Karen Ziemba, Tony Hale, J. Quinton Johnson, Drew Gehling, Paddington, James Hameed, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, Jessie Mueller, Zonya Love, Kelvin Dukes, Chip Zien, Serena Parrish, and Allison Guinn (Photo: Emilio Madrid)
by Chris Peterson
I don’t know what kind of casting budget the producers of Paddington The Musical have to work with, but after seeing the names announced for the Broadway production, I’d imagine it’s a pretty big one.
And I'm not complaining.
Yesterday, the producers announced the principal cast for the show, which begins previews March 30, 2027, at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. And I have to say, I wasn't expecting this many recognizable names to be involved.
First up is Jessie Mueller as Mrs. Brown. I am a huge fan of Mueller’s. I loved her in Beautiful and Waitress. It’s fantastic to see her back on Broadway with her Waitress co-star Drew Gehling, who will be playing Mr. Brown.
I am also thrilled to see that Karen Ziemba, Chip Zien (original Baker from Into the Woods), and Tony Hale (winner of three Emmy awards for his work on Veep) will be making their Broadway debuts as well as several other highly regarded actors, including J. Quinton Johnson, Zonya Love, Allison Guinn, Kelvin Dukes, and Serena Parrish.
I mean, come on.
I’m also looking forward to seeing the rest of the cast including J. Quinton Johnson, Zonya Love, Allison Guinn, Kelvin Dukes and Serena Parrish.
One of the best casting decisions for the show is to bring over James Hameed and Arti Shah who created the title role of Paddington in the West End production of the show. In the show, Shah plays the title role of the bear on stage while Hameed provides the voice and remote control of the bear. The two actors have already won Olivier Awards for their work in the show and I am really looking forward to seeing how they bring the show to Broadway.
I’ve seen some great shows with great casts that for whatever reason did not live up to expectations. Having a bunch of Tony and Emmy winners on stage does not necessarily mean that the show is going to be great.
But Paddington won 7 Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical, so they’re coming with some serious momentum.
The reviews from London have been great, and what I’ve seen so far looks really good too.
But after this announcement, I'm a lot more interested. And apparently, we haven't even gotten the full cast announcement yet.
Good grief.