Paddington The Musical Announces Principal Broadway Cast

Paddington The Musical has announced who’s joining the bear on Broadway, with Tony Hale, Jessie Mueller and Drew Gehling among the principal cast. Previews begin March 30, 2027, ahead of an April 18 opening at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.

James Hameed and Arti Shah will reprise their Olivier Award-winning performances from the original West End cast. Hameed will play Young Man and provide Paddington’s voice and remote puppetry, while Shah will bring the bear to life onstage. The pair jointly won Best Actor in a Musical for the role, one of seven Olivier Awards for the production, including Best New Musical.

Three-time Emmy Award winner Hale (Veep) will play Mr. Curry. Tony Award winner Mueller (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) and Gehling (Waitress) will play Mrs. and Mr. Brown, with Serena Parrish making their Broadway debut as Judy Brown. Tony Award winner Karen Ziemba (Contact) will play Mrs. Bird, and Chip Zien (Into the Woods) will play Mr. Gruber.

The principal cast also includes Allison Guinn (Operation Mincemeat) as Lady Sloane, J. Quinton Johnson (Hamilton) as Grant, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer (Spamalot) as Millicent Clyde, Zonya Love (The Color Purple) as Tanya and Kelvin Dukes (America’s Got Talent) in his Broadway debut as Tony. Additional casting will be announced.

In Paddington The Musical, a small, lost bear from Peru arrives in London in search of a place to call home. A chance encounter with the Browns leads him into an unexpected world of adventure, where kindness has the power to change lives and strangers can become family.

Based on Michael Bond’s A Bear Called Paddington and the film Paddington, the musical features music and lyrics by Tom Fletcher, a book by Jessica Swale, direction by Luke Sheppard and choreography by Ellen Kane. Tahra Zafar designed Paddington and the puppets.

Tickets are on sale at the official show website.