London’s Paddington Bear musical is headed to Broadway next spring, with performances beginning on 30 March at the Al Hirschfeld theatre in New York, currently home to Moulin Rouge! The Musical. The production, which won seven prizes at the Olivier awards, is being packaged for another major commercial run even as casting for the Broadway version has not yet been announced. Tickets for the New York run will start at $69 and are now on sale.
Who Gets the Stage
The show is based on Michael Bond’s 1958 book A Bear Called Paddington and the 2014 film adaptation. It opened in London at the end of last year to many five-star reviews, received nine WhatsOnStage awards and won the Critics’ Circle award for best new musical. The machinery of prestige has already done its work: awards, reviews and ticket sales now move the production from one commercial theatre district to another.
Luke Sheppard, the director of Paddington: The Musical, said the bear "approaches life with curiosity, kindness and an unwavering sense of adventure – and what an adventure Broadway will be". Paddington: The Musical has a book by Jessica Swale and music and lyrics by McFly’s Tom Fletcher. Fletcher said, "The response from West End audiences of all ages has been unlike anything I’ve ever experienced," and added, "It’s a great privilege to welcome New York audiences into Paddington’s world of curiosity." Producers Sonia Friedman and Eliza Lumley said, "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."
Who Does the Work
In London, the bear is played by a duo: James Hameed provides the voice and is the remote puppeteer, while Arti Shah performs wearing the furry costume. Together they won the Olivier award for best actor in a musical. Tom Edden, as the local busybody Mr Curry, and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt, as the dastardly Millicent Clyde, also won Oliviers for their performances. The bear onstage is not a single body but a split labor arrangement, with one performer supplying the voice and remote puppetry and another carrying the costume work.
Casting for the Broadway run has not yet been announced, leaving the New York production still waiting for the people who will do the actual work once the marketing machine has finished speaking. The Al Hirschfeld theatre, meanwhile, remains occupied by Moulin Rouge! The Musical until Paddington arrives.
What the Market Is Selling
Tickets for the New York run will start at $69 and are now on sale. The majority of London performances for the musical in June and July are sold out on the official website. It is booking at the Savoy theatre until February 2028. The production’s movement from London to Broadway shows how a successful musical is turned into a transatlantic commodity, with awards and reviews functioning as the seal of approval and ticket sales as the real measure of access.
The show’s London run ended up as a long booking at the Savoy theatre, while Broadway is being prepared as the next stop in the circuit. The language around the production is all invitation and excitement, but the facts are simpler: a hit musical, backed by producers Sonia Friedman and Eliza Lumley, is being sold into another expensive theatre market, with audiences expected to pay and performers still to be named.