journey and we were blessed to have everyone join us for the fantastic adventure it was!
Rehearsals began and we dove right in to Charlie’s and Wonka’s world!
Rehearsals are always fun!
Little Miana’s got the whole cast in her hands!
With the perfect cast assembled we were so excited to work with everyone and see these characters come to life. One of our goals with this production was for our cast members to truly embody Roald Dahl’s characters the way they were imagined in the film, but with a personal exaggerated twist for the stage. Another goal was to make our audience forget we didn’t have an actual river of chocolate on stage or camera tricks making rooms grow and shrink, etc. and show, in yet another way, that theatre is about the suspension of disbelief! As long as our actors believed it, the audience would follow suit.
Jewel talks to our cast as we wrap up for the night
Just as in every show, we were threw a few unexpected curveballs along the way. Not only that but this script was made with short fast cuts because it was made for the screen. So we had to be creative and find unique ways to keep the flow. The pace of this show was particularly important because with the lack of musical numbers we had to be sure the dialogue was tight and clear. We were so used to multiple big showy song and dance numbers to break up the dialogue so this was such a different experience for us.
We start every rehearsal with a team building warm up!
We’re all in this together!
Becoming these characters proved challenging because each one is so deep in what they represent. We wanted to bring into it Roald Dahl’s purpose in writing this book which meant each cast member had to find how they connected with their character and think about it with every line, every move, every action and every reaction. We made sure they delved deep into their character’s purpose and focused on every little nuance. We wanted our audience to relate to these characters, remember these characters and feel connected to the message of this show from beginning to end. I believe we achieved our goal!
So how do you take something so nostalgic and revive those memories without cloning what cannot be cloned?
And how do you introduce this story, provoking that same mysterious, frightening at times, yet completely heartwarming sensation for fresh eyes? In conceiving this production aesthetically our goal was to hit both those major targets: excite the Wonka veterans, excite the Wonka green. Give them the character of the 70s with the complexion of the now, therefore giving just what the movie gave: an ambiguous, almost-futuristic-but-not-
Jorne and Bruce hand building our unique set.
ting that’s neither too close nor too far from home; where everyone you meet is a caricature yet not alien, and everything that happens is almost like a dream, but a tangible one that makes you believe it just might happen to you.
Our Uncle Joe helped us to make our vision come to life!
We didn’t find it important to focus on “tricks” and “magic” because the magic of this show lies within the mind and of course the soul. Too much distraction would’ve robbed the audience of experiencing that in the purest way possible. We strived to incite complete surrender of imagination and immersiveness in this world that used shapes and colors to create a motif so sugary and delicious you wanted to taste it.From spinning walls to dancing geese everything was designed to pace the story true to the original, highlight the personalities we so badly need to see and reflect on, and frame the moments that make Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
Finished!
Crowds flooded the lobby wanting autographs from our Oompa-Loompahs
Many schools brought groups of kids and they loved meeting Ian Holmes as Wonka
Audiences members LOVED this show!
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Todd has done 6 shows with Sing For America. He was in Beauty and the Beast (Maurice), The Addams Family (Uncle Fester), Hairspray (Wilbur), Godspell (Apostle), Seussical (Mr. Mayor). Other favorite roles he has played include The King and I (The King), Rocky Horror (Frank N Furter), Oliver (Fagin), Pippin (Charlemagne).
Veronica
