It has already debuted musical of Paddington, the UK’s most popular bear and one of Britain’s greatest icons. The first performance took place this Saturday no Savoy Theatrein London, with a full room, and there was great expectation about what the character would look like and how she would be manipulated.
O “Guardian” explains that Paddington’s new image It’s not exactly the same as what we know from books and cartoonsbut it is immediately recognizable. On stage, he performs with one meter and twenty tall, “round”, with the typical belly and “drooping shoulders”.
Another mystery was How would the character be handled on stage?: Would it be a robot or a person in a suit? Or would it be an even more technological solution? The answer begins in 2016, when Eliza Lumley had the idea of creating the musical. The producer explained to “The Guardian” that the biggest challenge was having Paddington on stage and several hypotheses were tested until it was realized that the best was a puppet.
However, it couldn’t be an ordinary puppet, because the bear should walk on stage alone. This is where Neal Scanlan, a special effects artist who helped create the famous “Star Wars” character, came into play. Chewbacca.
In conjunction with Tahra Zafar, a creator of costumes and puppets, went back to the beginnings of the character and the illustrations in the creator’s books Michael Bond and arrived at a a fact in which half is technology and the other half is manipulated by a human.
Paddington comes to life thanks to the acting duo Arti Shah and James Hameed, who developed near-perfect synchronization: Arti Shah is the one who gets inside the suit – as it is the same height as Paddington – while James Hameed voices and controls expressions with a remote control from behind the curtains. This allows viewers believe that you are seeing the bear born in Peru walking, talking, singing – and sometimes even dancing.
A rush for tickets is big e and Show dates are sold out until January. The play tells the origin of Paddington, a bear who grew up in a forest in Peru with his grandparents, who were always more advanced of their species, due to a visit from an English explorer who taught them to speak and cook marmalade to make sandwiches – the little bear’s favorite snack.
After an accident in the tree where he lived with his grandparents, he is sent on a boat to London, with a card asking to be taken care of. It is at Paddington station that he gets his name and meets the Brown family, who welcome him.
Film adaptation
This This is not the first time that the bear has left the pages of books. A March 12, 2015, the film version of the story of the little bear premiered in Portugal.