SpongeBob SquarePants Will End Broadway Run in September

The show will embark on a national tour in 2019.

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical will end its Broadway run September 16 at the Palace Theatre. The new musical featuring a score by a roster of pop and rock hit-makers, including Aerosmith, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, Sara Bareilles, Panic! At the Disco, and David Bowie, opened December 4.

The Tony-nominated production will embark on a North American national tour beginning fall 2019, with amateur licensing slated to become available in early 2019 as well.

The production’s Broadway run is cut short, in part, due to the fact that it is losing its home. The 105-year old Palace Theatre will close temporarily as part of a $4.2 billion real estate deal that will redevelop the site, including the Double Tree Hotel which was constructed around the Palace in the 1990s.

The Palace’s interior, which is protected by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, will remain intact, while the entire structure will be elevated 29 feet from street level. The Palace will get a new lobby, dressing rooms, elevators, and a new LED marquee for the theatre.

Read: BROADWAY'S PALACE THEATRE WILL BE LIFTED BY FOUR FLOORS TO MAKE ROOM FOR RETAIL SPACE

SpongeBob SquarePants arrived in New York following a Chicago out-of-town try-out last summer. When it closes the Broadway production, will have played 29 previews and 327 regular previews.

The musical stars Tony nominee Ethan Slater as SpongeBob alongside fellow Tony nominee Gavin Lee as Squidward Q. Tentacles, Danny Skinner as Patrick Star, Lilli Cooper as Sandy Cheeks, Wesley Taylor as the maniacal-yet-microscopic Sheldon Plankton, and Brian Ray Norris in his Broadway debut as Krusty Krab owner Eugene Krabs.

The show’s director, Tina Landau, earned a Tony Award nomination for her inventive and unconventional approach to the material that humanized the characters than creating literal representations of the familiar Nickelodeon cartoon.

Read: HOW TINA LANDAU FOUND THE BROADWAY MUSICAL IN SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS

SpongeBob SquarePants features a book by Kyle Jarrow and a score from Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alexander Ebert of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, The Flaming Lips, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, Panic! At the Disco, Plain White T’s, They Might Be Giants and T.I., and a song by the late David Bowie and by Tom Kenny and Andy Paley.

