Sponge Oddity: David Bowie helps compose ‘SpongeBob The Musical’

David Bowie, known for the intellectual bent of his music, is helping compose a musical based on cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants.

Chicago’s Oriental Theatre announced that the English rock icon and artist is leading an array of top musicians in composing the score for SpongeBob The Musical which will premiere there on June 7 next year.

Other musicians who will contribute material include The Flaming Lips and They Might Be Giants, two US bands with similarly eclectic interests, as well as 1980s pop superstar Cyndi Lauper, members of hard rock legends Aerosmith and singer-songwriter John Legend.

The musical adapts the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants, in which the title character - a talking human-like sponge – goes about his life in an underwater city called Bikini Bottom.

The musical will run for one month in Chicago before an expected move to Broadway in New York, the Oriental Theatre said in its show announcement.

Since its debut in 1999, the television series and its bizarre humour have been a massive success for Nickelodeon, the children-oriented US television network owned by Viacom.