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It was the biggest reaction to a star entrance I\u2019ve ever seen in a theatre. A few minutes into the world premiere of Paddington The Musical<\/em>, the (human) actors stepped aside to reveal a small ursine figure, who quietly took in the Savoy stage with his warm brown eyes, snout raised to sniff the air. Over 1,000 audience members gasped, cheered and ecstatically applauded.<\/p>\n We have been feverishly speculating about the Paddington mystery<\/span> ever since this West End musical, inspired by Michael Bond\u2019s books and the equally gorgeous films, was announced. While the rest of the cast, which includes veteran actress Bonnie Langford as Mrs Bird, and creative team, led by composer Tom Fletcher (of McFly), book writer Jessica Swale and director Luke Sheppard, was announced in advance, all info on the Paddington actors and designers has been kept top secret \u2013 until now. So, how on earth do you put a bear on stage? I wondered if we might see a puppet, \u00e0 la War Horse<\/em> or Disney\u2019s Frozen<\/em>, or a high-tech animatronic or virtual avatar.<\/p>\n However, the solution is deliberately theatrical. The show boasts not one Paddington performer but two, working as a team. Ahead of the bear\u2019s appearance a hoodie-wearing young man, played by James Hameed, sings, as the character, about his voyage from Peru. Hameed then departs and his voice (from offstage) emerges from the bear\u2019s lip-synced mouth; the actor also remotely puppeteers Paddington\u2019s face.<\/p>\n The bear is played onstage by Arti Shah, who is just under 4ft, inside a furry Paddington suit. The ground-breaking idea was posed to producers Sonia Friedman and Eliza Lumley by Oscar-winning Star Wars creature effects artist Neal Scanlan, and indeed the bear (designed by Tahra Zafar) initially reminded me of a friendly Ewok.<\/p>\n