Hear 'Hamilton' star Renée Elise Goldsberry sing the new 'Muppet Babies' theme song (original) (raw)
The new 'Muppet Babies' premieres March 23 with two back-to-back episodes on Disney Channel (10 a.m. ET) and in the DisneyNOW app
Published on February 22, 2018 10:00AM EST
_Hamilton_‘s Renée Elise Goldsberry is making dreams come true.
The Tony winner sings the theme song for the new Muppet Babies, and EW has the exclusive first listen — and can also reveal that the new animated series premieres March 23 with two back-to-back episodes on Disney Channel (10 a.m. ET) and in the DisneyNOW app.
“The vibe is so fun,” Goldsberry has said of the song. “It’s like that wonderful period where music was really bouncy and really melodic.”
The new Muppet Babies — which stars Jenny Slate as the voice of Nanny — will feature adventures with Kermit, Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie, and Animal — as well as a new addition to the nursery: a purple penguin named Summer.
Disney Junior
Muppet Babies executive producer Tom Warburton says he worked closely with the Muppets Studio to create a new female character to play alongside Piggy. (Skeeter will not be a regular in the new nursery, but expect guest appearances from the likes of Statler and Waldorf, Bunsen and Beaker, Rowlf the Dog, Rizzo and Dr. Teeth.)
“It was me and our art director Chris Moreno sitting in a room just doodling and drawing, and I came up with this little sketch of a lollipop-shaped penguin with a turtleneck,” Warburton has told EW. “We probably did a hundred different characters trying to figure out who this was going to be, and when we came into Disney Junior with this penguin and a couple others, they immediately went to the penguin and said, ‘That one.’ We have that original drawing hanging in the studio now.”
Summer, who is voiced by Jessica DiCicco, is “kind of our art girl,” Warburton has said. “She’s super creative. She loves to draw, she loves to paint, she loves to dance — all at the same time. She’s the smallest of the group, but she definitely has the biggest heart.”
Additional songs from the series will be released digitally by Walt Disney Records on Friday.