What Happened to Spongebob?

With the unconfirmed transfer rumors of Escape to Margaritaville this season, it seems that the Spongebob Musical won't be coming to Broadway after all. Does anyone know why? I thought it looked fantastic, and from what I remember, the Chicago run was pretty successful. So what happened?

The Chicago production got great reviews (deservedly so) but they sent out a LOT of discounts/promo codes, much more than usual. I suspect that the name was turning potential audience members off, which is a shame as it really was a charming, quirky, fun evening at the theatre. I ended up seeing it twice and would love to see it get its fair shake at a Broadway run.

The show was a spectacular mess in Chicago and certainly worked better for fans of Spongebob than for those less familiar with the series. The book and the score were all over the map, overstuffed with erroneous songs and plot points that seemed piled on in an effort to give every notion brought up at a table discussion its chance to appease everyone all the time, but I found the frenetic kitchen-sink approach to be confusing and exhausting to watch, Not to mention that not really knowing much about the Spongebob world, I was going to be alienated from numerous references as well as not even understand what some of the characters were supposed to be. Design elements were often fun and attractive, but I fear the show doesn't stand a chance until it's edited down to a streamlined coherent story that doesn't shoehorn all the pot-luck contributions of songs in an effort to include every recognizable pop celebrity. It's really not worth it in the end.

As usual, the Chicago critics donned their kid gloves for the Broadway tryout, but to no avail. The marketing was confusing and people seemed confused by the prices for what many felt was going to be a standard touring Nickelodeon kiddie show. There were some efforts to get the word out on the creative path of the musical, the majority of which was generated from Broadway in Chicago through their website and in marketing to their subscribers, which just didn't have the far-reaching influence to the wider Spongebob fanbase. The show struggled to sell tickets and discounts were everywhere. I went in optimistic and walked out wondering how they ever could have imagined it would succeed.