Sheira & Loli's Dittydoodle Works
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Sheira & Loli's Dittydoodle Works is a half-hour weekly children's series for preschoolers airing nationally on public television stations in the United States. The series is produced by Rogar Studios, in association with WLIW in New York City.
Originating in a magical musical factory, rag doll twins Sheira and Loli are the hosts in the world they share with their friends: resident visual artist Miss Molly, Doodles the wise-cracking crayon, eccentric but brilliant Professor Eeky Eeky Kronk, the good-natured troublemaker Zippy the Kwirk, and the child-like factory helpers, Professor Squeeky Squeeky Kronk (introduced in season 2) and the Funkins (Pink-a-Dink and Bluedles).
Celebrity guests for the first season include pianist/composer Marvin Hamlisch, who helps a discouraged Loli with her piano lessons in "Practice, Patience and Persistence" (episode #104), and R&B singer Chaka Khan as Mother Nature in "Four Leaf Clover" (episode #115).
Sheira & Loli's Dittydoodle Works features music written and performed by the real-life inspiration for the series' main characters, twins Sheira and Leora "Loli" Brayer. The sisters' performances on Sheira & Loli's Ditties for Little Kiddies-Volume #1, and Dittydoodle Works Celebrates the Holidays garnered two iParenting Media Awards.[1]
The characters' diverse personalities are designed to provide opportunities to teach positive emotional, social, and educational lessons as young viewers learn, along with the characters, about self-esteem, cooperation, relationships, fitness, and concepts about nature, the physical world, and literacy.
[edit] Background
The characters were introduced to public television audiences on WLIW as a series of music video shorts between children's programs, which were nominated for a New York Emmy and received a New York State Broadcasters Award. The creative team includes veterans of some of the most notable and award-winning productions to come out of Broadway, dance, film, and public and cable television. This multiple Emmy Award-winning team includes Mark Saltzman, a former writer at Sesame Street for nearly a decade; Alan Adelman, lighting designer of numerous television and stage productions, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Great Performances, Live from Lincoln Center, and more; and Dean Gordon of the popular PBS children's series Between the Lions. Joseph Baker, one of Broadway's most sought-after composers and arrangers, oversees the series' music with Sheira Brayer. Baker has worked on such Broadway hits as Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, and The Lion King.
