Lights of Broadway: Winnie the Pooh

Company

Synopsis: The Hundred Acre Wood moves to Times Square’s Theatre Row for Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Adaptation beginning October 21. Disney’s iconic Winnie the Pooh, Christopher Robin, and their best friends Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, and Owl (and Tigger too!) will be featured in a new story featuring music from The Sherman Brothers catalog.

Review:

Winnie the Pooh, puppets, and the glitz and glamour of Broadway had this reviewer clamouring to make it out to catch this off-Broadway production of Winnie the Pooh the musical at Theater Row. The 45-minute musical tells the tale of Christopher Robin’s day at school and the lengthy adventure that Winnie the Pooh and his friends go on to try and locate some honey for Pooh. Featuring many of the songs associated with Pooh, this family-friendly show was captivating for audiences of all ages.

The biggest stand-out for this show is the puppet and prop design by Matthew Lish. Pooh and friends are life-sized versions of themselves. With actors hopping around on their knees to portray Roo or hunching over to navigate the world as Eeyore, the actors operating the puppets added to the character versus providing a distraction. Sporting costumes designed by Lindsay McWilliams, the traditional all-black puppeteering costume is instead swapped out for light heather grey jumpers accessorized with hats and other pieces to add to the overall feel of the character. The set design by David Goldstein, Matthew Herman, Johnny Figueredo felt as though it was ripped from the pages and films, inviting the cast to play with space effectively.

The cast of 5 featured: Jake Bazel as Pooh, Kristina Dizon as Kanga, Emmanuel Elpenord as Eeyore/Owl/Rabbit, Kristy Moon as Piglet/Roo, and Chris Palmiere as Tigger. Each performer had the mannerisms and the voice down to a science that felt as if they’d been voicing the characters for years on the films.

Overall, this family-friendly show was a lot of fun! Listening to the children interact with the show around them allowed a great stepping stone to catapult them into the world of theatre. The puppets could not have raved about enough for how well they were executed.

Winnie the Pooh the Musical is an easy 4 out of 5 stars for what it encourages and invites of the audience.

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