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Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SpongeBob SquarePants of course.

The Troup High School Theatre Department is putting on a production of The SpongeBob Musical. The show will open to the public on May 10 with shows on Friday, May 10 and 11 at 7 p.m. Matinee shows will also be available on May 11 and 12 at 2:30 p.m.

Area elementary and middle school students will get to see the show early starting on May 9.

THS Drama teacher Noel Jordan said the students have been working on the production since January and built the set themselves.

For Jordan, the production is extra special as it will be her last show at Troup High.

“This is the year I retire. So this is my last show, which is really bittersweet,” Jordan said. “I didn’t know this was going to be my last one when we started but I was excited about it.”

Jordan has taught for 29 years. She began her career in Meriwether County where she spent 17 years before moving on to Perry High School for a few years. Jordan has taught her last nine years at Troup High.

SpongeBob is and unexpected choice for her final show, Jordan said, noting she had never been a fan of the show. She said she never let her kids watch it and thought his voice was annoying but the Broadway musical won her over.

“We went to New York to see it. We try to catch four or five shows whenever we go and that was one of them. I just thought it was so cool the way it was set up and it was so colorful and big,” Jordan said. “It’s just different, I guess seeing it live on stage with people and I loved the message of it.”

“It’s just such a positive message about friendship, community, teamwork and working together, which is what theater is all about,” Jordan said.

THS will be performing a youth version of the Broadway show, which is a bit shorter and tamer, Jordan said.

While the kids did all the work on the set, Jordan created all of the costumes, which she said is one of her loves.

“I did decide on my design work after watching it on Broadway, which is incredible. It’s Broadway. But I wanted to do the costuming so it looked like the actual cartoon,” Jordan said. “The Broadway version they did like pants, clothing, and items that are reflective of the character but not actually the character. When audiences come to see this one, it actually looks like the cartoon up on the stage,”

Jordan said her mother helped inspire her love of costuming by teaching her to sew at a young age.

“My mother taught me to sew when I was very young. So now I do puppets and all kinds of things like big mascots and things like that, not just sewing clothing,” she said.

THS’s version of SpongeBob SquarePants will be performed for the public at the Troup High Fine Arts Auditorium on Friday, May 10 at 7 p.m., Saturday, May 11 at 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Sunday, May 12 at 2:30 p.m.

Tickets will be available for purchase at the gate for $8 for adults and $5 for kids, students and seniors.