Billed as the first glow-in-the-dark stage musical, John Tartagalia's Imaginocean is a touring musical featuring the adventures of three fish who are friends: Bubbles, Dorsel and Tank. The excitement begins when the three of them find a treasure map. Though Dorsel, chronically nervous and afraid of germs, isn't sure about it, they decide to go on an adventure to find the treasure. What follows is a journey of imagination and discovery as they search the deep blue sea in search of treasure. Designed to appeal to young audiences, Imaginocean runs about 45 minutes with no intermission. The entire production is done in glow-in-the-dark, using blacklights, allowing viewers to imagine that what they're seeing is really happening underwater. The show was created by John Tartaglia, who wrote the story, though the music and lyrics of the songs were written by William Wade, with direction and musical staging by Donna Drake. The show began touring 2014.
John Tartaglia's Imaginocean includes examples of:
- Disembodied Eyebrows: At the beginning of the show, there are two fish named Whipper and Snapper who are essentially the equivalent of Statler and Waldorf. Whipper's eyebrow on the right side appears to be disembodied.
- Gesundheit: At the beginning of the show, there are two fish named Whipper and Snapper who are essentially the equivalent of Statler and Waldorf. When Snapper introduces the show as "John Tartaglia's Imaginocean", Whipper says "gesundheit" and they joke about wondering just who John Tartaglia is.
- I Don't Think That's Such a Good Idea: Dorsel is this throughout much of the show. But there's a lot of Character Development, so he eventually gets over it.
- In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It: John Tartaglia was the original writer. Likely done for promotion, as Tartaglia's name is very recognizable as a puppeteer with Play With Me Sesame, as Lumiere on the stage show of Beauty and the Beast and as the star of Johnny and the Sprites.
- Pungeon Master: Whipper is this, making various puns based off of types of fish.
- Terrified of Germs: Dorsel is this. When he and his friends first realize that an audience is watching them, mostly kids, he worries that they're "germ carriers." When a treasure map appears, he has to read it for the group because he's the only fish of the three that can read human language, but he's worried that the map, is infested with germs. Later, as they perform the play's opening song number, "On Our Way":Dorsel: Who knows what we will find out there? There's danger waiting everywhere. And all those germs give quite a fright to me.Bubbles: There's an ocean filled with nothing but adventure.Tank: And coral.Dorsel: And germs.
- Worthless Treasure Twist: Double Subverted.When they get to the end of the adventure and seemingly find no treasure, they decide that the adventure they had and their friendship was the real treasure. This unlocks the real treasure, which turns out to be... friendship bracelets.
