Fancy a Visit Into the Hundred Acre Wood – Winnie The Pooh is Here Today

If you’re looking for things to do during the summer holidays then how about a visit deep in the Hundred Acre Wood? The nice thing about this visit is that it takes place at the Wales Millennium Centre so getting there is easy and there’s always plenty of yummy things to eat – although I can’t promise you’ll find any honey served up in their new Ffwrnais café bar.

Yes, you’ve guessed it – WINNIE THE POOH is arriving (today) and bringing all his amazing friends with him. The wonderful thing about musicals (especially this one) is that musicals are a wonderful thing, and they don’t get much better than this Disney classic.

You may not realise this but Winnie the Pooh has been around since 1926 when the first collection of stories were published. A.A. Milne created and wrote the tales and it was E.H. Shephard who illustrated our favourite bear.

This show is an all new adventure for 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!). This is a beautifully-crafted musical stage adaptation which has already been a massive hit in New York.

The story is told with impressive life-size puppetry, exciting new tales and featuring characters that have played iconic roles in the lives of children for generations.

There’s also 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.

The score of the original movies is a little more complex than you’d first think. It drew inspiration from Sergei Prokofiev’s ‘Peter and the Wolf’, and had different instruments to represent the characters: baritone horn for Pooh, bass clarinet for Eeyore, flute for Kanga, piccolo for Roo, clarinet for Rabbit, oboe for Piglet, and French horn and ocarina for Owl. The Sherman Brother’s talent earned Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too a Grammy award for ‘Best Album for Children’ amongst many other awards.

All the puppets featured in the show were designed and constructed within the walls of Rockefeller Productions by a talented team of artists, designers, pattern makers, builders, welders and fabricators.

Inspired by Disney’s original character designs, and Christopher Robin’s real-life counterparts, each larger-than-life size character ‘full of fluff’, covered in fur (or feathers) has been built lovingly many times over to get their look and movement just right.

We reckon this is the perfect first introduction to theatre for your kids.

The show is also great for schools and the team have a superb Educational Guide to accompany the show. This is support to your lesson planning with specific performance times to suit the school day. You can download the guide on the link below.

EDUCATIONAL GUIDE

The role of Winnie the Pooh will be played by Benjamin Durham. The much-loved characters of Eeyore, Piglet, Rabbit, Owl, Kanga and Roo will be brought to life by an ensemble of performers, including Laura Bacon, Harry Boyd, Alex Cardall, Chloe Gentles, Lottie Grogan and Robbie Noonan.

WINNIE THE POOH gets to the Wales Millennium Centre from today – Thursday 3rd to Saturday 5th August. Performances are – Thursday 5pm, Friday 11am and 2pm, Saturday 11am, 2pm and 5pm. Tickets start at £12 and you can get yours HERE.

We did say this is a perfect introduction into live theatre, there is an age guidance: Suitable for all. Available for under 2s with an accompanying adult. If you would like to attend with your under 2s, please ensure to select the Standard & Baby Ticket at an extra £2.