Pearltang

Pearltang is the het ship between Pearl and Fred from the SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical fandom.

Canon
Exclusive to the original Chicago production of SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical, known as The SpongeBob Musical at the time, Pearl and Fred are friends. The exact nature of their relationship beyond that is circumstantially unclear, and open to viewer and actor interpretation. As Fred was created for SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical, he is a relatively new addition to the franchise. Currently he has not made any appearances in the cartoon of any kind, and as such he has not had any interactions with Pearl in the original series.

The SpongeBob Musical
Exclusive to the early Chicago productions of the musical, Fred Blutang was part of the ensemble cast. Productions following this, such as the Broadway productions of the musical or The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage!, had replaced the character with a similar character named Buster Blutang. Most information regarding Fred and his relationship with Pearl is taken from a bootlegged recording, early into the musical's overall history. As he is an ensemble character, he has no dialogue in the script of the musical and his personality is largely undefined and open to interpretation. His appearances and actions depend entirely on the performances he appeared in, and may not be consistent with how he might be portrayed in every performance he was present in.

Fred is largely uninvolved with the main events of the musical, mostly appearing during segments where the ensemble cast would dance with the rest of the cast or during other group shots. However, he can usually be seen hanging around Pearl throughout the performances he was present in outside of scenes that require the ensemble cast. After her father makes her cry at the end of Daddy Knows Best, Fred had been seen comforting Pearl while the two sit at the edge of the stage though the scene is out of focus. Then later on as the cast all celebrate the success of Sandy's Eruptor Disruptor, Fred immediately runs to pull Pearl into a hug. After their hug ended, the two could still be seen holding hands separate from the rest of the cast.

Fanon
There was a brief boom of interest in the relationship back during 2017. This was most likely as a result of the musical's fans making gifs of scenes from the bootleg recording of The SpongeBob Musical to celebrate the announcement that the musical was going to make it to Broadway. As there was new-found awareness of their interactions throughout the performance, many found their relationship to be quite adorable. With how Mr. Krabs had been characterized in the Chicago production, with his relationship with Pearl being much poorer than it was in the cartoon or in later productions of the musical, many appreciated the way Fred was shown to support her even if it was primarily in the background. Some shipped the relationship with a romantic angle, while others saw the two having a exclusively platonic bond, with no established consensus.

However due to the unique status of Fred's character, being exclusive to a specific production of a musical with no basis in the source material, the relationship has become increasingly rare to see mentioned in discussions or in fan spaces. Especially as the ensemble cast's characters differ from production to production, and many characters were introduced to the cartoon series that fulfilled similar niches in terms of Pearl forming emotionally fulfilling relationships. As such, the relationship can be considered a rarepair.

Fandom

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Trivia

 * Fred Blutang's costume design is inspired by Fred Rechid, a recurring minor character from the original series. However there are significant color differences between the two, and Fred Blutang is a teenager while Fred Rechid is an adult.