For months it’s been the biggest theatre mystery in London. When the ‘full’ cast to the hugely anticipated new Paddington musical was announced several months ago, there was one very conspicuous omission: the eponymous bear himself.
Speculation abounded, from ‘a puppet’ to ‘something to do with Ben Whishaw’ to who knows what else (a very well trained live bear?), but with the show now having started its previews, all has been revealed.
Paddington will in fact be played by two people: the diminutive Arti Shah will don a costume to play his body, and James Hameed is credited as the ‘off-stage performer’ and will do both his voice and – as we understand it – remotely control his facial expressions.
It’s an intriguing mix of the very modern and the very old school – a remotely controlled all-singing lead in a musical is surely not something that’s been done much before, but at the same time it is also a small lady in a bear costume.
The stills do make Paddington simply look like a large toy bear frozen in a variety of poses, but that’s kind of the point really, and early word of mouth on Paddington the Musical actually suggests it’s pretty damn spectacular, like having the marmalade-loving bear in the room with you.
The show is in previews until the very end of the month – you’ll have to wait until November 30 for our review – but things are clearly going pretty well as the show has also just extended its booking period until next October.
Paddington the Musical is at the Savoy Theatre, booking until October 25 2026. Buy tickets here.
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