Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Adaptation is a one-act stage musical produced by Disney Theatrical Productions and Rockefeller Productions that debuted on October 21, 2021 off-Broadway at Theater Row in New York City. Following New York, the show transferred to Mercury Theatre Chicago for a 12-week run (2022), before returning to New York for an encore engagement. The show has now toured across the United States, including a six-week holiday season engagement at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles. Pooh & friends made their U.K. debut in March of 2023, breaking London box office records in the process. The Hundred Acre Wood then made its way across the U.K. on its first U.K. national tour. the show then went on a Australia tour for a few months and is now going on a tour in Netherlands and Belgium set to end in may of 2024 currently making it the longest tour ever. A Japan tour was announced for spring of 2024.
It utilizes life sized puppets of Winnie the Pooh and his friends to bring the classic stories of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh to life and utilizes the original songs by the Sherman Brothers.
This is notably the last Winnie the Pooh project released by Disney before the original book entered the public domain in 2022.
Original cast[]
- Jake Bazel as Pooh [1]
- Chris Palmieri as Tigger
- Kirsty Moon as Piglet and Roo
- Emmanuel Elpenord as Eeyore, Rabbit, and Owl
- Kristina Dizon as Kanga and Owl (left wing only)
Chicago cast[]
- Will Rupert as Pooh
- Josh Bernaski as Tigger
- Emilie Rose Danno as Piglet and Roo
- Frank Cesario as Eeyore, Rabbit, and Owl
- Carolyn Plurad as Kanga and Owl (left wing only)
Encore engagement cast[]
- Jake Bazel as Pooh
- Sebastiano Ricci as Tigger
- Vicki Oceguera as Piglet and Roo
- Emmanuel Elpenord as Eeyore, Rabbit, and Owl
- Tina-Kim Nguyen as Kanga and Owl (left wing only)
National tour cast[]
- Coldin Grundmeyer as Pooh
- Blake Rushing as Tigger
- Hannah Lauren Wilson as Piglet and Roo
- Luke Dombroski as Eeyore, Rabbit, and Owl
- Melissa Xiaolan Warren as Kanga and Owl (left wing only)
UK tour cast[]
- Ben Durham as Pooh
- Robbie Noonan as Tigger
- Lottie Grogan as Piglet and Roo
- Harry Boyd as Eeyore, Rabbit, and Owl
- Chloe Gentles as Kanga and Owl (left wing only)
Australia tour cast[]
- Alex Joy as Pooh
- Jake Waterworth as Tigger
- Rebekah Head as Piglet and Roo
- Andrew McDougall as Eeyore, Rabbit, and Owl
- Jemma Armstrong as Kanga and Owl (left wing only)
Netherlands tour cast[]
- Sjors Arts as Pooh
- Wesley de Ridder as Tigger
- Robin Ketelaers as Piglet
- Peppin Schwartz as Eeyore, Rabbit, and Owl
- Lisa Drinkwater as Kanga and Owl (left wing only)
- Laurens Vink as Christopher Robin and Roo
Japan cast[]
- Tatsuo Yokoyama as Pooh
- Yujiro Kazama as Tigger
- Emi Nitta as Piglet and Roo
- Takeyuki Suzuki as Eeyore, Rabbit, and Owl
- Miki Sawada as Kanga and Owl (left wing only)
Summary[]
The show's story spans the four seasons of the year. With Christopher Robin away at school, Pooh searches for a way to get some honey on his own. On a blustery Autumn day, Pooh decides to see if any of his friends have any honey. Piglet, who was blown away on a kite on the breeze, ends up joining Pooh on his search and they follow a swarm of bees to a honey tree near Eeyore's House. As Eeyores aren't built for climbing and Pooh believes he is too big, Piglet is sent up the tree since he is small enough to fit inside the hole. However, the windy breeze knocks Piglet out of the knothole, crashing into Eeyore's House. They decide that it is too windy to try climbing the tree. Eeyore, not seeing what happened to his house, invites Pooh and Piglet over to see if he has any honey and the trio soon find themselves getting lost trying to find Eeyore's House.
Winter arrives to the Hundred Acre Wood, which Pooh believes to be a specific person that is coming to visit. Being joined by Piglet on his search for "Mrs. Winter", Owl arrives and points them in the direction of a snowwoman in a sunhat. They try and introduce themselves to the inanimate snow creature, but think she's too shy to say anything back. Thinking they need an energetic friendly face to get her to open up, they end up chancing upon Tigger who is eager to impress the new arrival with song. Still unresponsive, they think that Mrs. Winter is too cold to speak, so Tigger decides to give her Piglet's scarf. When that doesn't work, they bring her inside to warm her up, melting her off-screen as the show moves on to Spring.
In the Spring, Pooh ends up asking Rabbit for honey. Rabbit decides to have Pooh help shoo people out of his garden in exchange for the honey. However, Roo is taking bouncing lessons with Tigger, who teaches him the Whoopty-Dooper-Loopty-Looper-Alley-Ooper bounce. When Tigger thinks Rabbit's garden is actually a perfectly manicured "bouncing field", he ends up turning Pooh's shoos into hoo-hoos and the three end up bouncing Rabbit's vegetables out of the ground. Rabbit arrives on the scene, honey pot in hand and drops it out of shock and anger. Tigger ends up suggesting to Rabbit that he can start replanting at a faster pace by simply bouncing the seeds into place instead of digging and he, Roo, and Tigger get to work. Pooh however is distracted by the buzzing of the bees and wanders back to the honey tree.
In the Summer, Pooh has found himself stuck in the honey tree. Piglet and Tigger have been playing Poohsticks by themselves in Pooh's absence, but they soon run out of good sticks. They visit Eeyore, who is trying to rebuild his home and soon find Pooh in the tree. Tigger tries to use bouncing to shake Pooh out while Eeyore goes looking for more help. Owl flies by and thinks the best solution is to just wait for Pooh to get thin enough to get out of the treehole. Soon Rabbit arrives with Piglet's kite and they tie it to Pooh's legs to try and pull him out. Successfully prying him loose, Pooh becomes entangled in the kite strings and flies off, landing in a bush where he reunites with Christopher Robin. Wondering what's happened in his absence, Pooh tells him it's a long story. Christopher Robin gives Pooh a pot of honey and the two decide to get the gang together to go on an adventure to find a Heffalump or journey to the North Pole.
Musical numbers[]
- "Winnie the Pooh"
- "A Rather Blustery Day"
- "The More It Snows (Tiddely-Pom)"
- "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers"
- "Sing Ho for the Life of a Bear"
- "Whoop-De-Dooper Bounce"
- "Rumbly in My Tumbly"
- "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers (reprise)"
- "Winnie the Pooh (reprise) (curtain call)"
- "Pooh Bear (instrumental only)"
Videos[]
References[]
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