Two-time Emmy nominee Tom Warburton (Muppet Babies) is the executive producer and supervising director of the new family animated series Kindergarten: The Musical. It premieres Tuesday Sept. 3 at 8am on Disney Junior and 11am on Disney Channel. Episodes are also available Wednesday Sept. 4 on Disney+. Warburton discusses crafting a high-spirited and authentic musical presentation of the kindergarten experience. (Images Courtesy: Disney)

Tom Warburton: It’s really exciting. To have a show that is really about music and the kindergarten experience and all those emotions that come with it has been really exciting. In most shows, the songs are really a comment on the story. They’re “Yay, we did it.” In this show, the songs really are the story. And that’s what’s really exciting about it, that we get to tell these great kids stories about friendship, about learning all these new things with these songs and get to experience it through the eyes of these kids.

Jackson Murphy: It’s sweet. It’s a great companion piece for parents with kids who are going through the kindergarten experience. There’s a lot I want to dissect out of this. I guess the first thing I want to ask you is, What do you think fascinates kids about musicals? Why do you think so many young kids look at musicals and look at musical theater and go, “Wow, this is something interesting and that I can really enjoy and want to be a part of?”

TW: Song is such a natural part of all of us. And for kids, they don’t know how to explain their emotions. This is all new to them and hearing the song makes it come out in this super special, beautiful way that kids and adults latch onto too. The musical theater thing is really about putting what’s in your head and singing it out to the world, to the back of the theater. Letting everyone know how you feel. What your issues are with what’s going on and how to fix it. Or how to let people know. And what’s so amazing about “Kindergarten: The Musical” is that we get to see these kids… In the middle, it’s not like we say, “I think I feel a song coming on”. We naturally get into what these kids are thinking with these songs. And that’s what’s so fun about it.

JM: You’re right that there are a lot of emotions that these kids have, and what you do in the first episode is you take us through the first day for these kids, including Berti. And we get to experience with them, the highs, the lows, and how they’re learning to interact with new people in their lives and experience a new environment. You put excellent focus on that experience in that first episode

TW: To do an episode about Berti, our lead character, about her first day at school, she’s been waiting for Kindergarten her whole life… all five years she’s been waiting and it’s here… and then it’s not exactly what she expects. She’s having trouble raising her hand. She’s having trouble meeting friends. And suddenly she wants to go home. And I think we’ve all been there at school before where “I don’t know if I can handle this. I want my mom and my dad. I want my dog.” Eventually, Ms. Moreno, who’s this awesome teacher, and the friends she’s met, Rose and Radish and the others, show her that there’s hard times, but they’re here to help. And that’s what’s amazing to show that even through hard times, your friends will help you get through it. And with some songs to help.

JM: Sure. I remember when I was younger being in classrooms with trees at the center. It’s a reading tree. It’s a learning environment. A lot of design and detail and effort I’m sure went into what makes the best quality of a kindergarten room.

TW: Yeah. We wanted to make the most awesome kindergarten classroom that any kid would want to be in. I love trees. So I wanted to put a tree in the middle there. And one of my mandates was I needed enough room in this kindergarten class for the kids to sing and dance. We’ve got nine kids in this classroom, and if they’re going to get up from their tables and sing about their favorite food or what’s going on in class that day we need room for the choreography. So I was constantly telling the designers “Bigger, open it up more up, give me a space here.” Almost every little bit of the school can function as a stage. There are these little sections where the kids — either all of them or one of them — even Albert Applesauce the class pet, the Guinea Pig. This is a secret. There’s a secret Albert in every episode. Hidden somewhere in the episode, Albert is out of his cage somewhere.

JM: That’s fun for kids to take a look at. Absolutely. My cousin just graduated from kindergarten in June and is excited to go into first grade. And we heard so many wonderful stories over the past year about his experience being in kindergarten. And so for you, when you work on this show and going into the production of this show, what kindergarten memories did this all bring back for you?

TW: All those emotions. I remember… I wanted to play with this big wooden truck that was there. And some kid that was bigger than me got to it first and I didn’t get to play with the truck. And I remember being really sad about that. Also, I have two boys and Michelle [Lewis] and Dan [Petty], [two of our] musicians on the show…. their son, Jackson, and my son, Kelly, were in the same kindergarten class together. They’re in all their grade school classes, but we met in that kindergarten classroom. And that was really cool to have that experience. And we had never worked together until this project. So it was really cool to know that we started a show called “Kindergarten: The Musical” after meeting each other in the kindergarten class with our kids.

JM: Wow. That’s wild. There are a number of songs in each episode, and you have the freedom to go hand-drawn with some of the animation. Because the show is in CG, but you go hand-drawn with some of these musical sequences. Tell me about the choice behind that and the freedom that gives you.

TW: Because it is in kindergarten, we don’t really go to the kids’ homes — in other seasons, we might want to do that — but really, it’s in the classroom or it’s on the playground. And because this is a show about high emotions, we wanted to be able to go anywhere. These kids have big imaginations. And if we want them all to change costumes and go to crazy fun places, we wanted that option to draw these really fun things in different styles. Do things in different worlds. It’s limitless what you can do with the 2D. And we’ve got nine kids in the classroom. Anytime we do a costume change, that becomes a big issue in CG. In 2D, it gives us an option to do it much easier. So it’s a really fun idea to be able to go outside the classroom like that.

JM: That’s cool. When I was younger, I was in a classroom of 22 other kids, but I get why you have nine, because it takes all the work. And already, as I’ve seen in a couple of the episodes, the three sets of three works visually in some of the songs and some of the things that you do.

TW: Yeah. We’ve got great stories where sometimes it’s a story involving the whole class. Sometimes it’s just about one character and the other kids filter in and out. Sometimes it’s a buddy show with two of them. Sometimes it’s three, but it’s really a great, really fun group of kids. The actors that play them are all really talented, really smart, really funny and they just breathe so much life into these characters. It’s such a joy to work with them. Yeah.

JM: And you’ve got a good cast with you. A lot of people in the music world. Aloe Blacc is in the cast [as Berti’s dad]. His version of the “Candyman” song you did with the M&Ms years ago is fantastic. So you really went all in on strong music people to help bring that aspect of the show out there.

TW: We have four musicians on the show. The EPs are all really talented musicians who come from all walks of the music life. Charlton Pettus is the touring guitarist for Tears for Fears. Dan Petty has worked with Britney Spears. Kay Hanley is in the band Letters to Cleo. Michelle Lewis is involved with ASCAP. They’re four really super talented people, and for them to come together to build these songs has really been impressive. I’ve worked with so many musicians over the years and I’m honored that I get to see them craft these songs. And so many of them… over 150 songs in one season is insanity, but they knocked it out of the park. Just when you thought they couldn’t top themselves… Every two weeks, they’re writing another three songs, and I would get the songs and I’d be like, “They can’t hit home runs all the time”. But they did!

JM: That’s amazing. I think this show is a wonderful companion piece for parents going through this. Also kids who are currently going through kindergarten and something to look forward to for the younger kids — for the three year olds who are going to be watching this. So did you constantly have all of that in mind? Kind of juggling wanting to make sure this works for everybody who hasn’t been in kindergarten yet or who is currently in kindergarten?

TW: Yeah. Kindergarten is an amazing place. It’s the first time you go to school, and we wanted to present it as this magical, wonderful place that will get kids on their way to kindergarten super psyched. The kids who are in kindergarten… I think they might be a little disappointed when they get to school and there’s not all this singing in real life… but we want to show them that they can relate to all the things happening in this classroom. I’m sure these kids are going to say, “Oh that happened to me! And I love how Bertie and her friends solved that!” And then the older kids are going to look back at it and say, “I remember that. That was really exciting.” And adults too. These songs are so, so amazing and suck you in. They’re going to see all the emotions their kids had played out in this musical world. So it really is one of those shows that’s for everyone because it is a musical, and musicals are a great way to experience life.

JM: And I hope this show inspires schools to keep music in the classrooms.

TW: Yes!

JM: Having the closing credits Of each episode with the kids on the stage is really sweet. That’s a nice touch.

TW: Thank you so much. This project has been such a joy to build this world, to see how these characters deal with their first time in kindergarten. And I can’t wait for people to see it because it’s going to blow a lot of kids’ minds just how much fun it is.