Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 88F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 88F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.

Loren Stone “wears Rhombus slacks with high knee socks with the blue and red stripes, tight yellow shirt and red tie” while starring as the lead in Arizona Broadway Theatre’s adaptation of the cartoon “SpongeBob SquarePants.”

Loren Stone “wears Rhombus slacks with high knee socks with the blue and red stripes, tight yellow shirt and red tie” while starring as the lead in Arizona Broadway Theatre’s adaptation of the cartoon “SpongeBob SquarePants.”

When Loren Stone shares he’s starring as the title character in Arizona Broadway Theatre’s live action “The SpongeBob Musical,” he receives interesting looks.

“I tell Uber drivers I’m a traveling performer and an actor and I’m here doing ‘SpongeBob,’ and they always ask how heavy the costumes are,” said Stone, who hails from Pensacola, Florida.

“But we’re not in big, clunky cartoon costumes. It’s suggestive. The character wears Rhombus slacks with high knee socks with the blue and red stripes, tight yellow shirt and red tie.”

“The SpongeBob Musical” wraps at the Arizona Broadway Theatre on Sunday, July 17.

Stone said the musical often battles with those perceptions.

“People think, ‘It’s a cartoon show. I don’t want to go see it,’” he said. “But they would be pleasantly surprised and very moved by seeing the show.

“At the core, it is about what makes us different, that unites us and makes us special. It’s a story about friendship and community. It’s a universal thing that we’re all needing right now. There are some skeptics who write it off, but if they come see it, they’d be pleasantly surprised.”

The son of a former professional baseball player and an opera singer, Stone had the best of both worlds growing up. He played baseball until the “music bug bit” and he started singing in choirs and playing instruments.

“Ever since then, I haven’t looked back,” he said. “I knew it was something I was meant to do. All my skillsets aligned to be a singer, performer and actor.”

A self-proclaimed “huge fan of SpongeBob,” Stone admires the character’s traits.

“His optimism is something that is just so innate,” he said.

“He doesn’t have to work for it. That’s how I am in life. I feel that innate optimism. It’s been so easy to pull from that. I don’t have to question it. We all strive for material like this. We’re fighting against the public thinking this is a cartoon character brought to life on stage and that it’s not heartfelt.

“When you have actors who really understand how to bring out the human essence in a character like SpongeBob, Patrick or Sandy or the whole town of Bikini Bottom, it really adds a touch of humanness and they’re easily relatable.”

The SpongeBob role is a dream for Stone, who auditioned for the show on the East Coast. After all, he sees similarities between himself and the ever-positive SpongeBob.

“I drew a line from myself to the character,” he said. “SpongeBob is very much my type of person. There’s such joy. SpongeBob’s positivity is infectious. I couldn’t be enjoying this more.”

The plot of “The SpongeBob Musical” doesn’t come from an episode of “SpongeBob SquarePants.” It tells the story of an undersea volcano that’s about to erupt.

“They try to figure out how they’re going to save the town from being destroyed by the underwater volcano,” he said.

“It’s never been in the TV show at all, but this really brings the characters to life.”

Looking back on his years watching “SpongeBob SquarePants,” Stone recalled his favorite episode.

“It’s probably one of the first episodes where SpongeBob is introduced to Sandy,” he said.

“He’s already friends with Patrick. Sandy lives in a dome under the sea, and he convinces himself he can breathe air and doesn’t need water. It’s the first time in the series you get to discover the friendship with someone who’s not like him.

“It shows that you can still be friends with people with different opinions or have a different orientation of any kind. It’s amazing that they were doing that back when the season first aired.”

WHEN: Various times through Sunday, July 17

WHERE: Arizona Broadway Theatre, 7701 W. Paradise Lane, Peoria

COST: See website for pricing