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By India McCarty
“Paddington: The Musical” is officially heading to Broadway.
The musical, which premiered on London’s West End last year, will open in New York March 30, 2027.
“It has been the greatest adventure of my career to be entrusted with bringing Paddington’s story to life on stage alongside my brilliant creative collaborators Jessica [Swale, writer], Luke [Sheppard, director] and our producers Sonia [Friedman] and Eliza [Lumley],” Tom Fletcher, who wrote the show’s music and lyrics, said in a statement. “The response from West End audiences of all ages has been unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It’s a great privilege to welcome New York audiences into Paddington’s world of curiosity and I am absolutely thrilled at the opportunity for this very rare and special bear to be on Broadway.”
Swale added that she “couldn’t be more excited to bring Paddington to New York,” joking, “Let’s just hope Paddington loves Big Apples as much as he loves oranges.”
Related: Paddington Bear Comes to Life in ‘Magical’ New Musical
“Producing PADDINGTON: THE MUSICAL with our extraordinary writing and creative team has been an immense privilege,” producers Friedman and Lumley said. “We have been genuinely blown away by the response to the production so far and are thrilled to be bringing it to Broadway. As the home of so many of the world’s great musicals, there is no more exciting place to produce new work than New York, and we cannot wait to share Paddington’s world with Broadway audiences.”
A synopsis of the stage show reads, “A chance encounter with the Browns leads him into an unexpected world of adventure, where kindness has the power to change lives and strangers can become family.”
“But London isn’t all afternoon tea and friendly faces — and even the seemingly happiest of families can have cracks beneath the surface,” the synopsis continues. “So, when a mysterious and vengeful villain sets her sights on Paddington, the Browns embark on a thrilling rescue mission, realizing they need this special bear as much as he needs them.”
In an interview with Time Out London, Fletcher compared the beloved bear to the Beatles, saying, “I don’t remember the first time I heard the Beatles. I just seemed to have absorbed their music and at some point realised I could sing almost every Beatles song. I don’t remember the first time I saw Paddington, but it always seems to have been there.”
“When I got the job it was an amazing call to get. But then also…I’ve got to figure out what this bear that everyone loves sounds like musically, that is now on my shoulders,” he shared. “Paddington deserves it to be right and we [had] one shot to make this show right. I hope we’ve achieved it: this had to be the best work that any of us had ever done.”
American fans of Paddington can’t wait to see the beloved bear take the Broadway stage.
Read Next: PADDINGTON 4 Secures Screenwriters — And Possibly a Director?
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