He’s famous for his voyage from Peru to London, but it didn’t take as long as his journey to the Savoy Theatre.<\/p>\n
After nearly a decade in the works<\/a>, Paddington: The Musical is here.<\/p>\n And its star is walking, talking, singing, dancing – and offering BBC Newsbeat a snack.<\/p>\n “I’ve brought you this marmalade sandwich, but it’s only for emergencies.”<\/p>\n It’s the first public glimpse of the impressive bear, whose design was a closely guarded secret for years.<\/p>\n His fur is pristine.<\/p>\n His famous “hard stare” is piercing.<\/p>\n His face is so expressive, every twitch will reach the back row of an audience.<\/p>\n But if you’re looking for insight into his “magical” design and how he was brought to life, his creators aren’t giving much away.<\/p>\n Paddington’s design is inspired by Peggy Fortnum’s “delicate” illustrations for author Michael Bond’s 1958 book, A Bear Called Paddington [Jay Brooks]<\/p>\n When Newsbeat asks, everyone involved in the West End production gives the same response.<\/p>\n “Paddington is Paddington.”<\/p>\n And designer Tahra Zafar, an experienced creative whose CV includes Harry Potter, Marvel and Star Wars films, wants to keep it that way.<\/p>\n “I don’t want people to think about how we’ve done it,” she says.<\/p>\n “I just want people to love him.”<\/p>\n She does let on that the team looked at “some very innovative ways” to get Paddington moving, but says traditional puppetry was ruled out.<\/p>\n They concluded that audiences’ hearts wouldn’t shatter at the bear’s loneliness in London if he was literally kept company on-stage.<\/p>\n The theory is currently being tested as Paddington gets some preview performances under his hat before the show’s official opening in late November.<\/p>\n “I feel completely ready,” laughs Tahra, with a mix of excitement and relief.<\/p>\n “I love him to bits, but I want to share him.”<\/p>\n Tom Fletcher is juggling touring the UK and Ireland with McFly and Busted with launching Paddington: The Musical [Rachel Joseph]<\/p>\n Michael Bond’s original creation has broken and warmed hearts for generations.<\/p>\n A trilogy of films, with Ben Whishaw voicing its lead, made more than $500m (\u00a3380m) at the global box office.<\/p>\n But no previous adaptation of Paddington’s story brought him to life in such a tangible way.<\/p>\n And no-one had found his voice in musical theatre until producers set McFly singer-songwriter Tom Fletcher that task<\/a>.<\/p>\n “You can spend forever thinking ‘how do I write a song that sounds like Paddington?’,” he tells Newsbeat.<\/p>\n “You just have to trust that it’s going to come through, as long as you’ve done the research.”<\/p>\n Moments into Tom’s initial call with producers, he started composing a song that remains in the musical five years later.<\/p>\n “I think I wrote five songs in that first process and they’re all still in the show,” he says.<\/p>\n “I know on paper ‘that guy from McFly’ may be an odd choice, but I was in musicals from the age of nine.<\/p>\n “I never thought I would end up in a band.<\/p>\n “For me, this is a return to what I love,” he says, decades after playing the lead in Oliver! at the London Palladium.<\/p>\n As for Paddington: The Musical’s star, Tom first met him two years ago.<\/p>\n The bear’s design and technology waited in the wings while the cast and production was pulled together around it.<\/p>\n “You never forget when you first meet Paddington,” Tom says, echoing a sentiment almost everyone involved tells Newsbeat with a glassy look in their eyes.<\/p>\n “I just burst into tears,” says Tom.<\/p>\n “Once we met him, we all thought: ‘This is going to work, and it’s going to be so special’.”<\/p>\n [BBC]<\/p>\n Listen to Newsbeat live<\/a> at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays – or listen back here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source ca.news.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" He’s famous for his voyage from Peru to London, but it didn’t take as long as his journey to the Savoy Theatre. After nearly a decade in the works, Paddington: The Musical is here. 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‘I just burst into tears’<\/h2>\n
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More on this story<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n