It has been announced that a Spongebob Squarepants musical is on the way and some of the musical stars that are lined up to compose tracks for it may come as a surprise.

Amongst a roster including Panic! At the Disco and John Legend is the space oddity himself – David Bowie.

Bowie and Spongebob initially sound like a very odd combination but he is by all accounts a big fan of the show, even lending his voice to one of the characters back in 2007.

Nickelodeon, the owners of Spongebob seem especially psyched up ahead of the project. When commenting on the talent who have come on board with the project, President of content development and production Russell Hicks said: "All of those amazing composers are fans of SpongeBob.

"Music has always been an important part of the show and everyone saw this as a real creative challenge... We have a story and a subplot, but it's all spiced with the particular flavourings of the SpongeBobuniverse."

Spongebob is one of the children's entertainment brand's most popular and long enduring shows having run on their channel since 1999. As well as the TV show, the franchise has already been adapted into two films, the most recent of which being this year's A Sponge Out of Water. Whether this success will be translated onto stage remains to be seen but if the number of high profile artists linked to the project is anything to go by, it is sure to be a huge success.

The production is due to run from June 7^th 2016 until July 3^rd 2016 at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago.