I recently watched the bootleg of this after rolling my eyes hard at the initial announcement.
And man, has Tina Landau and her crew proven me very, very wrong. This is a stunningly creative and amusing show with some terrific songs despite the splintering of its composers, and they do make it seem like one whole. It kind of reminds me of "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" in how they are so able to chameleon all these differing styles yet still make them their own. Do some not work? Yeah, the rap song is fairly out of place and there's a terrible and awkwardly written duet between Krabs and his daughter Pearl, but otherwise it's a solid score.
The book is amusing and has some great exchanges, but the plot is a mess. There's no other way to say it: it's a hot damn, bloated mess. The A-frame plot is solid, but there are far too many subplots and there's a ton of excess fat that can be trimmed. I hope they rework the plot issues and get out the scissors. For example, true to the show, Patchy the Pirate has a subplot where he's pursued by security after refusing to take his seat. It's funny and the song he sings is a delight, but each time he's featured it goes on too long and could use some trimming. Just little things like that, and dropping certain unnecessary plot beats. (man is Plankton's scheme just so underwritten)
Yet in the long run it's hard to get flustered at things like the plot because damn this looks like a fun time. The set is gorgeous and insanely inventive, with every piece of the puzzle accounted for. The cast is incredible. Ethan Slater is charming as heck, Gavin Lee brings the house down, Lilli Cooper doesn't miss a beat and Danny Skinner is just a fantastic loaf. And again, the score is almost always a joy. Hopefully the cast and crew have sanded the rough edges, because the show was actually kinda close to earning near-raves from critics back in Chicago.
And does it have the chance of being a success on Broadway? ...yes. Absolutely. Spongebob is still huge, and I'd be stunned if this flopped. I guess we'll see in winter, but I do think people are a tad too quick to write it off.