NEW YORK — "Paddington The Musical" will begin Broadway performances on March 30 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in New York. The scheduled opening night for the production is April 18.

This Broadway engagement follows the conclusion of "Moulin Rouge" seven-year run at the same theater. The musical previously ran in London's West End, where it received seven Olivier Awards, including best new musical.

The stage production is based on the children's stories by British author Michael Bond. Actors James Hameed and Arti Shah share the title role of Paddington. Hameed performs the voice acting and remote puppetry for the character, while Arti Shah operates inside the bear costume during live performances. Shah is also the first woman to win the best actor in a musical Olivier award.

Playwright Jessica Swale wrote the book, and Tom Fletcher of the band McFly composed the music and lyrics. Luke Sheppard directed the production. "The excitement around the show and the sort of joy that it seems to be bringing people has put wind in our sails and marmalade in our suitcases," Sheppard said. "The films I think have looked after him brilliantly and allowed him to find an identity that lives in this moment and speaks to new audiences," Sheppard said. "We're very proud to be the sort of the next custodian of him," Sheppard said.

The musical's plot centers on an orphaned bear from Peru who travels to London and is adopted by the Brown family. The story includes a narrative thread involving a villain targeting Paddington. "Most stories are about a little girl or an old man or a very specific type of human and so an audience will naturally gravitate to someone who looks like them," Sheppard said. "And yet we've got a bear who somehow becomes an Everyman and so his story really has something for everybody," Sheppard said. "What's really special about Paddington is that coming from Peru to London looking for a home, looking for family, that's a very real story for a lot of people," Fletcher said. Swale said, "We're going to take this opportunity not to fundamentally change anything but to consider this a chance to fine-tune and hone and upgrade."

During its London run, 40% of the audience were first-time theatergoers. The musical's lyrics include the line "Kindness is never complicated." Producers Sonia Friedman and Eliza Lumley are producing the Broadway transfer. StudioCanal, which owns the intellectual property for the character, co-produced the musical.

No independent assessment of Paddington The Musical’s claims was available.