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“And then we really see how a community handles crisis. And we really see how quick a community is to turn on each other in crisis.”

Of course, there’s more to “The SpongeBob Musical” — getting its Southwest Florida premiere May 19-28 at Florida Repertory Theatre — than its story of impending doom under the sea.

There’s also colorful set, whimsical costumes and a cast of wacky characters from the beloved Nickelodeon TV show and its movies, including the sea sponge SpongeBob, his squid neighbor Squidward and his buddies Patrick (a starfish) and Sandy Cheeks (a squirrel in an astronaut’s space suit).

And they’re all singing and dancing to original pop-rock tunes written by a team of famous songwriters and musical artists, including Sara Bareilles, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Alexander 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.

Each song is written in a different style by a different songwriter. And that variety of genres and dancing styles makes the show really fun to perform and watch, Maas says.

“It’s so energetic,” he says.

Speaking of fun, Maas says he’s having a blast playing SpongeBob, too. He considers himself an optimistic person, and he happily lets that spirit shine through onstage.

“No matter what the line, I try to always keep a smile on my face and keep it positive,” he says. “And the only moments where I’m not, the audience can tell it’s a really serious moment. … You really don’t see him down or sad.”

It’s Maas’s own joyful spirit that sold director DeCarlo on casting him as the title character. That happiness and optimism were there from his first audition.

“He had the spirit of SpongeBob,” she says. “It just came to life. The joy kind of came right out of him.” The geeky, high-pitched SpongeBob voice took longer to get right, though, Maas admits. Especially since his natural speaking voice is lower. Slowly, though, he managed to find that voice and make it his own — without outright copying the voice from the TV show, movies and original Broadway musical. “It’s kind of like drawing out certain vowels and emphasizing certain words and a higher pitch,” he says. “It’s such a funny voice to do.” Just don’t expect SpongeBob to be wearing a giant sponge costume onstage. All of the TV show’s “No matter what the characters line, I try to always have been turned into keep a smile humanoid on my face and versions of the originals. keep it positive.” So instead of a big square Landon Maas sea sponge,portraying Sponge Bob Maas’ SpongeBob wears a bright yellow dress shirt along with a red tie, suspenders and plaid shorts. That makes it a lot easier to march and dance around onstage, Maas admits. “It’s nice. It’s comfortable, too. It’s nice to not be in a big square (laughs).” DeCarlo hopes audiences leave “The SpongeBob Musical” feeling inspired by SpongeBob and his undying optimism. And maybe having some hope about our own, real-life crisis. “Everyone has been on such a journey these past 21⁄2 years,” she says. “And everyone has been on this uphill battle and fight to get back to quote-unquote normal. “I think it’s kind of a universal agreement: We will never get back to our old normal, but it’s now our job as a community to come together and create a new normal and kind of keep going forward.” Connect with this reporter: Charles Runnells is an arts and entertainment reporter for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. Email him at crunnells@gannett.com or connect on Facebook (facebook.com/charles.runnells.7), Twitter (@charlesrunnells) and Instagram (@crunnells1).