Even for a man with a reputation for radical reinvention, David Bowie’s latest move is surprising: the former Ziggy Stardust and Thin White Duke is to contribute songs to a musical about a talking sponge.

Bowie is one of several pop names lined up for The SpongeBob Musical, a stage show about children’s cartoon character Spongebob Squarepants. Joining him on an impressive roster will be Cyndi Lauper, John Legend and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, along with a host of more alternative names including the Flaming Lips, They Might Be Giants and the Brooklyn-based experimentalists, Dirty Projectors.

“All of those amazing composers are fans of SpongeBob,” Russell Hicks, Nickelodeon’s president of content development and production, told the Chicago Tribune. “Music has always been an important part of the show and everyone saw this as a real creative challenge.”

The plethora of credible names on board the project – due to premiere in June 2016 – may seem surprising. SpongeBob SquarePants is, after all, an animated sea sponge who lives underwater in a pineapple-shaped house. But he has long held cult appeal.

The soundtrack album for the 2004 film The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie featured music by Motörhead, the Shins and the Flaming Lips. Liam Gallagher has also long been a fan, praising the cartoon’s psychedelic qualities and telling Q magazine in 2008 that Spongebob was “mad for it … he’s a fucking mental, full-of-beans, enthusiastic sponge that lives at the bottom of the sea”. There is even a hardcore metal band called xSPONGEXCOREx that performs songs inspired by the cartoon.

The Spongebob Musical will also feature songs by rapper T.I., pop punk band Plain White T’s, country group Lady Antebellum and Las Vegas rockers Panic! at the Disco.

Adam Blanshay, chief executive of Just for Laughs Theatricals and co-producer of the Broadway musical Kinky Boots – which has a score by Cyndi Lauper – thinks the sheer variety of musicians involved makes the project stand out. “I think the whole concept of having each song scored by a different musician is brilliant and iconic and has never been done before,” he said. “It will do nothing but attract audiences. Part of the fun will be listening to the score and guessing which song belongs to which artist. I think it’s a brilliant concept.”

Blanshay said he had “full confidence” that Spongebob’s pop artists would compose a strong score. “Kinky Boots had one of the most stunning scores – we’re very proud of that work. And if that can pave the way for more rock musicians to write scores, then great,” he said.

The SpongeBob Musical is to be directed by Tina Landau and has been described by its producers as “a rousing tale of a simple sea sponge who faces the unfathomable. It’s a celebration of unbridled hope, unexpected heroes, and pure theatrical invention.” It is set to open at Chicago’s Oriental theatre on 7 June, with the cast still to be announced. According to Landau, the actors will not use prosthetics, but instead will attend circus-style workshops to explore “how the human body can transform itself into cartoon-like characters”.

SpongeBob first appeared on Nickelodeon in 1999, running for nine seasons and spawning two feature films. The latest, SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, hit cinemas earlier this year and has raked in more than $311m in global box office takings.

Bowie’s contribution to the show will not be his only current foray into the world of musical theatre. Lazarus, a stage show based on Bowie’s The Man Who Fell to Earth, is due to premiere at the New York Theatre Workshop in December.

Although Bowie will not appear on stage himself, he is reported to have co-written the production with Irish playwright Enda Walsh. It is said to feature rearrangements of Bowie’s old songs along with fresh material. Of the new songs, director Ivo van Hove told the BBC: “[They] sound as if you have heard them for ever – like classics.”

Sweet music? When stars go celluloid

The Jackson Five

What to do with a hot young band fronted by a cute child? Well, Motown, in 1971 and 1972, gave the world 23 ­episodes of the Jackson Five’s adventures. Most notable was that none of the real-life Jacksons voiced themselves (though Diana Ross did).

Kiss

Never a band to turn down a potential revenue stream, they were tailormade for the cartoon world. Yet it was not until this year that animated likenesses of the foursome appeared – in Scooby-Doo! and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery.

New Kids on the Block

In 1990, at the peak of New Kids mania, the Boston boy band got their own cartoon – so dire it lasted just one seas­on and disappeared from the schedules, even as a repeat, by 1993. The boys also did not appear themselves, and actor David Coburn had the indignity of playing both singer Donnie Wahlberg and Nikko the dog.

The Simpsons

The only animated series to truly exploit the possibilities afforded by musicians, from superstars to cult heroes. Many have been complicit in jokes made at their expense.

Josie and the Pussycats

The fictional female rock band started off in comics, then from 1970-71 Hanna-Barbera TV ran the cartoon series. In 2001 the Rhino Handmade label issued Stop, Look, Listen, a limited edition album featuring the band’s unreleased tracks and alternate takes. Michael Hann