Any of my readers knows I love a chance to support small community theater productions. Such was my opportunity this week with musicals at Sanctuary and the Empress and while both having basic flaws of community productions they are definitely worth supporting and enjoying.

ONCE UPON A MATTRESS- SANCTUARY THEATRE, WEST JORDAN

First up was Once Upon a Mattress at Sanctuary Theatre which is a small black box theater in West Jordan. Their productions are always of the amateur variety with pretty raw talent if I’m honest but what they lack in skills they make up for in heart, community and energy. If you are someone who cant sit through less-than polished performances than this isn’t the company for you but in my opinion the imperfections give a ton of charm and heart. Such is the case with Once Upon a Mattress which is a show I love and find to be very underrated (I wish that a few of the companies that constantly do Into the Woods would do Once Upon a Mattress every now and then because I think they are quite similar.)

The strongest performer in this production was definitely Kyra Furman as Princess Winnifred. It was actually a little distracting because her voice was so much better than anyone else in the cast but as she is the lead I’ll take it! I wasn’t surprised to read in her bio that she is a vocal performance grad because she had a beautiful timber and tone to her voice. I also thought Connie Beaty costumed and make-upd her well. She looked gorgeous especially her opening purple dress.

It’s a small space at the black box and as the director Beaty used the space well with creative touches like using a fabric panel in place of all the mattresses. The only major downside to the production is it was roasting in that little black box so I would recommend bringing a hand fan with you if you see it. There was a point where they bring an electric fan onto the stage as a prop and I was like ‘wait leave it for us!’ so they might want to consider doing that in the future! It was brutal.

I also want to say how grateful I was to be greeted by name by the staff and welcomed so warmly. In a week where I wasn’t treated that well as a critic by other more fancy theaters I will throw my support behind the less-polished but caring Sanctuary. They are a company that actually cares about the cast having the best experience possible and their patrons as well so I would love to see them get some support. Once Upon a Mattress is double cast and playing until May 4th. You can purchase tickets here.

THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL- EMPRESS THEATRE, MAGNA

Even though they are one of my favorites it had been a bit since I had been to the Empress Theatre in Magna. I have season tickets but their last 2 shows didn’t interest me (sorry I just don’t like that Anastasia adaptation and was too busy for their holiday show) so I was excited to see their adaptation of The Spongebob Musical even though I have very mixed feelings about the book of this show. I was hoping a second helping of it would win me over but I still don’t love it. That said, the production at The Empress was fantastic and I recommend it even though I don’t love the show.

My problem with the book by Kyle Jarrow is I find it surprisingly joyless for a Spongebob musical. Having seen the TV show and movies I was expecting something nutty and silly going into it and instead I get an apocalyptic dystopian narrative where friends are divided and characters treat each other in unkind ways. Shrek: The Musical is the gold standard to this kind of animated adaptation and it far exceeds anything in Spongebob in every way. For one thing, it’s actually funny… I honestly think one is better approaching Spongebob as a drama because the laughs are so few and far between it’s bizarre. I just don’t know what the creators were thinking with this one.

That aside director Chalese Craig has done what she can with the material to make for an entertaining night of theatre. She keeps the action moving and uses both the main stage and the second level in their theater-in-the-round set up they have at Empress. They were very creative in coming up with the worlds of bikini bottom and the volcano and other set pieces they need. They even passed out little flashlights to the audience to help with mood. I think it’s one of the most impressive looking shows The Empress has done in some time.

I also really enjoyed the cast with Tanner Larsen and Maddy Bishop being the standouts as Spongebob and Sandy. Both of them sang well and captured the energy and spirit of their characters in nearly every scene. I also liked Alexander Richardson as Squidward who I think has the best song of the show in “I’m Not a Loser.” Aaron Evensen was also hamming it up as the villainous Plankton.

I know a group of artists wrote the songs and maybe that is why they feel disjointed and like they were all written by different people. Still they did what they could to bring energy to the material at The Empress and I think it is bright and colorful enough to entertain families and little ones especially if they are fans of the cartoon. I probably won’t see this show again but I’m glad I gave it another try and supported the Empress with my season tickets. I was surprised to find out the regular tickets are $25 which seems high for this level of community theater but they were mostly sold out so good for them. Spongebob is playing at the Empress until April 20th and tickets can be purchased here.

I try to not ask for comps whenever possible (and paid for both of these shows) but I need your help to do so. If you’d like me to review more theatre and appreciate what I do please check out the patreon here