NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� The marmalade-loving, Peruvian emigree bear Paddington is on the move again. Next stop, Broadway.
鈥淧addington The Musical鈥� will play the Al Hirschfeld Theatre starting in March after wowing critics in London and winning earlier this year, including best new musical.
鈥淭he excitement around the show and the sort of joy that it seems to be bringing people has put wind in our sails and marmalade in our suitcases,鈥� says director Luke Sheppard.
The move is not entirely unexpected. During the a Paddington stuffie was brought out by Neil Patrick Harris, to which host Pink responded, 鈥淢aybe next season.鈥�
鈥淪poilers!鈥� Harris said.
Based on Michael Bond鈥檚 children stories, was written by playwright Jessica Swale and songwriter and author Tom Fletcher of the band McFly.
Paddington has been having a revival thanks to three successful movies and an in 2022, just weeks before her death. The bear recently graced the cover of Rolling Stone in the U.K.
鈥淭he films I think have looked after him brilliantly and allowed him to find an identity that lives in this moment and speaks to new audiences,鈥� says Sheppard. 鈥淲e鈥檙e very proud to be the sort of the next custodian of him.鈥�
The musical’s plot is about this orphaned bear who goes to London and is taken in by a kind family. He learns how to handle his neighbors and new city but they also learn about his big heart. 鈥淜indness is never complicated鈥� is one of the show’s lyrics.
鈥淚f we鈥檙e doing something it鈥檚 trying to spread kindness and that is such a simple thing that sometimes can feel quite difficult,鈥� says Fletcher, adds there’s a message of welcoming immigrants and strangers also baked into the musical.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 really special about Paddington is that coming from Peru to London looking for a home, looking for family, that鈥檚 a very real story for a lot of people,鈥� he says.
Fletcher has leaned on his musical influences 鈥� everything from the Beatles and Queen to the Sherman Brothers and Alan Menken 鈥� for a score that reflects modern London’s varied and diverse sounds.
Paddington 鈥� like his precious marmalade 鈥� is a national treasure in England but both are less well known in the United States, so the creative team will 鈥済et back under the hood鈥� and see what tweaks they may need for a New York run.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to take this opportunity not to fundamentally change anything but to consider this a chance to fine-tune and hone and upgrade,鈥� Swale says.
Its Olivier wins included a joint best actor in a musical award for James Hameed and Arti Shah, who together play the title role. Hameed provides the voice and remote puppetry, while Shah 鈥� the first woman to win a best actor Olivier 鈥� inhabits the bear costume onstage.
The New York Post called it 鈥渁 mesmerizing fur de force鈥� while The Guardian said 鈥淭his is the new 鈥楳ary Poppins:鈥� a well-known story imaginatively staged, immaculately performed and utterly winning.鈥�
It’s creators were pleased to find out that 40% of the audience for 鈥淧addington The Musical鈥� in London was first-time theatergoers and hopes to replicate that on Broadway, perhaps turning on a generation to live theater.
鈥淢ost stories are about a little girl or an old man or a very specific type of human and so an audience will naturally gravitate to someone who looks like them,鈥� says Sheppard. 鈥淎nd yet we鈥檝e got a bear who somehow becomes an Everyman and so his story really has something for everybody.鈥�
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