Linny the Guinea Pig, Ming-Ming Duckling and Turtle Tuck travel to Liverpool, England to rescue their favorite rock band in Save the Beetles!, a new primetime musical adventure premiering Monday, April 21 at 7 p.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon. Featuring the voices of Lenie Colacino and Tom Teeley from Broadway’s Beatlemania as members of a popular bug band, the mini-operetta is composed by Larry Hochman, who did orchestration for Monty Python’s Spamalot, and serves as lead composer on the series. The special will be released with three additional episodes on DVD on Tuesday, April 22,
Save the Beetles! finds the Wonder Pets skipping across the pond on a musical journey to save a band of mop-haired beetles’Jack, Pete, Greg and Wingo’who are trapped in a yellowish submarine tangled up in kelp. They free the band in the nick of time and are invited to be guests of honor at the band’s underwater concert in the Octopus’ garden. The half-hour episode also features a second new Wonder Pets! adventure titled Three Wonder Pets And A Baby! In this story, a piglet comes to live in the classroom and the Wonder Pets realize they must work together to care for the rather large baby.
The week of April 21 will also see three new The Wonder Pets! episodes debut in the series’ regular Nick Jr. weekday timeslot of 10 a.m. (ET/PT). ‘Save the Gecko!” will premiere on Wednesday, April 23, followed by “Save the Griffin!” on Thursday, April 24 and “Here’s Ollie!” on Friday, April 25.
Beginning Monday, April 7, Nick Jr. will roll out a two-minute sneak peek and clips from from Save the Beetles! across the various platforms, including Video On Demand, Jr. Video on Nickjr.com, and wireless carriers. In addition, new activities for kids based on the episode will also debut on NickJr.com on March 26,.
The Wonder Pets! from creator/exec producer Josh Selig of Little Airplane Prods. boasts an extensive lineup of Tony Award-winning and nominated Broadway composers, including Bobby Lopez (Avenue Q) and Jason Robert Brown (Parade). All of the music is recorded with a live orchestra and much of the dialogue is sung in operetta style. The ‘photo puppetry’ animation is created at Little Airplane Prods.
