But the team who have put together this prime slice of family entertainment really have looked after Michael Bond’s beloved bear.
Imaginatively directed by Luke Sheppard, this joyful, hankie-wringing show oozes sweetness and charm like an overfilled marmalade sandwich.
There are great performances, lashings of very British wit, a full slate of original songs by Tom Fletcher, and a timely message about the importance of kindness and welcoming strangers. (Look away Nigel Farage!)
Jessica Swale’s smart book – based on both Bond’s original A Bear Called Paddington and the first movie – packs in the emotion and jeopardy while amping up the female roles – especially a menopausal Mrs Brown (Amy Ellen Richardson) who feels her wings have been clipped by family life. (One Page at A Time)
And Tom Pye’s colourful set makes the tourist notion of London another character, with a Black cab taking centre stage, projections of city landmarks, and red phone boxes and letterboxes popping up amid Beefeaters and jiving residents during the Calypso-tinged The Rhythm of London.
At first these Londoners are too rude and busy to notice the forlorn bear just arrived off the boat. Expressively played on stage by Arti Shah, in a suit with animatronic facial expressions, Paddington is sweetly voiced by James Hameed who also acts as remote puppeteer.
He appears at first as another customer in Mr Gruber’s shop and shadows his bear alter ego, before moving off stage remote puppeteer. Teddy Kempner’s Mr Gruber – a child refugee on the Kindertransport – is another poignant touchstone whose ‘curiosities’ are the lost objects of diverse Londoners.
The show has several terrific set pieces; Paddington’s paw-dropping arrival in Windsor Gardens breaking everything in sight (Don’t Touch That), the Act II opener Marmalade, complete with twirling oranges, marmalade fountain, and catchy chorus – and the mobilised Colonial types from The Geographer’s Guild marching on the Natural History Museum.
Victoria Hamilton-Barritt makes a delicious, powerfully-voiced panto baddie as Millicent Clyde the manipulative taxidermist with daddy issues vying to stuff Paddington for posterity. (Pretty Little Dead Things.)
And who could cast Bonnie Langford as The Brown’s lodger Mrs Bird without giving her a showstopping high kicking, do the splits number with Tarinn Callender’s not so evil sidekick Grant?
The show is full of delightful comic moments, from Hank the cockney puppet pigeon who plays a pivotal role in saving Paddington to Tom Edden’s jobsworth but lonely Mr Curry.
Like any good panto it has something for all ages – the one gripe is it’s long for younger children and a few bits feel overstretched. But when the material is this good you wouldn’t want to cut it.
Paddington The Musical runs until further notice at The Savoy Theatre, London. www.paddingtonthemusical.com
