Adaptation transports furry legend to the stage in style

A super-realistic bear may be the draw, but 'Paddington the Musical' abounds in warmth, eccentricity and ambition that goes beyond its huggable protagonist.

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Paddington really has been on a journey.

This marmalade-loving Peruvian emigre began life as a series of scratchy pen illustrations in Michael Bond’s midcentury kids’ books, finding friends everywhere with his winning combination of accidental naughtiness and thoughtful charm.

Half a century later, three hit movies have made the original stories’ subtext into text. He’s a refugee champion, an icon of multiculturalism, and even a surreal grim reaper leading the late Queen to heaven in the memes that proliferated after her death. And now, in the unlikeliest role of all, he’s a politely swaggering rockstar, unleashing power ballads in a gloriously, lavishly eccentric musical that transports this furry legend to the stage.