New Cast Set For PADDINGTON THE MUSICAL Ahead of West End Return

As Paddington the Musical celebrates its first birthday in the West End, the new cast has been announced that will take the company into their second year in London.

Taking on the role of Paddington Bear are Abbie Purvis and Hassan Taj alternating the role as the Paddington on Stage Performer, and Sonny Monaghan as Young Man/Paddington (Voice & Remote Puppetry). They are joined by SAMANTHA BINGLEY (Lady Sloane), Tarinn Callender (reprising his role as Grant), Alex Crandon (Hank the Pigeon), Linzi Hateley (Mrs Bird), Cassidy Janson (Millicent Clyde), Teddy Kempner (reprising his role as Mr Gruber), Sandra Marvin (Tanya), Haydn Oakley (Mr Brown), Marc Pickering (Mr Curry) and Charlotte Wakefield (Mrs Brown); and Poppy Houghton and Francesca Ratcliffe alternate the role of Judy Brown; Eddison Burch and Shayne Maphosa alternate the role of Tony, with Charlie Dean, Arlo Drage, Oliver Goodman, and Finn Leonard alternating the role of Jonathan Brown; with Esme Bacalla-hayes, Sarah Benbelaid, Millie Gubby, Helen Gulston, Daisy Hanna, Jonathan Hermosa-Lopez, Jacqueline Hughes, Kellianna Jay, Kwame Kandekore, Sam Lathwood, Andilé Mabhena, Kate Parr, Billy Roberts, Hugo Rolland, Eugene Shire, Vicki Lee Taylor and Kevin Tristan. Freya Rose is the Standby Paddington on Stage Performer. The new company begin performances on 28 October.

Sonia Friedman and Eliza Lumley said today, “It is an absolute privilege bringing Paddington the Musical to the stage with our partners from STUDIOCANAL, and as we celebrate our first year in the west end, it's a joy to announce this brand-new company. Shows like this don't come along very often, and we're continually in awe of how audiences embrace the production, and take this much-loved bear to their hearts. We know this wonderful company will make the show their own and continue to create magic on stage at the Savoy Theatre.”

The production is currently booking until 13 February 2028. Best availability for tickets is now from Summer 2027.

Paddington the Musical won seven Olivier Awards equalling the number of wins for any musical – winning Best New Musical, Best Director for Luke Sheppard, Best Actor in a Musical, Best Supporting Actor in a Musical, Best Supporting Actress in a Musical, Best Set Design for Tom Pye and Ash J Woodward, and Best Costume Design for Gabriella Slade and Tahra Zafar - the latter, who designed the bear. The production also received nine WhatsOnStage Awards equalling the record for the most wins in WhatsOnStage Award history – and the most for any new musical. The production won Best New Musical; Best Professional Debut Performance; Best Direction for Luke Sheppard; Best Set Design for Tom Pye; Best Costume Design for Gabriella Slade and Tahra Zafar; Best Sound Design for Gareth Owen; Best Wigs, Hair and Make-Up Design for Campbell Young Associates; Best Musical Supervision/Direction for Matt Brind; and Best Casting Direction for Natalie Gallacher CDG for Pippa Ailion and Natalie Gallacher Casting, Nick Hockaday and Annabelle Davis. Additionally, earlier this year, the production won the Critics' Circle Award for Best New Musical. A new production will open on Broadway in March 2027 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.

About Paddington the Musical

When a small, lost bear from Peru arrives in London in search of a new home, a chance encounter with the Brown family leads him to the wonderful world of Windsor Gardens.

But London isn't all afternoon teas and friendly faces – and even the happiest families have their cracks beneath the surface. So when a mysterious and vengeful villain sets her sights on Paddington, the Browns embark on a thrilling rescue mission, realising they need this special bear as much as he needs them.

Packed with show-stopping songs, dazzling choreography, mishaps and mayhem at every turn – and of course, marmalade sandwiches – Paddington the Musical is based on the iconic characters from Michael Bond's books, with a story inspired by the award-winning 2014 film.

Michael Bond's A Bear Called Paddington was published in 1958 by Collins, later Harper Collins – the first of 29 Paddington books he was to write, with the final one Paddington at St. Paul's, published posthumously in 2018. The books have sold over 35 million copies worldwide.

Paddington has been adapted for television several times – first by the BBC in 1976; and most recently adapted by STUDIOCANAL who have produced three Emmy Award-winning series of The Adventures of Paddington. Paddington has also enjoyed three successful big-screen outings, all produced and developed by STUDIOCANAL, a Canal+ company – Paddington released in 2014, Paddington 2 in 2017, and Paddington in Peru in 2024, enjoying critical and commercial acclaim becoming the biggest independent family franchise of all time.

Cast Biographies

SAMANTHA BINGLEY plays Lady Sloane. Her theatre work includes Jack and the Beanstalk (Key Theatre, Peterborough), Hey! Christmas Tree (Chichester Festival Theatre), To Wong Foo (Hope Mill Theatre), At Last, It's Summer (The London Palladium), Beauty and the Beast (The London Palladium/UK tour), Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year Finalist 2019 (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Voldemort and the Teenage Hogwarts Parody Musical (King's Head Theatre), and The Secret Garden (Ambassadors Theatre).

Tarinn Callender plays Grant. His theatre credits include Hamilton (Victoria Palace Theatre), The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, The Cat and The Canary (Chichester's Minerva Theatre), Bronco Billy (Charing Cross Theatre), The Odyssey: The Underworld (National Theatre), The Secrets Life of Bees (Almeida Theatre), The Drifters Girl (Garrick Theatre) and Come From Away (Phoenix Theatre). His television work includes Our House and Mama Youth.

Alex Crandon plays Hank the Pigeon. His theatre work includes Robin Hood & Maid Marian, Dick Whittington (Corn Exchange, Newbury), Cinderella (Salisbury Playhouse), Consent (Bridewell Theatre) and 3 Winters (Corbett); and for film, Love Without Walls, Love is Thicker Than Water.

Linzi Hateley plays Mrs Bird. Her theatre work includes Les Misérables: The Arena Spectacular (world tour), London Road (National Theatre), The Little Big Things (@sohoplace), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (The London Palladium/UK tour – also previously appeared in an earlier run at The London Palladium, nomination for Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical), Blood Brothers, Barnum (UK tour); Mamma Mia! (Novello Theatre/Prince of Wales), 50th Anniversary Gala (National Theatre); Les Misérables (Queen's Theatre), Chicago (Adelphi Theatre/Cambridge Theatre), Mary Poppins (Prince Edward Theatre), On Your Toes, Oliver!, Into The Woods, The Rink (Leicester Haymarket), The Secret Garden (RSC Stratford/Aldwych Theatre), Divorce Me, Darling! (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (Basingstoke Haymarket), Romance Romance (Gielgud Theatre), Grease (Dominion Theatre), Just So (Tricycle Theatre), Les Misérables (Palace Theatre), and Carrie (RSC/Broadway). Her television works includes The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes, History of a Pleasure Seeker; and for film, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, London Road, Les Misérables, A Christmas Carol, Julie and the Cadillacs. Hateley made her New York solo cabaret debut with Linzi Hateley:True Colors at 54 Below; has performed her solo show Broadway Baby across the UK; appeared as special guest to Betty Buckley at Carnegie Hall; as special guest to Lorna Luft on the BBC's Friday Night Is Music Night; and has recorded three solo albums.

Cassidy Janson plays Millicent Clyde. Her theatre work includes Once (Theatre Orb, Tokyo), & Juliet (Shaftesbury Theatre - Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical), The Mousetrap (St Martin's Theatre), Man of La Mancha, Chess (Coliseum), Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Aldwych Theatre), Dessa Rose (Trafalgar Studios), Candide, Tick, Tick... Boom! (Menier Chocolate Factory), Lend Me A Tenor, Avenue Q (Gielgud Theatre), and Wicked (Apollo Victoria). Her film work includes Moment by Moment, and The Hike.

Teddy Kempner plays Mr Gruber. His theatre work includes Girl From the North Country (The Old Vic, UK tour), Cabaret (Playhouse Theatre), Witness for the Prosecution (County Hall), Bitter Wheat, The Solid Gold Cadillac (Garrick Theatre), Caroline, Or Change (Chichester Festival Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, Playhouse Theatre), Driving Miss Daisy, Habeas Corpus, Measure for Measure (Theatre Royal Bath), 42nd Street (Théâtre du Châtelet), Vincent and Flavia: The Last Tango (UK tour), Dance 'Til Dawn (Aldwych Theatre and UK tour), High Society, Acorn Antiques – The Musical (UK tours), Midnight Tango (Aldwych Theatre and UK tour), 66 Books (Bush Theatre), The Invisible Man (Menier Chocolate Factory), A Month in the Country, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Six Pictures of Lee Miller (Chichester Festival Theatre), Never Forget (Savoy Theatre and UK tour), Where There's a Will (ETT), Uncle Ron (Savoy Theatre), Pacific Overtures, 3 Guys Naked from the Waist Down (Donmar Warehouse), Kiss Me Kate (Victoria Palace Theatre), Les Misérables (Palace Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Swaggerer, Twelfth Night (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), City of Angels (Prince of Wales Theatre), Company (Donmar Warehouse and Albery Theatre), Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, The Trial (National Theatre), The Merry Wives of Windsor, Nicholas Nickleby, Othello, The Three Sisters (RSC), Snoopy (Duchess Theatre – Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical), The Kitchen (Royal Court Theatre), and Trilby (Shared Experience). For television, his work includes Birds of a Feather, Hustle, Bad Girls, Murder Room, Sir Gadabout, Company, Henry IV, Love Hurts, The Boot Street Band, and Nicholas Nickleby; and for film, The World's End, Inside the Twin Towers, De Lovely, Dear Wendy, Manderlay, It's All About Love, RKO 281; Truly, Madly, Deeply; and Yentl. Kempner is co-writer and producer of several animation series, including Foxy Fables, Tales of a Wise King, Insektors, and Witchworld. He has also co-written Three Friends and Jerry, Something Else, Preston; and a film, Clarence.

Sandra Marvin plays Tanya. Her theatre work includes Fat Ham (RSC), Waitress (Adelphi Theatre/UK and Ireland tour), & Juliet (UK and Ireland tour), Sister Act The Musical (Hammersmith Apollo/UK tour), White Christmas (Sheffield Theatres), Bagdad Café (The Old Vic); The Band Plays On (Sheffield Crucible); A Christmas Carol (Dominion Theatre), Romantics Anonymous (Bristol Old Vic/US tour), Committee, City of Angels (Donmar Warehouse), Stepping Out (Vaudeville Theatre), Show Boat (New London Theatre/Sheffield Crucibles), Chicago (Leicester Curve), Ragtime, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), Porgy and Bess (Savoy Theatre); Cool Hand Luke (Aldwych Theatre); Hairspray (Shaftesbury Theatre/Original UK and Ireland tour). Her television work includes Emmerdale, Call the Midwife, and Citizen Khan; and for film, Gravity, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Mary Poppins Returns, Planet of the Apes and Florence Foster Jenkins.

Sonny Monaghan makes his West End debut as Young Man/Paddington (Voice & Remote Puppetry). His other theatre work includes Dear Evan Hansen (UK and Asia tour), and In Between (The Other Palace).

Haydn Oakley plays Mr Brown. His theatre work includes A Midsummer Night's Dream (Birmingham Rep), Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (Grimaldi Forum Monaco); Mamma Mia! (Novello Theatre); How The Other Half Loves (Salisbury Playhouse), Anything Goes (Barbican Theatre/UK tour), The Book of Mormon (Prince of Wales Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Middle Temple Hall), An American in Paris, We Will Rock You (Dominion Theatre), Side Show (Southwark Playhouse), Sunset Boulevard (London Coliseum), The Smallest Show on Earth, Betty Blue Eyes, Wonderful Town, Porridge (UK tours), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Playhouse Theatre), Lend Me a Tenor (Gielgud Theatre), Passion (Donmar Warehouse), The Secret Garden (Festival Theatre, Edinburgh/Royal Alexandra, Toronto), Monty Python's Spamalot (Palace Theatre), Wicked (Apollo Victoria), Woman in Mind (Gawsworth Open Air Theatre), and The Bomb-itty Errors (New Ambassadors Theatre). His television work includes Shearings, Home Alone, McDonald's Lonely Hearts, Visa-Travel Happy, Inflatable, and Japanese Girl; and for film, Ink, Knock Knock and A Family Affair.

Marc Pickering plays Mr Curry. His theatre work includes Thespians (Mischief Theatre UK tour), The Play What I Wrote (Devonshire Park Theatre), Bleak Expectations (Criterion Theatre), The Elephant Man (Trafalgar Studios 2), Zorro! The Musical (Charing Cross Theatre), Honeymoon Suite (Hull Truck Theatre), The Wizard of Oz (Royal & Derngate), The Toxic Avenger, Seussical!, Bananaman! The Musical (Southwark Playhouse), Baskerville! A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, They Don't Pay? We Won't Pay! (Mercury Theatre, Colchester), The Merchant of Venice (Arcola Theatre), The Return of the Soldier (Hope Mill Theatre), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Wilton's Music Hall), Snow White the Seven Dwarfs (Marlowe Theatre), and Jack and the Beanstalk (Sheffield Lyceum - Pantomime Award for Best Supporting Actor). His television work includes Broadwalk Empire, Borgia, Peter Kay's Britain Got the Pop Factor!, All Creatures Great and Small, Daziel & Pascoe, Cricklewood Greats, and Josh; and for film, Sleepy Hollow, Les Misérables, Calendar Girls, The Krays: Dead Man Walking, A Viking Saga: The Darkest Day, To Be Someone, Kill Keith, The Task, I Want Candy, Cashback, The Queen of Sheba's Pearls, and Secret Passage.

Abbie Purvis is making her West End debut as Paddington on Stage Performer. Her other theatre work includes Snow White (Motherwell Theatre), Jack and The Beanstalk (Motherwell Theatre), Snow White (Billingham Form), Peter Pan (Eastwood Park Theatre), Snow White (Xroads), and Waldo's Circus of Magic and Terror (Bristol Old Vic/UK Tour). Her television work includes Dog Squad, and River City; and Your Highness, and Willow.

Hassan Taj is making his West End debut as Paddington on Stage Performer. His television includes The Acolyte, Andor; and for film, Solo: A Star Wars Story, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.