Paddington The Musical has its Broadway principals, and the producers have put a Tony winner at the center of the family: Jessie Mueller plays Mrs. Brown opposite Drew Gehling, with Tony Hale as Mr. Curry and Chip Zien as Mr. Gruber. The two Olivier winners who share the bear in London, Arti Shah and James Hameed, come with the show to the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, where previews begin Tuesday, March 30, 2027.
The 13 principals were announced on November 9 by the producers, Sonia Friedman Productions, STUDIOCANAL and Eliza Lumley Productions on behalf of Universal Music UK. Opening night is Sunday, April 18, 2027, at the Hirschfeld, 302 West 45th Street, and the rest of the company has yet to be named.
Who plays whom
- Kelvin Dukes as Tony, in a Broadway debut; he reached the quarterfinals of season 15 of America’s Got Talent.
- Drew Gehling as Mr. Brown, whose Broadway credits include Waitress, & Juliet and Almost Famous.
- Allison Guinn as Lady Sloane, from Broadway’s Operation Mincemeat and Tammy Faye.
- Tony Hale as Mr. Curry; the three-time Emmy winner is best known for Veep and Arrested Development.
- James Hameed as Young Man, and as the voice and remote puppetry of Paddington.
- J. Quinton Johnson as Grant, after a run as Hercules Mulligan and James Madison in the Broadway company of Hamilton.
- Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer as Millicent Clyde; her Broadway credits include Beetlejuice, Spamalot, which brought a Tony nomination, and The Fantasticks.
- Zonya Love as Tanya, whose Broadway work includes The Color Purple and Beetlejuice.
- Jessie Mueller as Mrs. Brown; she won the Tony for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and was nominated again for Waitress and Carousel.
- Serena Parrish as Judy Brown, another Broadway debut, after Off-Broadway roles in Parcel from America and Not Even the Good Things.
- Arti Shah as Paddington, the bear’s onstage performer, whose creature and motion-capture work on screen runs from Star Wars to Paddington in Peru.
- Karen Ziemba as Mrs. Bird, a Tony winner for Contact.
- Chip Zien as Mr. Gruber; he originated the Baker in Into the Woods and Mendel in Falsettos.
Shah and Hameed shared the 2026 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical for the role, and both are new to Broadway. Shah spent three years developing the character before the West End opening. Introducing the company, Friedman and Lumley said: “We really do have a dream company.”
The record the show carries across the Atlantic is unusually heavy. The London production won seven Olivier Awards in 2026, equaling the record for a musical, among them Best New Musical and Best Director for Luke Sheppard; it also took nine WhatsOnStage Awards and the Critics’ Circle Award for Best New Musical. It marked its first anniversary at the Savoy Theatre this month and is now booking there through June 25, 2028. A third production opens at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney in September 2027.
The story follows a small bear from Peru who turns up in London looking for a home, is taken in by the Browns, and has to be rescued by them when a villain sets her sights on him. Music and lyrics are by Tom Fletcher and the book is by Jessica Swale, with Sheppard directing and choreography by Ellen Kane. The design credits include Tom Pye (sets), Gabriella Slade (costumes), Tahra Zafar (Paddington and puppet design), Neil Austin (lighting), Gareth Owen (sound) and Ash J Woodward (video and animation). Broadway casting is by Jim Carnahan and Jason Thinger.
Mastercard and Capital One have also signed on as the production’s official payment and retail banking sponsors, with Capital One Entertainment packages for eligible cardholders that include reserved seats, opening-night access and a pre-show tea party.
Tickets start at $69 and are on sale through the production’s own Broadway site, broadway.paddingtonthemusical.com.
