For every long-running “The Lion King” and “Wicked” there’s an “Interview With A Vampire”, “Groundhog Day” or London’s current, depressingly flaccid “The Hunger Games.” But hopes were lifted for producers Sonia Friedman and Eliza Lumley’s stage presentation by the fact that the film versions of Michael Bond’s original 1958 story collection “A Bear Called Paddington” (and fourteen sequels) were vastly stronger than anyone foresaw, amassing a box-office total approaching $800 million and counting. A superbly silly comedy waltz in which Millicent’s increasingly unhappy sidekick Mr. Curry (Tom Edden, the scene-stealing waiter from “One Man, Two Guvnors”) is seduced into a love of Paddington’s favorite food, “Marmalade” turns into a riotously infectious and orange production number which even has the nerve to get the audience to join in, which, at the press performance, they exuberantly did. Hamilton-Barritt has had a career being the best thing in high-profile flops including the National Theatre’s “Hex” and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cinderella.” Here, in a grotesque characterization in tweeds and thigh-length boots, she’s finally surfing on a hit, ricocheting gloriously between wickedly basso-profundo, deadpan droll and, to the audience’s delight, lip-smacking savagery.
Author: Gordon Cox
Published at: 2025-11-30 23:59:00
Still want to read the full version? Full article
