The full cast for Disney's Winnie the Pooh musical has been announced.

 

The UK and Ireland premiere will begin performances at London's Riverside Studios (Hammersmith) from 17 March, with an official opening on 26 March. The show will then tour the UK and Ireland until September 2023. Tickets for Riverside Studios and the UK & Ireland Tour are now on sale.

 

Sharing the role of Winnie the Pooh in London will be the previously announced Jake Bazel (who originated the role in New York) and Benjamin Durham (Young Frankenstein). Benjamin will play the title role on tour. The much-loved characters of Eeyore, Piglet, Rabbit, Owl, Kanga and Roo will be brought to life by an ensemble of performers, including  Laura Bacon (Britain's Got Talent, Star Wars), Harry Boyd (The Play That Goes Wrong, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story), Alex Cardall (Evita, The Osmonds: A New Musical), Chloe Gentles (Mamma Mia!, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), Lottie Grogan (Smurfs Save Spring: The Musical, The Lips for Puppets with Guys) and Robbie Noonan (Avenue Q UK Tour, Jack and the Beanstalk).

 

Deep in the Hundred Acre Wood, a new adventure is about to happen.  A.A. Milne's beloved characters, Winnie the Pooh, Christopher Robin and their best friends Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit and Owl (and Tigger too!), will all arrive on stage in a beautifully-crafted musical stage adaptation.

 

In a new story from the Hundred Acre Wood, this fresh stage adaptation is told with impressive life-size puppetry, exciting new stories and featuring characters that have played iconic roles in the lives of children for generations. Accompanying the modern narrative is an original score by Nate Edmondson, featuring some of the Grammy award-winning songs written by the Sherman Brothers for the original animated features, including Winnie the Pooh, The Blustery Day, The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers and Whoop-De-Dooper Bounce, plus A.A. Milne's The More It Snows (featuring music by Carly Simon) and Sing Ho in a new arrangement.

 

Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Adaptation is developed and presented by renowned family entertainment creator Jonathan Rockefeller (whose spectacular puppetry is omnipresent in the acclaimed productions of The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show, Paddington Gets in a Jam and Sesame Street the Musical).

 

Inspired by the beloved books by A. A. Milne and the classic Disney featurettes, the production was welcomed in New York in 2021, where it broke theatre box office records for the largest advance, with rave reviews where it was called “Enchanting!” (Time Out); “Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Stage Adaptation is magical, sweet as honey, and full of humor. It's a wholesome, delightful, enchanting piece of theatre,” (BroadwayWorld); “A perfect reintroduction to live theater. It's a captivating adventure with spectacular puppetry,” (Mommy Poppins); “Charming and whimsical stage show that Pooh surpasses every expectation I had for it,” (The Laughing Place); “Winnie the Pooh is delightfully first-rate,” (Theatre Pizzazz); “Irresistible. ‘Winnie the Pooh' is sweeter than honey,” (DC Metro Arts); “An hour of bountiful joy,” (New York Theatre Guide); “Mesmerizing and lifestyle puppets and original Sherman Brothers tunes, the beautiful new Winnie the Pooh musical is must-see,” (Theatrely); “The wonderful thing about musicals is that musicals are wonderful things. The New ‘Winnie the Pooh' Musical Is Sweeter than Honey,” (Toy Insider).

 

1 May – 4 June   Southampton Mayflower Theatre    

 

9 – 11 June  Milton Keynes Theatre                                                                                            

                                   

16 – 18 June    Birmingham Hippodrome                                                       

 

20 – 22 June    Sheffield Lyceum Theatre   

 

23 – 25 June    Brighton Theatre Royal                                                                                             

                                 

28 June – 1 July   Nottingham Theatre Royal                                                  

   

7 – 9 July  Richmond Theatre                                                                  

                                   

   

14 – 16 July  Aberdeen His Majesty's Theatre

                                

 

18 – 19 July  Edinburgh Festival Theatre

 

20 – 22 July  Glasgow Kings Theatre                                                           

                                                

24 – 26 July  Manchester Opera House                                                      

                              

 

28 – 30 July  Dublin Bord Gais Energy Theatre                                       

 

1 – 2 August York Grand Opera House                                                       

                                                                                           

 

3 – 5 August Cardiff Wales Millennium Centre

                                   

 

7 – 9 August Newcastle Theatre Royal                                                      

 

11 – 13 August    Guildford Yvonne Arnaud    

 

14 - 16 August Blackpool Grand Theatre   

 

18 – 20 August Canterbury Marlowe Theatre   

                               

 

25 – 27 August Southend Cliffs Pavilion   

                                   

 

29 – 30 August High Wycombe Wycombe Swan                                         

                                    

 

31 August – 2 Sept  Cheltenham Everyman Theatre   

                                    

 

Further tour dates to be announced.