Lin-Manuel Miranda made American history hip for adults with his 11-time Tony award-winning Broadway smash ‘Hamilton’ and now he’s working his educational magic for a younger audience with Netflix’s new series ‘The Magic School Bus Rides Again’. The composer has crafted a modernized theme song for the revival of the 90s PBS hit, based on the Scholastic book series. The original series ran for four seasons, but has been rerun on various stations ever since.
You can hear the new theme song in this trailer just released by Netflix:
The original series found a fun way to teach elementary age children about various sciences and the new show ill continue that tradition, with episodes that explore the “Internet, the continents and even extend to the Sun itself.”
As you can see in the clip, the original lead of the show, now known as Professor Frizzle hands the keys to the titular conveyance over to her sister Ms. Frizzle, who serves as the new principal of Walkerville School. SNL’s Kate McKinnon voices Ms. Frizzle, while Lily Tomlin reprises her role as Miss Frizzle, at least in the first episode– although, judging by the trailer, Professor Frizzle’s adventures, with her sidekick Goldie, may also play a role in additional episodes. Tomlin also stars in another Netflix hit, ‘Frankie & Grace’ so it’s entirely possible that she will return for later episodes of ‘The Magic School Bus Rides Again’.
As for Miranda, in addition to this project, he has ventured into the world of all-ages entertainment via Disney, first contributing songs to last year’s hit ‘Moana’. He is also in negotiations to collaborate with Alan Menken on songs for the live action ‘Little Mermaid’, and is starring in ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ opposite Emily Blunt. On top of that, Miranda will provide the voice of Fenton Crackshell/Gizmoduck on the reboot of ‘Duck Tales’. In entertainment aimed at a slightly older audience, he is serving as a creative producer on a film adaptation of ‘The Kingkiller Chronicles’ book series, with a spin-off TV series to follow.
‘The Magic School Bus Rides Again’ will become available to stream on Netflix on September 29th.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
