'SpongeBob Musical’ makes a splash with Raymond audiences

By Briana Bizier

Over the weekend, the gymnasium at Jordan-Small Middle School in Raymond was transformed into a quiet corner of the ocean floor named Bikini Bottom as students performed the SpongeBob Musical. Returning director Tyler Costigan, along with choreographer Patricia Valley and music director Andrew Sawyer, had spent the past months leading the young cast and crew through blocking, dancing, singing, and the occasional forgotten line or cue.

Students at Jordan-Small Middle School in Raymond had fun
presenting the 'SpongeBob Musical' last weekend at the 
school. The production was a humorous song-filled visit
to Bikini Bottom and both Friday and Saturday's  
performances ended with standing ovations from
the audience. PHOTO BY BRIANA BIZIER 

On Friday night, the excitement was palpable as the cast pulled on colorful costumes designed by Cloey Osborne of Clover’s Home Creations, complete with tights, wigs, and even a massive burger costume and an inflatable pufferfish outfit. “I feel like I’m wearing one big sock,” one actor said after struggling into his bright red tights.

Backstage, the young crew sorted through a vast array of props, from a remote-controlled snail to an Avalanche Maker 3000. Led by stage managers Rosa and Sabby Shamaoun and crew manager Stella Redmond, students Olivia Beal, Eli Dulude, Myra Hammond, Joel Mbayagu, Jordyn Morris, Molly Redmond, Cash Salazar, Eva Salazar, Elyse Silvia, Madison Smith, and Grayson Valente somehow managed to keep everything organized, even completing backstage costume repairs with a hot glue gun and tracking down an ice pack after a cast member suffered a minor injury. Tech director CJ Payne and a team of volunteers from Windham High School, including Erica Lin and JSMS alumni Ari Green and Lucy Payne, checked microphones and prepared to run the lights for the show.

When Costigan announced the audience was arriving on Friday night, several cast members screamed. “How many of you are nervous?” Costigan asked. Almost every hand went up. Costigan told them not to worry. “You have a fantastic show,” he said. “It’s very you. And it’s going to be the same show you did yesterday, and the day before. Maybe even a bit better.”

With a last-minute reminder to make sure they knew where their props and costumes were, not to peek through the curtains, and not to eat cupcakes while in costume, the directors and choreographer joined the audience, leaving the play in the hands of the young actors and stage crew.

As the curtain rose on a beautiful Bikini Bottom day, narrator Ian Bizier introduced the titular yellow sponge, played by an enthusiastic Alison Largay, his best friend Patrick Star, played by Rian Borella to great comedic effect, and SpongeBob’s gloomy, artistic coworker Squidward, played by a fantastically morose Allie Lebourdais. 

SpongeBob and Patrick greeted their friend Sandy Cheeks the squirrel, played by a cheerful Ashling Feeney with a very convincing Texas accent and her cowfish friends, played by Ariel Sampson, Grace Gillies, Olivia Gurney, Rylee Odom, and Ella Jacobson. After singing a catchy song about being BFFs with Patrick, SpongeBob headed to work at the Krusty Krab.

Played by a very convincing Marley Hebert wearing custom-made crab claws, the owner of the Krusty Krab, Mr. Krabs, told his adopted daughter Pearl, played with fantastic adolescent angst by Acadia Vingers, that she’ll be the manager of the Krusty Krab once she graduates. But Pearl announced through their powerful duet, “Daddy Knows Best,” that she has dreams of her own.

This Bikini Bottom day was suddenly interrupted by red lights and rumbling. Perch Perkins, a reporter fish played by a very dramatic Zoe Decker, announced that Mount Humongous the volcano is about to erupt. The end was nigh and the plot was set in motion.

Bikini Bottom’s mayor, played by a stately Mikel Gilbert, called an emergency town meeting and asked for ideas about how to prevent the catastrophe. Patrick suggested that everyone just close their eyes, winning him the admiration of a school of sardines, played by Araia Peterson, Ella Moreau, and several ensemble members doing quick costume changes.

On the other side of the stage, Plankton, the owner of the Krusty Krab’s rival restaurant Chum Bucket, played with a perfect evil laugh by Lauren Inman and his computer wife Karen, played by Alexa Largay with a lot of digital attitude, plotted to find a way to turn this threat to their advantage. After discrediting Sandy’s plan to use science to stop the volcano and turning the fish against her, especially Old Man Jenkins, played with an excellent hobble by Haylee Irish and a belligerent Larry the Lobster, played by Alice Thibodeau in a muscle shirt, Plankton announced his dastardly scheme in a catchy song and dance called “When the Going Gets Tough” that featured the entire cast and is probably still running through audience members’ heads.

With the villagers either filled with terror, including a screaming fish in a crabby patty costume played by a perfectly panicked Grayson Waisanen, or preparing for the upcoming fundraiser concert featuring the Electric Skates, SpongeBob decided it was up to him, Patrick, and Sandy to save Bikini Bottom, singing the song “Hero is my Middle Name,” although the adoring sardines pulled Patrick away by singing that he was their “Super Sea Star Savior.”

Meanwhile, the Electric Skates arrived in town to practice the “Bikini Bottom Boogie.” Played by Aiden Carroll, Arlo Keane, and Ben LeBel, these rock stars placed ridiculous demands on Squidward, smashed their instruments, and got some huge laughs from the audience. When one of the Skates told Squidward he can’t play on stage with them, Squidward chased the band away and then sang the hilarious and surprisingly moving “I’m Not a Loser.” 

On Mount Humongous, SpongeBob and Sandy sang “Chop to the Top” as crew members moved blocks for them to climb, creating authentic suspense. Plankton and Karen attempted to interrupt their progress by firing the Avalanche Maker 3000 from deep within the audience, but Patrick came to their rescue. SpongeBob dropped Sandy’s Eruption Interruptor into the volcano, the volcano erupted in bubbles instead of lava, and the entire ensemble gathered once more to sing “Best Day Ever” and perform a final rendition of “Bikini Bottom Day.”

Both Friday and Saturday’s performances ended with standing ovations and several surprised comments from fellow audience members about how professional the Jordan-Small students looked on stage. Backstage, as the curtains fell, the young actors ran into the cafeteria screaming and hugging. “We did it,” they shouted as their friends and family gathered in the hallway to congratulate them. “We actually did it!”

SpongeBob might even say it was the best day ever. <

JSMS performance of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ dazzles after Nor’Easter

By Briana Bizier

On Saturday, April 6, as Windham and Raymond recovered from the powerful Nor’easter that left much of the town without power, the show went on for Jordan-Small Middle School’s drama program.

Student cast members of 'Beauty and the Beast' perform at
Jordan-Small Middle School in Raymond on Saturday,
April 6and staged the production despite a Nor'Easter
that blanketed the area wiping out final rehearsals.
PHOTO BY JULIA HEBERT  

Despite missing both their final dress rehearsal on Thursday and opening night on Friday, every single member of the cast and crew arrived Saturday afternoon for their performance of the musical Beauty and the Beast.

“When I joined the drama program in 2022,” Tyler Costigan, Director and Production Designer, told the audience for Saturday’s second performance, “I had a cast of 20. This year, I have a cast of 50. That’s a lot of students.”

Along with Victoria Stubbs as the Vocal Coach and Patricia Valley as the Choreographer, Costigan has been working with these 50 students since January. Yet on Saturday, after months of practice, an abbreviated tech week, last-minute microphone changes, emergency costume repairs, and a backstage conga line warm-up, Costigan, Stubbs, and Valley took their seats in the audience as C.J. Payne, the Technical Director, turned on the lights and microphones.

The performance was now in the hands of the young actors and the student tech crew, led by Ari Green, Olivia Beal, and Jordyn Morris. The show opened with an enchantress, played by Maria Rosetti, casting a horrible spell on a cruel prince and everyone who lived in his castle. As the curtains closed on the cursed prince, Belle, played with fantastic confidence by Araia Peterson, walked down the middle of the gymnasium theatre silhouetted by the spotlight.

While the stage filled with villagers going about their daily business, Belle sang longingly about her desire to escape her small town while her suitor Gaston declared his intent to marry Belle, the only woman “as beautiful as me.”

Gaston was played to great comedic effect by Lucy Payne and trailed by a trio of adoring fans played by Emma Horowitz, Zoe Woodbury, and Layla Martin. Belle and Gaston were joined by a crowd of singing villagers, played by Sage Bizier, Michelle Buzzell, Brecken Cressey, Zoe Decker, Bella and Julia Doyon, Mikel Gilbert, Clare Goan, Ella Jacobson, Arianna Libby, Anica Messer, Miles Moreau, Mia Quinn, Leah Ronfeldt, and Alita Sargent.

Belle’s father Maurice, played by a very sympathetic Eli Delude, promised Belle she will soon be able to see all the places she reads about in books. However, in a turn of events narrated by Paige Leveille, Marley Hebert, Rian Borella, and Izzy Gonzalez, Maurice was attacked by a pack of somersaulting wolves and driven to the enchanted castle where the Beast, played by Rex Freyre with an impressive mask and a perfect blend of tenderness and ferocity, locks him in the dungeon.

When Gaston’s friend and sidekick Lefou, played by Addy Madsen, arrives in town wearing Maurice’s scarf, Belle realizes something has gone wrong and sets off to find her father. After bargaining her own freedom to set her father free, she sings of finding home, a performance that made both this audience member and the friend sitting beside me reach for our tissues.

Castle residents Mrs. Potts the teapot, played by Cadence O’Brion, Mme. de la Grande Bouche the wardrobe, played by Liza Powers, and Babette the feather duster, played by Acadia Vingers-Sirois, tried to comfort Belle with their hopes that she might someday think of the castle as home. Meanwhile, Payne’s Gaston, dejected over Belle’s rejections, was consoled by Lefou and the villagers with a hilarious song and dance that left the audience cheering long after the curtains closed.

Back at the castle, the candleholder Lumiere, played with a terrific French accent by Allie LeBoudais, tried to convince the clock Cogsworth, played with a perfect air of stiff formality by Alyssa Dismore, that their guest Belle deserved a special meal. Happily for everyone, this conversation resulted in the spectacular “Be Our Guest” performance. As Lumiere narrated, forks, knives, spoons and plates, played by Bella Anderson, Camryn Golebiewski, Riley Huff, Lauren Inman, and Julianna Vassoler, as well as several actors who had hasty backstage costume changes, danced and sang to end Act One. When the lights came up for intermission, another audience member leaned over and said, “Wow, that was really good!”

As the student tech crew moved set pieces behind the curtain and organized an entire cafeteria table’s worth of props backstage, the actors changed costumes and prepared for Act Two. When the curtains rose again, the enchanted residents of the castle expressed their hopes to be “Human Again” in song as Belle and the Beast formed a tentative friendship, and finally, shared a dance as Mrs. Potts sang the classic “Beauty and the Beast.” Again, some members of the audience reached for their tissues.

Back in the village, Gaston continued his attempts to marry Belle, this time by arranging with M. D’Arque, played to great sinister effect by Leo Roma, to take Maurice to the insane asylum. When Belle resists, Gaston decides the villagers must attack the castle and kill the Beast. The actors leapt from the stage and carried their torches through the audience as they cried, “Kill the Beast!”

After an impressively well-choreographed fight between the villagers and the enchanted castle servants, the wicked Gaston attacked the Beast. Fortunately, Belle was close behind. With the injured Beast at her feet, Belle sang about how she had finally found her home with the Beast, and this audience member cried for the third time.

In the end, Belle declared her love for the Beast, and the castle’s curse was lifted. Chip the teacup, played by Alice Thibodeau, got a round of laughs when she asked if she would still need to sleep in the cupboard now that she’s human again, and then the entire cast gathered for a final song. Both shows ended with standing ovations, cheers, and a lot of congratulatory hugs in the middle school hallway.

Despite the massive Nor’easter, 12 inches of fresh April snow, widespread power losses, and two days of school closures, Jordan-Small Middle School’s performance of “Beauty and the Beast” proved once again that true love always saves the day, and that perhaps we are all capable of a little more magic than we think. <