Bikini Bottom's favorite pineapple under the sea is headed overseas. The SpongeBob Musical, produced on Broadway as SpongeBob SquarePants, will tour the U.K. and Ireland beginning April 5, 2023, in Southampton's Mayflower Theatre. Based on the Nickelodeon series by Stephen Hillenburg, The SpongeBob Musical is conceived by Tina Landau and features a book by Kyle Jarrow.

The score comprises original songs written by Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, The Flaming Lips, Lady A, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, Panic! At the Disco, Plain White T’s, They Might Be Giants, and T.I., with additional songs by David Bowie, Tom Kenny, and Andy Paley. Coulton also provided additional lyrics, and additional music is by Tom Kitt.

Casting and additional creative team for the tour will be announced at a later date.

The musical finds the citizens of Bikini Bottom facing the impending explosion of a volcano that threatens to destroy the entire town, leaving a certain yellow sponge perhaps the world's only hope.

Among the tour's planned stops: a five-week stay at Southbank Centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, along with performances in Birmingham, Bradford, Oxford, Dublin, Manchester, Belfast, Cardiff, Blackpool, Peterborough, Wolverhampton, Norwich, Leicester, Aberdeen, and Plymouth.

The work opened at Broadway's Palace Theatre December 4, 2017, following a world-premiere, out-of-town run in Chicago in summer 2016. Directed by Landau, the original production closed in 2018 as preparations began to lift the entire Palace Theatre for new retail space. Much of the original cast took the production to Theatre Royal in Plymouth to film The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage!, which premiered on Nickelodeon in 2019. The new U.K. tour will return to Theatre Royal August 30–September 2, 2023.

For a full itinerary and tickets, visit SpongeBobStage.com.