On December 7 members of the original Broadway company of SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical were seen in a broadcast of the musical filmed in front of a live theatre audience. The SpongeBob Musical: Live On Stage! simulcast was broadcast on Nickelodeon, TeenNick, and Nicktoons and drew 1.7 million total viewers (factoring views from three days following the live event), according to the network.

In further ratings news, the show was the number one telecast for the week across the K6-11 demographic, averaging 3.4/751,000 across K2-11 and 3.8/522,000 across K6-11.

READ: How Director Tina Landau Found the Broadway Musical in SpongeBob SquarePants

The SpongeBob Musical: Live On Stage! reunited much of the original company, including Tony Award nominee Ethan Slater, who made his Broadway debut as the titular high-energy sponge. Joining him were fellow original Broadway company members Tony nominee Gavin Lee as Squidward Q. Tentacles, Danny Skinner as Patrick Star, Brian Ray Norris as Eugene Krabs, Wesley Taylor as Sheldon Plankton, and Christina Sajous (who joined the Broadway cast six months into the run) as Sandy Cheeks.

Rounding out the ensemble were Kyle Matthew Hamilton, Katie Lee Hill, Curtis Holbrook, L’ogan J’ones, Jai’len Josey, Kelvin Moon Loh, Lauralyn McClelland, Vasthy Mompoint, Bryonha Parham, Oneika Phillips, Jon Rua, JC Schuster, Abby C. Smith, Robert Taylor Jr., and Allan Washington.

The SpongeBob Musical: Live On Stage! is a musical production conceived and directed for the stage by Tina Landau, with a book by Kyle Jarrow, orchestrations, arrangements, and music supervision by Tom Kitt, and choreography by Christopher Gattelli. It was produced for television by Austin Shaw and directed by Glenn Weiss.

Nickelodeon vice presidents Paul J Medford and Susan Vargo served as executive producers.