Tony Hale, Jessie Mueller, Leslie Kritzer to Star in Paddington on Broadway

Initial casting has been announced for Paddington‘s Broadway debut at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. Previews begin March 30, in advance of an April 18 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 as Mrs. Brown, Drew Gehling as Mr. Brown, Tony Hale as Mr. Curry, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer as Millicent Clyde, Karen Ziemba as Mrs. Bird, Chip Zien as Mr. Gruber, Serena Parrish as Judy Brown, Zonya Love as Tanya, Kelvin Dukes as Tony, Allison Guinn as Lady Sloane, and J. Quinton Johnson as Grant.

Additional casting will be announced in the coming weeks.

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.

In Paddington the Musical, a lost bear from Peru arrives in London looking for a home. A chance encounter with the Brown family leads Paddington into a world of adventure, but a mysterious villain has set her sights on him…