The whole cast and creative team were definitely aware of the 'This is the death of Broadway!' kind of thing about 'SpongeBob,' but we've been really ready to change people's minds. I'm really proud of being part of something that took the most creative route to a commercial entity.

Ethan Slater

Categorized in : People Death Change Team

Yellow's never been a good color for me, but it's actually grown on me. I like it more than I used to!

Ethan Slater

good me color yellow

I start with a pretty yoga-based warm-up. I do jumping jacks and burpees, and I do a lot of dynamic stretching.

Ethan Slater

pretty start stretching jumping

I think I'm a little less naive than SpongeBob can sometimes seem to be.

Ethan Slater

i-think think naive sometimes

The process of finding my voice as SpongeBob was to start by watching what Tom Kenny did, trying to do an impression of sorts, and then forgetting all about it and letting the voice become a second-nature thing.

Ethan Slater

start voice process trying

To be honest, it was a little bit of a surprise to me that my Broadway debut was a musical.

Ethan Slater

little me honest surprise

I love Broadway musicals, but there's a lot that I want to do.

Ethan Slater

i-love broadway want love

Wrestling is a small, intimate sport.

Ethan Slater

sport small intimate wrestling

I've always been somebody who sort of throws himself, you could say, obsessively into whatever thing I'm passionate about.

Ethan Slater

whatever say you always

When the show starts, I am in my SpongeBob stance, and I walk like SpongeBob, and the first step that I take, I am SpongeBob.

Ethan Slater

first-step i-am walk step

I was a wrestler in high school, and that was a pretty big part of my life.

Ethan Slater

my-life high-school life school

I've gotten to meet Sara Bareilles a couple of times. I'm just a such a massive fan of hers, from her albums to 'Waitress' to everything that she does. To be a fan of somebody and then find out that they have a good heart and are kind is really heartwarming.

Ethan Slater

meet good good-heart heart

I would say that SpongeBob, at his core, is this optimistic, loving best friend. Getting to play him every day has sort of rubbed off on me and improved my life.

Ethan Slater

best day me life

The magnitude of being able to make my Broadway debut as SpongeBob in 'SpongeBob SquarePants' really only started to hit me when we took it out of town.

Ethan Slater

make only being me

I would say I'm the normal level of 'SpongeBob' fan, which is that it's been out since I was a kid, and it's part of the zeitgeist.

Ethan Slater

out say kid normal

I've always loved the Marx brothers and Charlie Chaplin.

Ethan Slater

charlie-chaplin brothers loved always

Physical comedy and musical theatre were never actually in my main focus at school. I was more of a dramatic actor. I always thought I was better at that.

Ethan Slater

better comedy focus school

I know that my father was a little nervous about me pursuing a career in the arts.

Ethan Slater

career know me father

The sort of stereotypical wrestling practice is that you're doing burpees, and the coach is yelling at you to keep going, and you feel like you're going to collapse, but you somehow make it through to the end.

Ethan Slater

feel you keep-going practice

You're always nervous about what critics say - about what anybody has to say, really.

Ethan Slater

say you always nervous

I look a lot like my mom. I'm the only one of my siblings with red hair, and she had bright red hair. I always have felt incredibly connected to her.

Ethan Slater

look red mom hair