{"id":92,"date":"2021-05-26T17:45:03","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T17:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/?p=92"},"modified":"2026-06-19T11:34:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T11:34:22","slug":"im-a-pretty-squid-mama-the-ongoing-self-referential-legacy-of-gypsy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/im-a-pretty-squid-mama-the-ongoing-self-referential-legacy-of-gypsy\/","title":{"rendered":"“I’m a Pretty Squid, Mama”: The Ongoing Self-Referential Legacy of Gypsy<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Michael Schwartz<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Squidward Tentacles, the cranky squid co-worker of the ebullient Spongebob Squarepants, proclaims in the middle of the recent SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical<\/font>, \u201cI\u2019m a pretty squid, mama!\u201d he is doing more than reeling off a quick meta-theatrical one-liner. The joke in the musicalized version of the popular cartoon character\u2019s adventures echoes one of the key lines of musical theatre history. The homage to the Arthur Laurents-Jule Styne-Stephen Sondheim musical Gypsy<\/font> confirms and caps a greater-than-60-year history of camp-building. What makes this particular musical a go-to reference point for musical and musical-related humor? Much of the credit goes to Gypsy\u2019s<\/font> original Mama Rose, Ethel Merman. Before “camp” became an established art form and goal in and of itself, Merman’s presence constituted what was simultaneously the ultimate Merman role and a subversive commentary on that kind of role. Gypsy<\/font> provided songs, quotes and moments that ultimately became shorthand for musical irony and meta-musical humor. From pastiche musicals, to musicals about musicals, to modern romps targeted toward children and families, quoting from Gypsy<\/font> remains the definitive “this is a musical” statement, most often met with knowing laughter and recognition from appreciative audiences. For Gypsy<\/font> became a musical that not only questioned and problematized what made a musical a musical, but also it challenged what made a musical star a musical star. What Gypsy<\/font> accomplished was singularly exhilarating in its perverseness\u2014the show successfully told the story of a monstrous parent whose chief instrument of abuse was musical comedy.
Keywords: <\/strong>gay musical theatre, diva musical, camp, Gypsy<\/font>, Susan Sontag<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The moment is arbitrary and fleeting; the audience response is appreciative if not explosive laughter, based on a viewing of the Nickelodeon Channel\u2019s presentation of the musical. It happens in SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical<\/em>,[1]<\/sup><\/a> but it is not the titular optimistic sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea who delivers the line. Rather, the moment that opens this essay centers on SpongeBob\u2019s cranky neighbor and co-worker, Squidward Tentacles, who, in the middle of a show-business centered fantasy, cries out, \u201cI\u2019m a pretty squid, mama!\u201d The line is a slight variation on a famous line from the 1959 musical Gypsy<\/em>, where the young woman who will become noted striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee says, \u201cI\u2019m a pretty girl, mama.\u201d (Also, it helps to know that Squidward is indeed a squid.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SpongeBob SquarePants <\/em>has run successfully on the Nickelodeon network since 1999, and, as of this writing, still produces new episodes. Each episode usually centers on SpongeBob, a na\u00efve and optimistic sea sponge who lives, somewhat improbably, in a pineapple in the undersea village of Bikini Bottom. SpongeBob\u2019s friends and associates include his best friend Patrick Star (a starfish); the aforementioned squid Squidward; Mr. Krabs, a crab who owns and operates The Krusty Krab, the fast-food establishment where SpongeBob and Squidward work; Sandy, a squirrel interested in exploring the ocean; and many others. The musical was squarely targeted at audiences who grew up enjoying SpongeBob\u2019s misadventures on TV, as well as to their children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gypsy, <\/em>the source of the fleeting reference in the SpongeBob <\/em>musical, is, by way of contrast, notable as the final Broadway vehicle crafted specifically for Ethel Merman, who played Rose, Gypsy\u2019s mother. The musical, with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Arthur Laurents, told the (fictionalized) story of the fraught relationship between Gypsy Rose Lee and \u201cMama Rose,\u201d a mother driven by the desire to see her daughter succeed onstage. Avoiding general hyperbole while describing the impact of Gypsy <\/em>is somewhat challenging; one might refer to New York Times <\/em>theatre critic Frank Rich\u2019s review of a 1989 revival to get a sense of the adulation in which this musical is often held: \u201c\u2018Gypsy\u2019 is nothing if not Broadway\u2019s own brassy, unlikely answer to \u2018King Lear.\u2019\u201d Furthermore, particularly for the purposes of this essay, Gypsy <\/em>represents the earliest example of what John Clum refers to in Something for the Boys <\/em>as a \u201cdiva musical,\u201d one of the musicals that featured strong and often domineering heroines that for Clum embodies \u201cthe pinnacle of gay musical theatre\u201d (167).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A very young SpongeBob fan most likely would not pick up on the musical comedy reference, although a child might well find Squidward referring to himself as \u201cpretty\u201d to be amusing in and of itself. Audience members of a mature age, as well as younger musical comedy fans, on the other hand, would recognize the reference to Gypsy <\/em>right away, and the fact that the reference lands in this particular family-oriented musical could lead down several potential rabbit holes regarding the intended audience, and, perhaps, even the intended sexual orientation of the morose and misanthropic squid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rabbit hole this essay will try to follow, however, hews more closely to a question of dramaturgy: why this Gypsy <\/em>joke now? The answer begins, as it must, with the driving force of Mama Rose\u2019s original embodiment, Ethel Merman. The line that connects Merman to Squidward is neither necessarily straight nor strictly logical, but it is a line that is pure Broadway musical theatre nonetheless. As it happens, the connecting line also encompasses aspects of camp and the gay musical experience.<\/p>\n\n\n

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SpongeBob SquarePants<\/em>: The Broadway Musical theatrical program. Photo: Wikipedia<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Arguably, musicals referencing other musicals for the humor of immediate recognition are not unique. Comic recreations of the flag-waving climax of \u201cDo You Hear the People Sing?\u201d from Les Miserables<\/em> figured in productions of Crazy for You, You\u2019re a Good Man, Charlie Brown <\/em>and Shrek: The Musical<\/em>, all based on the assumption that a large segment of its audience would be familiar with the iconic image connected to an immensely popular show. The connection achieved by referencing Gypsy <\/em>in particular, however, is a unique testament to its over 60-year building of a camp following\u2014that is, roughly speaking, a queer-friendly celebration of exaggeration and extravagance that finds roots in the life and career of Oscar Wilde, in Mae West\u2019s double entendres, as well as in the clandestine pre-Stonewall drag culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Camp might best be summarized by Susan Sontag in her seminal work “Notes on ‘Camp,'”: that is, camp encompasses \u201ca relish for the exaggeration of sexual characteristics and personality mannerisms. . . . Camp sees everything in quotation marks. It’s not a lamp, but a \u2018lamp\u2019; not a woman, but a \u2018woman.\u2019 To perceive Camp in objects and persons is to understand Being-as-Playing-a-Role. It is the farthest extension, in sensibility, of the metaphor of life as theater\u201d (278). What Merman may have lacked in what might paternalistically be termed \u201csexual characteristics,\u201d she more than compensated for in \u201cpersonality mannerisms.\u201d As Mama Rose, she fully embodied what made this character the ultimate \u201cstage mother,\u201d and to a large degree, what made Merman a quotation of herself: \u201cMerman.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sontag\u2019s historic, and perhaps dated, take on camp is admittedly fair game for criticism, as Andrew Britton points out in \u201cFor Interpretation: Notes Against Camp,\u201d as he accuses Sontag of \u201cadopting a summarisingly crude behaviouristic model\u201d (139). Nevertheless, the crudeness of the summary effectively jibes with the ongoing celebration of Gypsy <\/em>as an inspiration to young gay men. As Clum describes: \u201cThere was a lot a gay young man in 1959, used to reading his fantasies through women characters, could read into Gypsy<\/em>. . . . Gypsy <\/em>becomes a parable for all the gay men with powerful mothers\u201d (170). If the young man with a powerful mother leans into a hoary gay stereotype, as Clum admits, the stereotype itself, for many gay men, was a source of pride, albeit a closeted source (169\u201370). To tease out what Gypsy <\/em>meant and means to those who first encountered the musical and those who continue to celebrate and pay homage to it, even in the seemingly unlikely environment of a musicalization of a beloved cartoon character, we turn to how it all began.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Ethel Merman<\/a>. Photo: Library of Congress, Walter Albertin, photographer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The seed begins in anecdote: Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim and Jerome Robbins were working with Ethel Merman on \u201cRose\u2019s Turn,\u201d the pivotal, and indeed, key transitional number from the 1959 production of Gypsy. <\/em>The number turns on Rose\u2019s stammering upon the word \u201cmama\u201d\u2014Sondheim and Laurents\u2019 attempt to convey, in musical terms, Rose\u2019s harsh confrontation with the less-than-coming-up-roses aspects of her life. In that moment, Rose was meant to face her daughter\u2019s rejection, the waste of her own misguided and misdirected ambitions, and her abandonment by her own mother. Merman\u2019s sole question for the writers concerned where the stuttering should come in: the upbeat or the downbeat? It is an anecdote that illustrates Merman\u2019s non-intellectual approach to entertainment. Nevertheless, Merman\u2019s history, presence and sheer \u201cMerman-ness\u201d was, in collaboration with Jule Styne and Sondheim\u2019s appropriately old-school compositions, necessary to make this major transitional musical happen. For Gypsy <\/em>became a musical that not only questioned and problematized what made a musical a musical, but also it challenged what made a musical star a musical star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this sense, Gypsy <\/em>took major strides in pushing the musical toward irony and self-reflection, toward darker anti-heroes and toward resolutions in which not everything was quite all right. Certainly, Gypsy <\/em>did not arrive first at either of those notable musical innovations\u2014the Gershwins provided a meta-musical template by teasing musical conventions musically in the 1930s; Pal Joey <\/em>gave audiences a heel for a hero; and Sondheim\u2019s previous collaboration, West Side Story<\/em>, ends in death for its 1950s street version of Romeo (while sparing the Juliet). What Gypsy <\/em>accomplished was singularly exhilarating in its perverseness\u2014the show simultaneously gave Merman a star vehicle and songs that added to her reputation and repertoire, while creating a character that used these star turns to inflict irreparable damage to those closest to her. Merman\u2019s unique instrument and equally unique gifts as a performer become, in the world of the play, instruments of familial torture. The initial Broadway audience was sufficiently appreciative of these instruments to give the show\u2019s creators, and Merman, a solid hit that ran just short of two years on Broadway and, a few years later, a major motion picture adaptation (notably, without Merman, but with Rosalind Russell instead). For the burgeoning and ongoing \u201ccamp\u201d audience, however, the music of these instruments played an indelible melody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How aware were audiences and critics that something different was happening before their eyes? The New York Times<\/em>\u2019 stalwart critic Brooks Atkinson is at least accurate when he observed: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Mrs. Rose Hovick was forcing her two small daughters on vaudeville audiences all over the country in the Nineteen Twenties, she was apparently ruthless to a degree that was not funny. . . . In the musical comedy, this forbidding aspect of her personality is duly noted. But it is difficult to feel censorious about any character that Miss Merman absorbs into her unique blend of heartiness and drum-major singing (The Theatre: Merman in ‘Gypsy’)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disturbing (and transitional) musical paradox was there in plain view and hearing\u2014one of American musical theatre\u2019s most likable and consistent stars, doing what audiences loved her for to the best of her considerable abilities, placed in the role of a deeply flawed and largely unsympathetic figure. Atkinson\u2019s rather detached (though positive) tone reflects a plausible audience response to the initial run of performances. Mama Rose is making seriously (not comically) disastrous choices for herself and her defenseless kids, until the kids grow up enough to rebel in their individual fashions, causing her to lose Baby June and nearly lose Louise (Gypsy) permanently. Nevertheless, Mama Rose is making those disastrous choices through the voice and manner of Merman, one of the most consistent and reliable of musical comedy performers. As D. A. Miller writes in Place for Us, <\/em>Merman \u201cwas famous for her ruthlessness in making sure that nothing and nobody on stage would ever eclipse her as what . . . she inarguably remains to this day: Broadway\u2019s greatest star\u201d (72). In this unique case, though, those who get steamrolled by Merman\u2019s unstoppable presence do not necessarily have it coming, and the razzle-dazzle exacts a high human price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To further complicate how audiences might have responded, Atkinson\u2019s above-quoted ruminations were not, in fact, from his initial review. The remarks that noted the \u201cnot funny\u201d and \u201cforbidding\u201d aspects of Mama Rose\u2019s personality were first published in the New York Times <\/em>on 31 May 1959. Atkinson\u2019s first response came some nine days previously in the review entitled \u201cThe Theater: \u2018Gypsy,\u2019 Good Show!\u201d In this review, Atkinson leads with a reassuring summation of Merman\u2019s musical-comedy star presence and apparently unimpeachable place in the national popular culture: \u201cSince Ethel Merman is the head woman in \u2018Gypsy\u2019 . . . nothing can go wrong. She would not permit \u2018Gypsy\u2019 to be anything less than the most satisfying musical of the season.\u201d In perhaps a more telling section of the review, Atkinson expresses some displeasure over the final confrontation between Louise (Gypsy) and Rose: \u201cThings look ominous in the last ten minutes. But trust Ethel. She concludes the proceedings with a song and dance of defiance . . . Miss Merman\u2019s performance expresses her whole character\u2014cocky and aggressive, but also sociable and goodhearted. Not for the first time in her fabulous career, her personal magnetism electrifies the whole theatre\u201d (\u201cGypsy: Good Show!\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Atkinson\u2019s first response is clear: trust Ethel; she is fabulous. The character she embodies may be \u201caggressive,\u201d but also \u201csociable and goodhearted.\u201d The somewhat darker, and one might argue, more accurate, descriptors such as \u201cnot funny\u201d and \u201cforbidding\u201d only come later, after some reflection about who Merman\u2019s celebrated mother-figure really is.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Gypsy, <\/em>original cast album. Photo: Wikipedia<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Merman, with her trademark clarion intensity and willingness to give her all in what she intuitively knew to be an exceptionally juicy part, arguably could not have provided those transitional elements if she had known what was going on at the same level as its creators did. Indeed, at least one of the show\u2019s aforementioned \u201cbig\u201d numbers became a signature out-of-context show-stopping number for Merman in her concert and guest star appearances\u2014\u201cEverything\u2019s Coming Up Roses,\u201d which served Merman just as \u201cBlow, Gabriel, Blow\u201d (from Cole Porter\u2019s Anything Goes<\/em>) and \u201cThere\u2019s No Business Like Show Business\u201d (from Irving Berlin\u2019s Annie Get Your <\/em>Gun) did throughout the rest of her life and career. The \u201cEverything\u2019s Coming Up Roses\u201d moment in the context of the theatre is, in fact, quite horrifying: Rose making a cataclysmically bad decision to obtain stardom for her only remaining daughter instead of settling down with Herbie destroys three lives at once, and Rose scorches the earth around her the way she always has: through the power of an encouraging, pick-me-up, big number. When Merman sang the song out of context, an audience could easily trust Ethel, delivering another show-stopper in a style much loved and much imitated. Within the context of the show, however, the audience senses that no, they will not be swell, they will not be great, and they will be denied the whole world on a plate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of how the role of Mama Rose is performed, several major performers have taken on the role just as the world\u2019s most ambitious (and sometimes best) actors take on Hamlet. One of the fortunate elements of focusing on this moment of musical theater history is that, unlike whatever speculation we might have regarding Richard Burbage and Hamlet, we have Merman\u2019s Mama Rose handy. And while experts might have a favorite (non-Merman) Mama Rose\u2014Patti LuPone, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters, Angela Lansbury, all have their passionate advocates\u2014they cannot provide what Merman did. What these later performers did was valuable: they helped to reveal the facets of corrosive show-business and human commentary that audiences could not fully face with Merman in the lead. To reference the Atkinson review, they trusted Ethel too much for that. Singers who were also character actors did not have the Merman history that clouded who Mama Rose was. Nevertheless, Merman had to come first. The show, story and character of Mama Rose might improve or reveal different elements with each of the later performers, and one could make the case that most of them (or all of them) are and were better actors than Merman, but they might not recreate the transition that only a Merman could deliver\u2014a resolutely old-fashioned performer giving an old-fashioned performance in a show that often slyly and caustically undercut the kind of entertainment that it seems to celebrate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The old-fashioned performance, in this case, embodies something rather novel for the musical comedy stage. Jennifer Worth writes with regard to mothers on the musical stage: \u201c. . . actual mothers are rare, and when they do exist, they typically fill the stage with their fascinating perversity\u201d (\u201cWho Let in One of Them Mothers?\u201d 256). It is this \u201cfascinating perversity\u201d of Mama Rose (and Merman\u2019s portrayal) that lends the character much of its enduring camp value, a value that persists all the way through to Squidward and probably well beyond. To further illustrate this camp value, David M. Halperin, in How to Be Gay, <\/em>focuses squarely on the connection between the \u201cangry mother\u201d and camp humor in his chapter entitled \u201cMommie Queerest\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spectacle of the angry mother would function . . . as a way of reperforming and working through one of the greatest terrors, or potential terrors, of queer childhood. If one of the functions of camp humor is to return to a scene of trauma and to replay that trauma on a ludicrously amplified scale . . . then the camp appropriation of these dramas of mother-daughter conflict might be thought to confront the fear that haunts many a gay boyhood . . . the fear that the adored mother might express . . . her unconquerable aversion to her offspring, her disgust at having begotten and raised a deviant child. (224)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worth further notes that Mama Rose represents a particular kind of gay fantasy: \u201cRather than wanting to possess her, they [gay males] wish to be<\/em> her. . . . She is created and displayed in order to be worshipped and appropriated for his <\/em>pleasure\u201d (256). The combination of flamboyance, \u201cold school\u201d show business and the simultaneous critique and commentary on this kind of entertainment makes Gypsy <\/em>a key transitional musical of Broadway\u2019s Golden Age, and Mama Rose a key transitional figure. Worth\u2019s observations amplify D. A. Miller\u2019s summation of the power Gypsy<\/em> had for many gay young men: \u201cThe distinctiveness, then, of the Broadway musical in post-war mass culture is not that it leads a woman to inhabit the socially given idea of her gender . . . but that it seduces a man to inhabit the same idea\u201d (89). The importance and recognizability of this seduction made Gypsy <\/em>a notable source of references, quotations, tributes and inside jokes that grew increasingly less inside as the years passed. The kidding would eventually find its way to actual \u201ckids\u201d\u2014Gypsy <\/em>jokes in musicals for the whole family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unique transitional moment that Gypsy <\/em>encompasses gives a camp playfulness as well as edge to a Gypsy <\/em>joke, especially a Gypsy <\/em>joke in a show with something of a built-in children and family audience. Broadway audiences witnessed such a connection earlier in the twenty-first century with Shrek The Musical <\/em>in the song \u201cStory of My Life.\u201d[2]<\/sup><\/a> This number is performed by the fairy tale outcasts exiled by the evil Lord Farquaad, as several of the notable fairy tale figures tell their titular sad tale that led them to Shrek\u2019s swamp home. It is Mama Bear\u2019s contribution to the song, with her lyric, \u201cMama\u2019s in the mud\/ Mama\u2019s in distress,\u201d that makes the explicit Gypsy <\/em>connection to \u201cRose\u2019s Turn.\u201d The reference, both lyrically and musically, gives Shrek <\/em>and its audience an opportunity to make a key connection between what might be called two overbearing mothers, an important component in Gypsy<\/em>\u2019s camp cultural capital. The line also emphasizes a deeper connection the creators of Shrek <\/em>seek to make between the fairy tale characters and the greater gay community\u2014a connection not as strongly hinted at in the movie version of Shrek. <\/em>This connection between \u201cfairy tale\u201d and the once-common gay connotation of \u201cfairies\u201d is made more explicitly in the Act II song \u201cFreak Flag,\u201d which ends with the irrepressible Pinocchio yelling, \u201cWe\u2019re wood, we\u2019re good, get used to it!\u201d\u2014a clear variation of the gay pride chant, \u201cWe\u2019re here, we\u2019re queer, get used to it!\u201d[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the case of Shrek the Musical, <\/em>we can see the creators\u2019 attempts to forge a musical that could be enjoyed on one level by children and at another level by adults, and, toward that end, a fair amount of not-too-subtle allusions to adult sexual situations (including a complaint by Pinocchio of a nasty case of \u201cDutch Elm Disease\u201d he caught once in Tijuana). Turning back now, however, to Squidward\u2019s moment in SpongeBob<\/em>, we repeat the question \u201cwhy this Gypsy <\/em>joke now?\u201d Is the joke simply a throwaway line, one to bring a brief knowing chuckle to those who get it, and something that can be quickly forgotten by those who do not? Is the joke just plain unsuccessful and ill-considered\u2014making a connection that might be somewhat appropriate in Shrek, <\/em>but completely out of place in the world of Bikini Bottom?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world of SpongeBob, and indeed his aforementioned home of \u201cBikini Bottom,\u201d reveals a rather more adult level of social and historical humor than might be noticed by the casual observer. SpongeBob\u2019s home, for example, references not only the potentially provocative bottom half of a bikini swimsuit, but also Bikini Atoll, the site of numerous nuclear tests of the 1940s and 1950s. The opening voice of the first episode, and recurring as narrator throughout the over-20-year run of the cartoon, is meant to evoke noted undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau, a reference that would not only escape the children in the audience, but, at this point, probably many of their parents as well. (It is also the first voice the audience hears in the musical.) The plot of the musical details the potential destruction of Bikini Bottom at the hands of the show\u2019s arch-villain Sheldon J. Plankton, and the book of the show takes occasional jabs at the integrity, or lack thereof, of the press as well as of elected officials\u2014an evergreen complaint that, nevertheless, most likely registered with the Broadway audiences of 2017\u20132018 who saw the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To address the Gypsy <\/em>joke more fully, one needs some familiarity with SpongeBob <\/em>and its position in the gay community. This is a popular culture feature that encompasses questions about Squidward\u2019s, and indeed SpongeBob\u2019s, sexuality. For example, a CNN story of June 2020 featured the provocative headline: \u201cSpongeBob Squarepants Gay? Nickelodeon Just Reinforced that Theory.\u201d The story includes the apparently foregone conclusion that \u201cDue in part to his close relationship with best friend Patrick Star, the internet had long ago decided that SpongeBob was indeed gay\u201d (France). The article appeared as a result of the TV show\u2019s affiliation with gay pride and Gay Pride Month. Nor was the CNN article an outlier. Similarly themed articles from the New York Post <\/em>and MSN substantiated the topic of gayness and SpongeBob as trending, in modern parlance. The desire to see LGBTQ+ representation in popular culture, including cartoons, is a strong one, and the world of SpongeBob, for many people, apparently fulfilled this particular desire. In supportive tweets during the summer of 2020, three popular Nickelodeon Channel characters were presented with rainbow colors, including SpongeBob.[4]<\/sup><\/a> While late creator Stephen Hillenburg claimed to have never intentionally written sexuality as part of the show, the presence of the popular character as an ally is significant.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Squidward Q. Tentacles, from SpongeBob SquarePants (TV series). Photo: Wikipedia<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Gypsy <\/em>joke in SpongeBob, <\/em>therefore, might serve as more than a wink toward the gay-friendly appeal of the children\u2019s show. If a viewer takes into account the cartoon Squidward as an anthropomorphic rendition of a cranky, bald and not quite \u201cout\u201d gay man, whose passions are usually kept at home, and compares him with the ebullient (and often annoying) \u201cout\u201d SpongeBob who leads popular movements with his rainbow-colored imagination (referenced literally in one of the cartoon\u2019s most beloved episodes), the joke might function as something of a bridge between, and an embrace of, two distinct generational gay sensibilities.[5]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, the world of SpongeBob as allied with the gay community may well be at the heart of the Gypsy <\/em>joke. Irrespective of whether or not the audience is meant to identify Squidward as specifically gay, he presents, as do his musical creators, as allies. Squidward is someone who understands what it means to not win an overbearing mother\u2019s approval. He is someone who evinces an appreciation of musical theatre as an art form. And, perhaps like many of us, he yearns for acknowledgement that he is, indeed, a pretty squid. For a brief moment, Squidward can make the claim out loud and with pride, something he could not do as effectively without the ruthless and rousing brass of Ethel Merman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sing out, Squidward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Endnotes<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/sup><\/a> SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical<\/em> opened 4 December 2017, and closed 16 September 2018. The director was Tina Landau, and the cast included Ethan Slater as SpongeBob and Gavin Lee as Squidward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/sup><\/a> Shrek the Musical <\/em>opened on Broadway 14 December 2008, with music by Jennie Tesori; book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, under the direction of Jason Moore. The show ran just over a year, closing 3 January 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/sup><\/a> A chant attributed to the activist group Queer Nation in demonstrations dating from 1990.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4]<\/sup><\/a> The other two characters were \u201cShwoz,\u201d from the show Henry Danger, <\/em>played by a transgender actor, and Avatar Korra, from The Legend of Korra<\/em>,who presents as a gay woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[5]<\/sup><\/a> Squidward\u2019s cartoon voice, provided by Rodger Bumpass and imitated to a large extent by Broadway\u2019s Gavin Lee, has more than a hint of Paul Lynde in his delivery of snarky one-liners. Notably, the Broadway designers gave Gavin Lee a rather brilliant head of hair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bibliography<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Atkinson, Brooks. \u201cThe Theater: \u2018Gypsy,\u2019 Good Show!<\/a>\u201d The New York Times<\/em>, 22 May 1959.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014. \u201cThe Theatre: Merman in \u2018Gypsy.\u2019<\/a>\u201d The New York Times<\/em>, 31 May 1959.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Britton, Andrew. \u201cFor Interpretation: Notes against Camp.\u201d Camp: Queer Aesthetics and the Performing Subject<\/em>, edited by Fabio Cleto, U of Michigan P, 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clum, John M. Something for the Boys: Musical Theatre and Gay Culture. <\/em>St. Martin\u2019s Press, 1999.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

France, Lisa Respers. \u201cSpongeBob Squarepants Gay? Nickelodeon Just Reinforced that Theory<\/a>.\u201d CNN<\/em>, 15 June 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Halperin, David M. How to Be Gay. <\/em>The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miller, D. A. Place for Us: Essay on the Broadway Musical. <\/em>Harvard UP, 1998.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rich, Frank. \u201c\u2018Gypsy\u2019 is Back on Broadway with a Vengeance<\/a>.\u201d The New York Times<\/em>, 17 Nov. 1989.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sontag, Susan. \u201cNotes on \u2018Camp.\u2019<\/a>\u201d Against Interpretation. <\/em>Dell Publishing, 1969.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worth, Jennifer. \u201c\u2018Who Let in One of Them Mothers?\u2019: Maternal Perversity on the American Musical Stage.\u201d Theatre History Studies<\/em>, vol. 35, 2016, p. 255\u2013267. ProjectMUSE<\/em>, doi:10.1353\/ths.2016.0013. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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*<\/a>Michael Schwartz<\/strong> is an associate professor in the department of theatre, dance and performance at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches playwriting, theatre history and improvisation. Michael has written two books, both published by Palgrave Macmillan: Broadway and Corporate Capitalism: The Rise of the Professional-Managerial Class 1900-1920<\/em>; and Class Divisions on the Broadway Stage: The Staging and Taming of the I.W.W. <\/em>He also contributed chapters to Performing the Progressive Era: Immigration, Urban Life, and Nationalism on Stage <\/em>(University of Iowa Press) and The Palgrave Handbook of Musical Theatre Producers <\/em>(Palgrave Macmillan).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9<\/strong> 2021 Michael Schwartz
Critical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em> e-ISSN: 2409-7411<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Creative<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution International License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essays"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/04\/image2-3.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":728,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/lin-hwai-mins-water-stains-on-the-wall-a-cosmopolitical-perspective\/","url_meta":{"origin":92,"position":0},"title":"Lin Hwai-min\u2019s Water Stains on the Wall: A Cosmopolitical Perspective","author":"Michael Schwartz","date":"June 13, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Kin-Yan Szeto* \u0391bstract Water Stains on the Wall is a pivotal example that demonstrates the world-renowned Taiwanese choreographer Lin Hwai-min\u2019s cosmopolitical perspective. 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I began writing to colleagues connected in some capacity to the yearly Wuzhen Theatre Festival\u2014many of whom are among the most influential figures\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Interviews"","block_context":{"text":"Interviews","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/category\/interviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/Wuzhen-Grand-Theatre.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/Wuzhen-Grand-Theatre.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/Wuzhen-Grand-Theatre.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/Wuzhen-Grand-Theatre.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":186,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/playful-learning-in-actor-training-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-spontaneity-and-intuition\/","url_meta":{"origin":92,"position":3},"title":"Playful Learning in Actor Training: The Impact of COVID-19 on Spontaneity and Intuition","author":"Michael Schwartz","date":"May 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Anna McNamara* Abstract The ability to readily access creative imagination is an essential tool for the actor. Games and playful approaches to learning are vital to enable the actors\u2019 learning space in both traditional and non-traditional settings. Since 2020, the impact of COVID-19 has necessitated remote learning to facilitate drama\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Essays"","block_context":{"text":"Essays","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/category\/essays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/04\/image5-3.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/04\/image5-3.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/04\/image5-3.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/04\/image5-3.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":297,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/contemporary-latvian-theatre-a-decade-bookazine\/","url_meta":{"origin":92,"position":4},"title":"Contemporary Latvian Theatre, A Decade Bookazine","author":"Michael Schwartz","date":"May 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Edited by Lauma Mell\u0113na-Bartkevi\u010da207 pp. Latvian Theatre Labour Association Reviewed by Matti Linnavuori* It seems only a moment ago that Guna Zelti\u0146a edited Theatre in Latvia (2012), and suddenly we have a new edition, Contemporary Latvian Theatre (2020), edited by Lauma Mell\u0113na-Bartkevi\u010da. Has theatre in Latvia really taken such giant\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/category\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/Matti_Linnavuori-140x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":267,"url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/creating-in-between-times-and-identities-expressions-of-contemporary-theatre-in-guatemala\/","url_meta":{"origin":92,"position":5},"title":"Creating In-between Times and Identities: Expressions of Contemporary Theatre in Guatemala","author":"Michael Schwartz","date":"May 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Regina Solis Miranda* and Luis Antonio Morales Rodr\u00edguez** Abstract Theatricality in contemporary Guatemala has its own poetics shaped by a tense interaction of multiple identities in a context defined by enforced colonial logic. By recognizing Mayan and Ladino\/mestizo theatrical trends, we can explore alternative ways of thinking that shape contemporary\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "National Reports"","block_context":{"text":"National Reports","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/category\/national-reports\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/image6.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/image6.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/image6.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2021\/05\/image6.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1076,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92\/revisions\/1076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/23\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}