The members of The Wiggles will always be kids at heart. For 27 years, the Australian children’s show sensation has educated and entertained millions upon millions of people worldwide. On Tuesday, June 5, the fun-loving, four-member group will return to our town for the first time in five years, bringing be-yourself positivity and sing-along jollity to The Granada Theatre. Founding Wiggle Anthony Field said fans can expect all the usual favorite characters such as Dorothy the Dinosaur, Henry the Octopus, and Wags the Dog, and of course, a team of Wiggle Dancers, as well as familiar songs, such as “Rock-a-Bye Your Bear,” and brand-new tunes. “It’ll be an exciting show for children, mums and dads, grandparents, aunties, uncles — everybody can come along,” he said. “We encourage everyone to have a wiggle.”
Since forming in 1991, the emphatically inclusive Wiggles (their name is taken from the way toddlers dance) have sold more than 30 million DVDs and CDs and eight million books and perform for millions of people each year. The current lineup features Field, Lachlan Gillespie, Simon Pryce, and Emma Watkins. Watkins joined in 2010 as the Yellow Wiggle and is the first female member in the group’s history. Her addition brought more fans and new audiences.
The Wiggles’ worldwide success all began in a childhood education program at Sydney’s Macquarie University. There, Field met two of the other original Wiggles, Murray Cook and Greg Page, as fellow teachers-to-be. Field recruited a friend from his former rock band the Cockroaches, Jeff Fatt, and The Wiggles troupe was complete. “Honestly, we were just preschool teachers who did a music project at the end of university,” Field said. “It was really about putting together a good album for children, in a language they understood, with actions they could do. It was a beautiful, happy accident.”