Disney’s Winnie the Pooh The Musical to open at London’s Riverside Studios ahead of UK & Ireland Tour

A New Adventure is About to Happen…

WINNIE THE POOH THE MUSICAL to open at

London’s Riverside Studios

on 26 March 2023 ahead of UK and Ireland tour!

London Pre-sale Now Open

(general on sale Monday 7 November, 10am)

Tour tickets on sale now!

UK premiere of Disney’s WINNIE THE POOH THE MUSICAL

Created and directed by Jonathan Rockefeller

Featuring music by The Sherman Brothers

with additional songs by A.A. Milne

Disney’s Winnie the Pooh will be coming to the UK and Ireland stage for the first time in Spring 2023, with preview performances at London’s Riverside Studios (Hammersmith) from 17 March and an official opening on 26 March. It will then tour the UK and Ireland until September 2023. Tickets for Riverside Studios on sale at 10am on Monday 7 November, with Tour tickets on sale now.

The UK premiere will be presented by Rockefeller Productions, in partnership with ROYO, and in association with Disney Theatrical Productions. The role of Winnie the Pooh will be played by Jake Bazel, who originated the role on Broadway.  Further casting to be announced.

Jake Bazel is a puppeteer, voice actor, writer and coach with over a decade of experience working in children’s media. Credits include Sesame Street (HBO/PBS), Disney’s Winnie the Pooh: The New Stage Adaptation (Disney Theatrical), Sesame Workshop’s Helpsters (Apple TV+), The 90th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with Disney’s Muppets (Disney/NBC), The 93rd Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with Sesame Street (Sesame Workshop/NBC), Duncan the Skunk and the Big Costume Trunk (Hellosaurus), The Very Hungry Caterpillar ShowPaddington Gets in a JamPaddington Saves Christmas, Sandra Boynton’s Frog Trouble, Jim Henson’s Dinosaur Train Live! and Sesame Street in Communities. As a writer, he helped to craft Disney’s Winnie the Pooh: The New Stage Adaptation.

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 and Paddington Gets in a Jam).

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).

Website: winniethepoohshow.co.uk

Facebook: @WinnieThePoohShowUK

Twitter: @WinnieShowUK

Instagram: @WinnieThePoohShowUK

LISTINGS INFORMATION

Disney’s Winnie the Pooh

17 March – 21 May 2023

Riverside Studios

101 Queen Caroline Street

London W6 9BN

For performance schedule and to book tickets, visit winniethepoohshow.co.uk or riversidestudios.co.uk

Tickets from: £25 (family ticket) with meet and greet options available

TOUR SCHEDULE

31 May – 4 June         Southampton Mayflower Theatre                                           02380 711811

                                    mayflower.org.uk

9 – 11 June                  Milton Keynes Theatre                                                           0844 871 7615*                                               

                                    www.atgtickets.com/venues/miltonkeynes

16 – 18 June               Birmingham Hippodrome                                                        0844 338 5000                                                

                                    www.birminghamhippodrome.com/                                          On Sale 28 Nov

20 – 22 June               Sheffield Lyceum Theatre                                                       0114 249 6000                                                

                                    www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk

23 – 25 June               Brighton Theatre Royal                                                           0844 871 7615*                                                                                                  

                                    www.atgtickets.com/brighton

28 June – 1 July          Nottingham Theatre Royal                                                      0115 989 5555           

www.trch.co.uk

7 – 9 July                    Richmond Theatre                                                                  0844 871 7615*

                                    www.atgtickets.com/Richmond  

14 – 16 July                Aberdeen His Majesty’s Theatre                                                                    

                                    aberdeenperformingarts.com 

18 – 19 July                Edinburgh Festival Theatre                                                     0131 529 6000

                                    capitaltheatres.com

20 – 22 July                Glasgow Kings Theatre                                                           0844 871 7615*          

                                    www.atgtickets.com/venues/kings-theatre             

25 – 26 July                 Manchester Opera House                                                       0844 871 7615*

                                    www.atgtickets.com/manchester

28 – 30 July                 Dublin Bord Gais Energy Theatre                                            0818719 377 (ROI)                                         

                                    bordgaisenergytheatre.ie                                                          08442485101 (UK)

1 – 2 August                York Grand Opera House                                                        0844 871 7615*

                                    www.atgtickets.com/york                                                         

3 – 5 August                Cardiff Wales Millennium Centre

                                    www.wmc.org.uk

7 – 9 August                Newcastle Theatre Royal                                                        0844 811 2121                                                            

                                    www.theatreroyal.co.uk

11 – 13 August            Guildford Yvonne Arnaud                                                       01483 44 00 00

                                    www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk/

14 – 16 August            Blackpool Grand Theatre                                                        01253 290190

                                    www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk/

18 – 20 August            Canterbury Marlowe Theatre                                                   01227 787787

                                    marlowetheatre.com/

25 – 27 August            Southend Cliffs Pavilion                                                          0343 310 0030

                                    thecliffspavilion.co.uk

29 – 30 August            High Wycombe Wycombe Swan                                             03433100060

                                    wycombeswan.co.uk

31 August – 2 Sept     Cheltenham Everyman Theatre                                               01242 572573

                                    everymantheatre.org.uk

Further tour dates to be announced.

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