Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical hits Southampton and Brighton on tour

Venues will include The Mayflower Theatre, Southampton, May 31-June 4; Theatre Royal Brighton, June 23-25; and Yvonne Arnaud, Guildford, August 11-13.

“It is the show’s first time in the UK,” Laura says. “It was done in New York originally and then Chicago and then on tour in America and then back to New York and Chicago and now it is over here. Winnie the Pooh's come home and it really does feel like home!”

Deep in the Hundred Acre Wood, a new adventure is about to happen. A A Milne’s beloved characters Winnie the Pooh, Christopher Robin and their best friends Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit and Owl and Tigger too will all arrive on stage in a beautifully-crafted musical stage adaptation – all told with life-size puppetry. Accompanying the story is an original score by Nate Edmondson, featuring some of the Grammy award-winning songs written by the Sherman Brothers for the original animated features, including Winnie the Pooh, The Blustery Day, The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers and Whoop-De-Dooper Bounce, plus A A Milne’s The More It Snows (featuring music by Carly Simon) and Sing Ho in a new arrangement.

Laura said: “I didn't read the books until we started doing this show so I feel a bit bad about that but obviously I knew the films and there being so many different film and different versions of the story, and it is just great. I think that Pooh just appeals, and I think Pooh just appeals to everyone, not just children. We've had people who were worried about coming along because they don't have children but it really is for everyone. The point is that Pooh fans come in all shapes and sizes and the lovely thing is that literally everybody can feel like a child again. I've been reading some of A A Milne’s poems as well and there is just such a lot that goes into them. He put so much heart into it and it comes from his having a young child. There's something very special and very clever and very precious about what he writes but it also seems so simple and so basic.”

Like the show now out on tour, it is heart-warming: “The show is fun and it is funny. It has its moments of sadness and frustration but it's got such lovely messages of kindness and hope and being together. With the script for this show they've put together elements of all the stories into one show and you see little bits of all the stories all brought together but a lot of it is about friendship and trust and then right at the end there’s a very big thing about how we are all meant to work together and to help each other and it is lovely.”

For the tour, the characters of Eeyore, Piglet, Rabbit, Owl, Kanga and Roo will be brought to life by an ensemble of performers, including Laura, Harry Boyd, Alex Cardall ,Chloe Gentles, Lottie Grogan (Smurfs Save Spring: The Musical) and Robbie Noonan (Avenue Q UK tour).

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