\n\tBritain\u2019s favorite marmalade-loving bear will be hitting London\u2019s West End later this year.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cPaddington<\/a> the Musical,\u201d first announced in 2023, is taking shape, with the StudioCanal<\/a>-backed stage show now set to make its home at the Savoy Theater and open on Nov. 1. Priority booking opens May 13, with public booking launching on May 15. <\/p>\n \n\tThe musical is based on Michael Bond\u2019s first Paddington book, \u201cA Bear Called Paddington,\u201d which was first published in 1958 and also formed the basis for the hit 2014 feature that kickstarted the successful franchise (which recently returned with the third film, \u201cPaddington in Peru\u201d). <\/p>\n \n\tAs previously announced, \u201cPaddington the Musical\u201d comes from Sonia Friedman Productions, StudioCanal and Eliza Lumley Productions on behalf of Universal Music U.K. Luke Sheppard (\u201c& Juliet,\u201d \u201cThe Little Big Things\u201d)\u00a0directs, with original music and lyrics by Tom Fletcher, founding member of Brit band McFly, and a script by Olivier Award winner Jessica Swale (\u201cNell Gwynn,\u201d \u201cBlue Stockings\u201d)<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s such a privilege to be telling the story of such a beloved cultural icon,\u201d said Swale. \u201cPaddington is so much more than a fictional character; this special bear has come to represent hope, kindness and acceptance, so it\u2019s never felt like a more apt time to bring this story to the stage. And with such a dream team! Tom\u2019s songs are extraordinary, earworms on a first listen,\u00a0Luke is the most masterful director, and our producers are so incredibly passionate and dedicated, it really is a great honour to be on this adventure with them all.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAdded Shepherd: \u201cDiscovering how to bring Paddington\u2019s story to the stage continues to be an enormous privilege \u2013 with Jessica Swale and Tom Fletcher, it\u2019s been thrilling to see this show grow into something very special, packing an incredible new score and a heart wrenching script into a marmalade filled suitcase.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cPaddington the Musical\u201d marks the latest expansion of the Paddington brand by StudioCanal, which in 2016 bought the\u00a0Paddington\u00a0and Company Limited, which owned all the intellectual property rights outside of publishing. Since the deal, alongside continuing the film franchise, it has launched the successful pre-school animated series \u201cThe Adventures of Paddington\u201d and The Paddington Bear Experience in London. Meanwhile, Paddington is reported to appear at the U.K.\u2019s recently announced Universal theme park, although this is unlikely to open until 2031.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe are delighted that this brilliant team will be bringing Paddington to the West End stage with us,\u201d said Anna Marsh, CEO of StudioCanal, deputy CEO of Canal+ and chief content officer of Canal+. \u201cTheir collective gift in bringing \u2018Paddington The Musical\u2019 to life with such heart, humour, wonder and vivid imagination has been a privilege to witness and we simply cannot wait for audiences to discover the magic of this production. We are constantly thinking of innovative ways to continue Paddington\u2019s journey while honouring Michael Bond\u2019s legacy and his invitation to \u2018please look after this bear\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s favorite marmalade-loving bear will be hitting London\u2019s West End later this year. \u201cPaddington the Musical,\u201d first announced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,4884,257,25297,25298,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-45977","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-london","12":"tag-paddington","13":"tag-studiocanal","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114391687023655874","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}