Spongebob Tour Cast Rumor — Page 2

There are specifications to joining Equity: acquiring 25 (or 50) "EMC Points", which you get by working as a non-Equity actor at an Equity theatre. Or, an Equity company can buy your card for you.

Some non-Equity actors feel they can get more work, albeit at a lower salary, so they hold off on getting their card. Many regional theatres throughout the country hire both Equity and non-Equity talents, and some only have limited Equity contracts. In addition to the benefits of being in a union, there are also union dues, and it's generally a higher-quality talent pool that you're competing against for roles.

I absolutely view non-Equity as second-rate. The actors are less experienced; the production values are frequently lower; the working conditions are not as good as Eq tours; and the ticket prices are sometimes (shockingly) the same as for an Equity tour. It's a cheap and greedy cash grab by opportunistic producers.

chrishuyen said: "inmyownlittlecorner said: "joshua bess has announced that he’s joining the tour on his instagram. he’s previously been roger in the 20th anniversary tour cast.kind of a strange shift in characters


https://www.instagram.com/p/B1MgPS4JE0M/?utm_source=ig_web_button_native_share"

I'm not familiar with him as a performer but his Instagram profile describes him as "part time skateboarder" and there's a fewskateboard tricks in the show so that could be why."

oh, that makes a lot of sense! i didn’t get to see the show so i did know of these tricks. this show seems more wild the more i hear about it

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "There are specifications to joining Equity: acquiring 25 (or 50) "EMC Points", which you get by working as a non-Equity actor at an Equity theatre. Or, an Equity company can buy your card for you."

Equity producers don't "buy" cards for people. They offer Equity contracts to non-members, which then makes those people eligible to join. Most people join this way.

VotePeron said: "It looks like Tina Landau is going to be the primary director in the room, which I believe is rare for a non-equity tour.

No I don't believe it says that anywhere. Do you have a source? It means that her direction will be used -- but I;m pretty sure that one of her associates will be "in the room". She may stop by during tech to give notes, but I seriously doubt she will be there full time.

I doubt Tina is "volunteering" her time. When a Broadway Director's name is attached to the tour, they are usually "hands on".

CATSNYrevival said: "I can't wait to see how this turns out. I'm curious if it'll be completely rethought for the tour or just scaled down."

If Nickelodeon is still involved...and with their money...I am cautiously optimistic about the set and the entire tour.

Call_me_jorge said: "I just got done looking through photos of the tour and I’ve got to say the actor playing spongebob on tour is just as ripped, If not more so, than Ethan Slater. I just find this so odd... does Tina have some kind of fetish? Here are the pics....https://www.instagram.com/p/B3Sqxl2HdVG/?igshid=6cj0uzgkqofe"

It is a physically demanding role...

Funny reading the conversation from earlier in this thread re Equity vs Non-Equity. Working conditions/pay/status aside. All actors start non-union. Yes actors grow with experience. But to say non-equity actors are somehow lesser or not going to be as good is just laughable. Any actor can be good or may not be and that is not determined by their union status. I have seen many non-equity productions where I found the actors way more engaged, earnest, and giving it their all then many equity tours where many seem to just phone it in for the cheque.

Luminaire2 said: "Funny reading the conversation from earlier in this thread re Equity vs Non-Equity. Working conditions/pay/status aside. All actors start non-union. Yes actors grow with experience. But to say non-equity actors are somehow lesser or not going to be as good is just laughable. Any actor can be good or may not be and that is not determined by their union status. I have seen many non-equity productions where I found the actors way more engaged, earnest, and giving it their all then many equity tours where many seem to just phone it in for the cheque."

From my point of view, the non-eq tour argument is never about the talent, but the production value of the show as a whole. That’s the disappointing part of many non-eq tours, though it seems the lights and costumes look identical to Broadway here! They’re missing the entire second level/unit of the set, which they may have paid for on a larger scale. Then again, the current Cats tour is Equity but still using these inflatable set. It’s all relative.


At the end of the day, the SpongeBob Musical is on tour in some capacity...and that’s enough of a win for me!

Isn't the issue with non-Equity tours not one of talent but of money? The tours are paying less to (some might say "taking advantage of" inexperienced people and those savings are not passed onto consumers, who rarely know they're seeing less seasoned actors and who are paying the same prices they'd pay for, say, Betty Buckley (assuming she goes on, not to open that can of worms).

I saw the tour in Boston on Saturday afternoon, having previously seeing the Broadway production Twice. For those of you concerned about a diminished production - you needn't worry. Yes the scale is smaller, but the set and staging is the same in principle, just on a smaller scale with the design not extending "outside of the proscenium". The cast - I thought were all excellent, with some standouts being Lorenzo Pugliese as SpongeBob and Méami Maszewski who played Pearl (what a voice!)

Still just as daft and fun a show as it was in New York.