'Full of charm, laughter and joy': Our review of Disney's Winnie the Pooh the Musical
Everyone's favourite honey-loving bear is making an appearance in a musical – and it's every pre-schooler's dream come true.
Winnie the Pooh and all of his friends have taken to the Birmingham Hippodrome stage this weekend.
So we headed to the city with our two-year-old for a wonderful display of charm, excellent puppetry and laughter.
It's one hour and five minutes with no break, which is perfect for the wriggling toddler. Surprisingly to us, a lot of the audience were adults without children, but then the magic of Pooh and friends have stood the test of almost 100 years. It did bring back a wave of wonderful childhood memories.
The Hundred Acre Wood is beautifully portrayed as the audience takes a journey with Pooh through the seasons along with Christopher Robin and their best friends Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, and Owl (oh… and don’t forget Tigger too!).
Of course, the main thread of the plot is Pooh's pursuit of honey and in the process he gets into a number of funny scrapes including getting stuck in a tree, wrecking Rabbit's vegetable patch and an encounter with Mrs Winter.
Pooh first appeared by name in a children's story commissioned by London's Evening News for Christmas Eve 1925.
And while this Disney adaptation is nothing on the scale of Frozen or The Lion King – it has something they don't in the sense it is beautifully calm, filled with a charm that leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy inside. The stage, lighting and puppetry all add to the magic. The puppets look great and hold some serious stage presence.
That's not the forgetting the music, which includes audience favourites like The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers.
The adaptation succeeds in that it portrays the most important message about Winnie the Pooh – the importance of forming solid, lasting friendships; friends who are always ready to go on an adventure.
It appeals to the masses because no matter how the adventures of Pooh and his friends are portrayed, be it musical, book or film, he maintains a light, moral, carefree and funny tone throughout, even when the characters are in dire circumstances.
For us it was a hit, our two-year-old sat gripped for the whole time – laughed, clapped and wouldn't stop talking about it afterwards. There's not much more a parent wants from a children's show.
Created by renowned family entertainment creator Jonathan Rockefeller, this new adventure heads around the UK following a record-breaking New York premiere in 2021. The show is running at Birmingham Hippodrome until Sunday, June 18, before it continues on its UK tour.
Tickets from £18. Visit disneytickets.co.uk/winnie-the-pooh-musical-tickets or birminghamhippodrome.com/calendar/winnie-the-pooh