“Is this bear an endangered species?” asks Tarinn Callender as the hapless helper of Victoria Hamilton-Barritt’s (very) arch-villainess Millicent Price. With growling glee as insanely delicious as it is malicious, she retorts, “It is now.” Price is absolutely right about the trapped-in-peril titular character she wants to stuff, but about the show as a whole she couldn’t be more wrong. Furry, funny and fully-formed, the much-anticipated “ Paddington ” musical has finally arrived in the West End and it’s alive not only with joy but that vanishingly rare theatrical quality: completely beguiling charm.

Adapting beloved intellectual property to the stage is a risky business. For every long-running “The Lion King” and “Wicked” there’s an “Interview With A Vampire”, “Groundhog Day” or Londo

See Full Page