Paddington’s Broadway cast has been announced

Initial casting has been announced for Paddington‘s Broadway debut at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. Previews will begin on 30 March, in advance of an 18 April opening.

Olivier Award winners James Hameed and Arti Shah will make their Broadway debuts in the title role, with Shah performing the role on stage and Hameed providing the off-voice of Paddington and serving as his remote puppeteer.

They will be joined by Jessie Mueller and Drew Gehling as Mrs Brown and Mr Brown (reuniting after originating the roles of Jenna and Dr Pomatter in Waitress), Tony Hale as Mr Curry, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer as Millicent Clyde, Karen Ziemba as Mrs Bird,  Zonya Love as Tanya, Kelvin Dukes as Tony, J. Quinton Johnson as Grant, Allison Guinn as Lady Sloane, Serena Parrish as Judy Brown, and Chip Zien as Mr Gruber. The full cast will be announced shortly.

The West End hit, a recipient of nine WhatsOnStage Awards and seven Oliviers, has music and lyrics by Tom Fletcher, a book by Jessica Swale, and direction by Luke Sheppard. It’s based on the Paddington books by Michael Bond and the recent film series.

Paddington the Musical will have musical supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Matt Brind, choreography by Ellen Kane, scenic design by Tom Pye, costume design by Gabriella Slade, Paddington and puppet design by Tahra Zafar, lighting design by Neil Austin, sound design by Gareth Owen, video design and animation by Ash J Woodward, and hair, wig, and makeup design by Campbell Young Associates.

The show continues its multi-award-winning run at the Savoy Theatre.