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Spongebob gets his own musical – with music by David Bowie, John Legend & more

In more weird news, Spongebob Squarepants, the asexual Nickelodeon sponge, is getting his own Broadway musical.

The musical, set to run in Chicago from June 7th to July 3rd next year, has no plot released as of yet, but is said to feature original music by many artists that we know and listen to. And while you might be accustomed to the tropical background music from the animation, it seems that the music will be featuring an array of original music from all over the music world.

David Bowie, Dirty Projectors, the Flaming Lips, They Might Be Giants, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, T.I., Panic! at the Disco, Lady Antebellum, Plain White T’s and Jonathan Coulton are some of the names that have signed up.

 

As The Guardian reports, the news was discussed in a recent Chicago Tribune interview with Russell Hicks, Nickelodeon’s president of content development and production. “All of those amazing composers are fans of SpongeBob,” he said.

“Music has always been an important part of the show and everyone saw this as a real creative challenge … We have a story and a subplot, but it’s all spiced with the particular flavourings of the SpongeBob universe.”

The musical is set to open on June 7 at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago. It’ll run for “at least one month, with an eye to a Broadway transfer.”