THE British and Irish premiere tour of Disney’s Winnie The Pooh The Musical will play the Grand Opera House, York, on August 1 and 2.
Rockefeller Productions, in partnership with Royo Entertainment in association with Disney Theatrical Productions, opened the production at London’s Riverside Studios in March ahead of a tour that will run until September.
Created and directed by Jonathan Rockefeller, the show features music by the Sherman Brothers with additional songs by AA Milne.
After sharing the role of Winnie the Pooh in London with Jake Bazel, who originated the part in New York, Young Frankenstein actor Benjamin Durham is leading the cast on tour.
Eeyore, Piglet, Rabbit, Owl, Kanga and Roo will be brought to life by an ensemble of performers, including Laura Bacon(Britain’s Got Talent, Star Wars); Harry Boyd (The Play That Goes Wrong, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story); Alex Cardall (Evita, The Osmonds: A New Musical); Chloe Gentles(Mamma Mia!, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical); Lottie Grogan (Smurfs Save Spring: The Musical, The Lips For Puppets With Guys) and Robbie Noonan (Avenue Q UK tour).
Deep in the Hundred Acre Wood, a new adventure will unfold with life-size puppetry. AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh, Christopher Robin and their best friends Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit and Owl – and Tigger too! – will feature in Rockefeller’s musical stage adaptation.
Accompanying the modern narrative will be an original score by Nate Edmondson, featuring 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 AA Milne’s The More It Snows (featuring music by Carly Simon) and Sing Ho in a new arrangement.
Family entertainment creator Jonathan Rockefeller’s puppetry has featured in productions of The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show, Paddington Gets In A Jam and Sesame Street The Musical.
The show’s New York run in 2021 broke theatre box-office records for the largest advance. Now it is heading to York for performances at 5pm on August 1 and 11am and 2pm the next day. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.