Tom Fletcher of McFly reveals the details of the new show on stage

McFly’s star Tom Fletcher said he felt “overwhelming excitement” working on the new musical Paddington Stage, which the producers confirmed will open in November.

The singer-songwriter said that he hoped that the music and the words he had written for the show “would make Paddington Proud”, adding that the musical numbers are “my favorite songs that I have ever written”.

The show will open the Savoy Theater in the West End on November 1 and will follow Paddington when Peru arrives in search of a new house in London.

The musical, which has been in development for five years, is based on the original novels of Michael Bond and follows the recent series of recently successful films.

Speaking of the show for the first time, Fletcher told BBC News that he felt “so honored and lucky” to work on the project, which, according to him, would reflect “all the pleasure, the heat and the heart that the books and the films have captured so brilliantly”.

“There is something so magical to see Paddington go out on the stage, and see him … I was about to say in the flesh, but I suppose that in the fur is more precise,” he joked.

Fletcher is best known as a founding member of the Pop McFly group, whose successes include everything about you, of course and Star Girl, and is also a successful children’s author.

He was first approached about Paddington at the time of the first locking coche in early 2020, and worked the project with screenwriter Jessica Swale, director Luke Sheppard and producers before the show was officially announced in 2023.

With the musical now almost ready to be launched, Swale told BBC News that it would have “a lot of new juicy material”.

“We bring a lot of new flavors to the table, but of course, we are all in love with the original equipment, so we were faithful to our casting of characters,” she said.

“Of course, the Browns are part of it, and familiar faces like Mr. Gruber and Mr. Curry, but there are also a lot of new people. We have been very inspired by books and films, but we like to think that we cover new territories.”

The first book of Bond in the series, a bear called Paddington, was published in 1958.

The author then wrote 29 books Paddington in total, the last being Paddington in St Paul, which was published posthumously in 2018. The stories sold more than 35 million copies worldwide.

Fletcher said he knew the opportunity to find what Paddington’s “musical language” was. “Having something that everyone knows, but no one heard what it still seems is a really exciting thing to work,” he said.

He recalled that, when producer Eliza Lumley called him for the first time about the project, he not only immediately replied with “a” yes please “very fast, but started writing music for the show right away.

“While I was still on the phone with her, I had the idea of ​​a song, so I went and I wrote my first song that evening, instantly after having dropped out, and this song is still in the musical now.”

He thought about: “My instantaneous reaction was not intimidated, it was to be excited and so inspired by these stories and films that I already knew, I just jumped directly on my piano and I started writing.”

Paddington’s three film adaptations, starring the voice of Ben Whishaw, were a huge success at the box office since the release of the first in 2014.

In recent years, London has seen the Pop Abba group represented by virtual avatars on stage, while some animal film characters have been represented using more traditional puppet methods, such as Snowman Olaf in the scenic adaptation of Frozen.

It has not yet been revealed what approach producers will take to represent Paddington in the theater.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, it’s a bear!” joked Swale. “He travels from Peru to be part of our show!”

She continued: “I cannot give our secrets. One of the things that fascinate me most for this show is the character of Paddington.”

Swale attributes to producers Lumley and Sonia Friedman to “really experiment in any way possible that we could tell the story of the bear in the best way, and the magic they found in the way they do it”, adding: “Each time I see Paddington for the first time, it makes me cry.

“I think it is completely magical, and for me, it is very real. But I don’t think the public will be disappointed. It is a wonderful theatrical version of how to tell this story.”

As for the character himself, Swale noted the musical “also reveals the spirit and the policy of Paddington”.

“For example, Paddington is a refugee, so we want to honor the fact that he is someone who migrates to the United Kingdom and has no house, and ensure that we are aware of the experience of whom he represents.”

By the opening of the show in November, Fletcher said that the team would be “refined as long as possible, and make sure that we get absolutely correct things”.

He added: “I really hope I have done all those who like Paddington Justice … It’s so different from everything I have ever done before. I have the impression that this show is so ready to be in the world, it is the most special thing of which I have ever been part of my whole life.”

The 39-year-old man will be on tour with McFly and broke out when the musical opened in November, “so I’m going to go from the tour with the group, then I will rush to London to install everything,” he explained.

“It is a slightly eventful schedule, but we will make it work in one way or another. I could be confused and start singing Paddington songs on stage with McFly.”

The most important thing, of course, is the question of whether Paddington’s favorite food will appear or not in the adaptation on stage.

“You can rest easily,” says Swale. “Marmalade is not only in the book and the lyrics, but physically on stage in a spectacular way.”