The Wiggles are bringing their Tree of Wisdom Spectacular tour to Montclair, New Jersey, this weekend, with three performances scheduled at the Wellmont Theater on Sunday, August 23 — at 12 p.m., 3 p.m., and 6 p.m. The Australian children's group, now 35 years into its run, is in the middle of a packed East Coast swing that has already taken the brightly colored performers through Pennsylvania and New York.
The Montclair stop follows shows at the Hershey Theatre in Hershey, Pennsylvania on Wednesday and the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia on Thursday, according to the New York Post. From there, the tour heads to New York City's Beacon Theatre for two shows on Saturday, August 22, before Boston's Wang Theatre hosts the group on Monday, August 24. The tour then crosses into Canada, with dates set for Toronto's Meridian Hall on August 29 and Ottawa's TD Place on August 26.
Purple Wiggle Lachlan Gillespie spoke with the outlet ahead of the run, offering a glimpse into what families can expect from a show built, he said, to hold the attention of very young kids without losing the grown-ups in the room. Gillespie joined the Wiggles' main touring show and the original Wiggles Celebration World Tour in 2012, which means he has now spent 14 years as the Purple Wiggle. Before that, he spent four years playing Captain Feathersword and toured Australia and New Zealand with the Dorothy the Dinosaur show.
What A Wiggles Show Actually Looks Like In 2026
The current touring production runs one hour and ten minutes and blends classic Wiggles hits and nursery rhymes with material from the group's newer release, Sparkle!: Circus of Lights, per the same account. That album centers on the colors, lights, and atmosphere of the group's live shows, and includes the song Inflatable Animals — a number that comes to life onstage with 30-foot inflatable giraffes and elephants walking through the crowd.
The show's cast of characters remains a draw for longtime fans and newcomers alike. Dorothy the Dinosaur, described as a rose-a-sorus who loves eating roses, appears alongside Henry the Octopus, an eight-tentacled character who loves dancing, and Wags the Dog, a happy dancing pup partial to dog bones. Captain Feathersword, the friendly and funny pirate Gillespie once played, has by the show's own lore sailed on the SS Feathersword for 34 years.
Gillespie's current castmates Anthony, Simon, and Caterina have been his long-term partners on stage, part of a lineup that has shifted considerably over the group's three and a half decades. Founding members Murray, Greg, and Jeff retired from the Wiggles after the Celebration World Tour, marking one of several major roster changes the group has undergone since it began.
A Franchise Built On Early Childhood Education
The Wiggles trace their roots to 1991, when founder Anthony Field started the group in Sydney while studying early childhood education at Macquarie University, according to Wikipedia. Field, who had previously played in the Australian pop band The Cockroaches, built the show's music, movements, and pacing around developmental learning theories rather than simply entertainment for its own sake. That educational grounding still shapes a live show aimed squarely at children ages 0 to 5, even as the production tries to hold the attention of all ages in the audience.
The group's reach today is difficult to overstate. Since forming, the Wiggles have sold more than 30 million albums and DVDs, published 8 million books, and racked up over 3 billion music streams alongside 5 billion YouTube views, according to Music Metrics Vault. The same tracking service credits the group with holding the record for the most ARIA Music Awards won in a single category, having taken home 18 awards for Best Children's Album from the Australian Recording Industry Association. In 2024, the group hit another milestone, releasing Wiggle and Learn: 100 Educational Songs for Children — its 100th album.
From Toddlers To Mosh Pits
The group's cultural footprint stretches well beyond the preschool set. In January 2022, the Wiggles became the first children's music act to top Australia's annual triple j Hottest 100 countdown, with a cover of Tame Impala's “Elephant” that interpolated their own classic song “Fruit Salad,” as reported by Consequence. That crossover moment reflects a broader trend the New York Post noted in its report: children are staying at Wiggles shows longer as a new generation of fans grows up with the group.
Original founding members have even held sold-out 15-and-up and 18-and-up reunion concerts across Australia and New Zealand, complete with mosh pits for nostalgic adult fans, according to Wigglepedia. Proceeds from several of those adult shows have gone to veterans' health charities including Soldier On.
In August 2021, the group expanded its core roster from four members to an eight-member, gender-balanced lineup meant to better reflect its international audience, according to B&T. That shakeup brought in new cast members with First Nations, Ethiopian, Filipino, and Chinese backgrounds. The following year, Tsehay Hawkins officially succeeded Emma Watkins as the Yellow Wiggle, becoming the first Black female performer to hold a lead role in the band, per Scary Mommy. Hawkins was recruited into the franchise as an award-winning 15-year-old Latin dancer.
Gillespie's Life Beyond The Purple Skivvy
Away from the tour bus, Gillespie holds a Bachelor of Arts in musical theatre from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and serves as an ambassador for Epilepsy Australia, a role tied to family members living with the condition, according to Epilepsy Action Australia. In August 2024, Gillespie and Red Wiggle Simon Pryce launched Wiggle Talk: A Podcast for Parents, a weekly series that pairs early childhood advice with guest child development experts, addressing everyday topics like routines, tantrums, and child temperament, as reported by Advanced Television.
For families heading to the Wellmont Theater this weekend, the Wiggles are just one entry on a crowded 2026 calendar of touring family events that also includes Disney on Ice, Blue Man Group, Monster Jam, The Price Is Right Live, and the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus, per the New York Post's roundup. The Wiggles also sell branded merchandise at shows, including t-shirts, jumpers, sporting jerseys, bubble wands, plush toys, and backpacks for fans who want to take a piece of the tour home. Tickets for the Montclair shows and other tour stops are available through SeatGeek, the New York Post's official music concert ticketing partner, which is offering $10 off purchases over $250 with the promo code NYPOST10 for a user's first purchase; pricing is subject to change, and the SeatGeek partnership may generate revenue for the Post.
