The phone, the phone is ringing (a Wonder Pets review)
Posted by: Lizzie
I LOVE THE WONDER PETS. We’ve been watching this show for quite a while now, and there are so many reasons why it’s so fantastic. It has all the elements of a typical kid’s show: animals, music, and a good lesson. But it’s so much more!
The main reason I love this show is the format. Each episode is like an operetta, a super-cute operetta sung by three classroom pets, one of which is a turtle! I have a degree in music and was really impressed the first time we watched this show. The melodies are catchy and bright, with little recitatives interspersed throughout the story. The first time my dad watched an episode with me & the boys, he thought it was “so cool!” He’s a self-proclaimed musician, so he was also impressed.
This morning I started looking up information about the music of Wonder Pets. I learned that the resident composer is Jeffery Lesser, better known for orchestrations of “Spamalot”, “The Lord of the Rings” and producing the New Broadway Cast Recording of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”. How neat is that? An aside: Several years ago, I was in a local production of Rocky as Janet, and we used that recording as a basis for our show.
Little Airplane Productions, Inc., is responsible for “Wonder Pets” and I was pleased to learn that they also produce “Oobi!” another show that we loved to watch when we first had Noggin. The founder, Josh Selig won several Emmy Awards for his writing on Sesame Street. Talk about street creds! Sorry, bad joke.
If you’d like to learn more about “Wonder Pets,” Wikipedia has an in-depth article, complete with character sketches and an outline of the show. It’s everything you ever wanted to know about “Wonder Pets” and more!
