Making my Broadway debut was, in and of itself, just a dream come true. I've wanted to be on Broadway forever.
Ethan Slater
I look a lot like my mom. I'm the only one of my siblings with red hair, and she had bright red hair. I always have felt incredibly connected to her.
I would say that SpongeBob, at his core, is this optimistic, loving best friend. Getting to play him every day has sort of rubbed off on me and improved my life.
The process of finding my voice as SpongeBob was to start by watching what Tom Kenny did, trying to do an impression of sorts, and then forgetting all about it and letting the voice become a second-nature thing.
Tom Kenny is awesome.
The more you see somebody else's version of something, the harder it is to make it your own.
Physical comedy and musical theatre were never actually in my main focus at school. I was more of a dramatic actor. I always thought I was better at that.
One of my favorite pieces of fan mail was a gift that I got. It was a jar filled with handwritten nice thoughts.
When the show starts, I am in my SpongeBob stance, and I walk like SpongeBob, and the first step that I take, I am SpongeBob.
SpongeBob's voice is really pingy and forward and nasally. The problem is, if you live in the extreme of that for more than 10 minutes, it can be a little grating, and it can be hard on your voice. Also, it gets in the way of the acting to be forcing your voice into this place.
I would say I'm the normal level of 'SpongeBob' fan, which is that it's been out since I was a kid, and it's part of the zeitgeist.
In the room, when I'm playing SpongeBob, I'm optimistic and I'm happy, and I smile in the face of those who are upset in order to make them happier. You know, there's this overwhelming optimism. And I've been lucky enough to have that become a part of my life. I like to think that it's influenced me.
The whole cast and creative team were definitely aware of the 'This is the death of Broadway!' kind of thing about 'SpongeBob,' but we've been really ready to change people's minds. I'm really proud of being part of something that took the most creative route to a commercial entity.
We're all sort of aware what 'SpongeBob the Musical' could be in the hands of the wrong people.
The only reason to do a 'SpongeBob' on Broadway is if it's gonna bring something new to the brand, something new to 'SpongeBob,' and also something innovative to theater and to Broadway.
The sort of stereotypical wrestling practice is that you're doing burpees, and the coach is yelling at you to keep going, and you feel like you're going to collapse, but you somehow make it through to the end.
One of the things I've found about SpongeBob's movement style is that, in addition to being animated and sort of stretching and squeezing, he's really based on the classic silent comedians, physical comedians.
When I'm in the audience of Broadway shows, I feel like I'm in the presence of something really special with artists working at the height of their craft and doing the best work that they possibly can.
I'd like to think I'm optimistic and imaginative.
You're always nervous about what critics say - about what anybody has to say, really.
The magnitude of being able to make my Broadway debut as SpongeBob in 'SpongeBob SquarePants' really only started to hit me when we took it out of town.
I start with a pretty yoga-based warm-up. I do jumping jacks and burpees, and I do a lot of dynamic stretching.
My mother passed away when I was seven. She had a piano in the house that she was teaching my sisters how to play. That was where I first encountered music, through her.
I love Broadway musicals, but there's a lot that I want to do.
Yellow's never been a good color for me, but it's actually grown on me. I like it more than I used to!
I've gotten to meet Sara Bareilles a couple of times. I'm just a such a massive fan of hers, from her albums to 'Waitress' to everything that she does. To be a fan of somebody and then find out that they have a good heart and are kind is really heartwarming.
I've always loved the Marx brothers and Charlie Chaplin.
To be honest, it was a little bit of a surprise to me that my Broadway debut was a musical.
Wrestling is a small, intimate sport.
I've always been somebody who sort of throws himself, you could say, obsessively into whatever thing I'm passionate about.
I was a wrestler in high school, and that was a pretty big part of my life.
I know that my father was a little nervous about me pursuing a career in the arts.
I think I'm a little less naive than SpongeBob can sometimes seem to be.
There's a social element of me that's pretty reserved. High school was when I was starting to come out of my shell because of the theater community.
SpongeBob has these qualities that I aspire to. Sure, he's a little naive, maybe, but he's so optimistic and is able to put his love of his friends and family above everything else.
I grew up with SpongeBob - it came out in 1999, right before I turned 7. So it's been a part of my life and all my friends' lives and defined our humor, in a way.
In my senior year of high school, I was doing a dance with a bunch of friends for the talent show, and my pants split entirely in half. It was incredible.
That's what I really focused on in school - straight drama - and I would love to get an opportunity to do that.
I'm used to working hard and making sacrifices.
I feel like I've been able to grow personally because of playing SpongeBob.
It's inherently a part of my childhood and my development as a person and an artist, this childlike feeling knowing that something is missing but not quite knowing how to fix it. I'm always drawing on it.
I feel very proud of everyone I've worked with on 'SpongeBob' because they're all brilliant artists working at the top of their game to make something really special, and I think audiences feel that.
Playing SpongeBob is freeing. There is something intrinsically about him that people identify with no matter their age.
We all should be so lucky to be as optimistic as SpongeBob.
