McFly’s Tom Fletcher reveals details of new stage show

The McFly star, Tom Fletcher, has said that he felt “excessive emotion” working on the new Paddington Stage musical, that producers have confirmed that it will open in November.

The singer and composer said he expected the music and lyrics that he has written for the program “Do Paddington Proud”, and added that musical numbers are “my favorite songs that I have written.”

The show will open at the Savoy Theater at the West End on November 1, and will follow Paddington while arrives from Peru Seijs a new home in London.

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

Speaking about the program for the first time, Fletcher told BBC News that he felt “so honored and fortunate to work on the project, which said he would reflect” all the fun, warmth and heart that books and films have captured so brilliantly. “

“There is something so magical to see Paddington go to the stage and see him … I was about to say in the bottle, but I guess in the fur it is more precise,” he joked.

Fletcher is better known as the founding member of the Pop McFly band, whose successes include All About You, obviously and Star Girl, and is also a successful child author.

He approached him for the first time on Paddington around the time of the first Covid closure at the beginning of 2020, and Workshops the project with screenwriter Jessica Swale, director Luke Sheppard and producers before the program was formally announced in 2023.

With the musical now almost ready to launch, Swale told BBC News that he would present “a lot of new and juicy material.”

“We are bringing many new flavors to the table, but, of course, we are all in love with the original material, so we have faithful to our cast of characters,” he said.

“Or, of course, the Browns are part of this, and family faces such as Mr. Gruber and Mr. Curry, but there are also many new people. We have inspired ourselves a lot in books and movies, but we like to think that we are covering new territory.”

Bond’s first book in the series, a bear called Paddington, was published in 1958.

The author went on to write 29 Paddington books in total, the last one was Paddington in St Paul’s, which was posted posthumously in 2018. The stories have sold more than 35 million copies worldwide.

Fletcher said he enjoyed the opportunity to find which was “the musical language” or Paddington. “Having something that everyone knows, but nobody has heard how it seems that it is really exciting to be able to work,” he explained.

She recalled that, when producer Eliza Lumley first called him on the project, not only responded immediately with “a very fast ‘yes, please’, but to make music for the program immediately.

“While I was still talking with her, I had the idea of ​​a song, so I went and wrote my first song that night, instantly after leaving the phone, and that song is still in the musical now.”

He reflected: “My instant reaction was to be intimidated, I was excited and so inspired by these stories and movies that I already knew, I simply jumped directly to my piano and began to write.”

Paddington’s three film adaptations, with the voice of Ben Whishaw, have been a great success at the box office since the first one in 2014 was launched.

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

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

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

She continued: “I can’t give our secrets. One of the things that excites me most for this show is Paddington’s character.”

Swale accredits Lumley producers already Sonia Friedman for “really experiencing with all possible ways that we could tell the Bear story in the best way, and the magic that they have found in how they do it”, adding time that time I have time to have time now now do the fact.

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

As for the character himself, Swale pointed out that the musical “also reveals Paddington’s spirit and politics.”

“For example, Paddington is a refugee, so we want to honor the fact that he is someone who migrates to the United Kingdom and does not have a home, and make sure to be aware of the experience of whom he represents.”

Between now and the opening of the program in November, Fletcher said the team would be “adjusting what we can, and making sure we did it absolutely well.”

Hey added: “I really hope to have done everyone who loves Paddington Justice … This is very different from anything you have done before.

The 39 -year -old will be on tour with McFly and broke when the musical opened in November, “I will go with the band and then return to London to fit it,” he explained.

“It is a slightly agitated schedule, but we will work it in some way. I could confuse and start singing Paddington songs on stage with McFly.”

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

“You can rest calmly,” Swale laughed. “The jam not only appears in the book and lyrics, but physically on stage in a spectacular way.”