Theater Disney's Winnie the Pooh review: The new stage musical is a whimsical delight with brilliant puppetry We could all use a little more joy and wonder in our lives, and Pooh and his pals from the Hundred Acre Wood are here to supply it. By Maureen Lee Lenker Maureen Lee Lenker Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, Ms. Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, It Happened One Fight, is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen. EW's editorial guidelines Published on December 10, 2022 04:42PM EST A silly old bear is just what this world needs. We could all use a little more joy and wonder in our lives, and luckily, Winnie the Pooh and his pals from the Hundred Acre Wood are here to offer it with all their warm bravado in Disney's Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Stage Adaptation. 'Disney's Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Stage Adaptation'. courtesy Rockefeller Productions Currently making a six-week stop at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles, the show combines a series of favorite tales and moments from the world of Winnie the Pooh, including Tigger's bouncing lessons, the impact of a blustery day, and Pooh (Coldin Grundmeyer) getting stuck in a honey tree. Like the Muppets or a Pixar film, the musical has plenty to regale wee ones and adults alike (and at my performance, there were probably more pairs of grown-ups in attendance than families with kids). Winnie the Pooh uses inventive, large-scale puppetry to bring the familiar characters to life — and it's a testament to both Rockefeller productions' ingenuity in puppet design and the actors' skill that the humans operating them immediately fade into the background. (The puppeteers trade parts between performances with regularity.) The show is a brisk 60 minutes (perfect for holding the attention of the youngest in the audience), but it manages to pack a lot of story into that time frame, traveling with Pooh through what feels like an entire year. The score features many of the Sherman Brothers' most beloved songs from Disney's Winnie the Pooh cartoons, including "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers" and "A Rather Blustery Day." 'Disney's Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Stage Adaptation'. courtesy Rockefeller Productions The set, co-designed by Jack Golden and Joshua Warner, is a bevy of childhood delights, with clouds made out of cotton balls, a papier-mâché tree, and a stream that boasts a clever mechanical track for Piglet and Tigger to play "Pooh Sticks." The whole cast brings an open-heartedness to the proceedings — it feels like they're wrapping the audience in a big embrace. But Blake Rushing as Tigger, Josh Bernaski as Eeyore, and Melissa XiaoLan Warren as Piglet particularly shine. Rushing's Tigger captures the beloved tiger's lisp with a frenetic energy, perfectly balancing his high opinion of himself with an infectious buoyancy. His puppetry skills are outstanding as he hops and jumps, totally selling the idea that Tigger's bottoms are made out of springs. Warren pulls double duty as Piglet and Roo, and she excels as both. But her Piglet's anxious care for her friends is pitched just right, and she gets extra credit for performing nearly the entire show on her knees. Bernaski's Eeyore, whose large mouth is operated by a device that looks similar to a bicycle hand brake, is cuddly to the extreme. He softens Eeyore's rain-cloud persona with a tenderness that the massive puppet belies. 'Disney's Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Stage Adaptation'. But as much as all of this charms, Winnie the Pooh is above all a showcase for the puppets. They're soft, rotund, and crafted with such care and creativity that the entrance of each new character draws gasps and appreciative murmurs from the crowd. Never have I so badly wished to leave my seat and hug a character on stage — they look soft and inviting while still feeling utterly real. There's not a lot new here plot-wise for those who already know and love Pooh, but that's not really this show's reason for existing. It's about sharing an hour with these beguiling inventions of A.A. Milne, whether it's for the first time or another chance to see some old friends. He may be a silly old bear, all stuffed with fluff, but there's nothing silly about Pooh's ability to touch us, now in a new and lively medium. A- Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more. Related content: Audra McDonald and Will Swenson talk about Neil Diamond impressions and being the 'queen of Broadway' A Beautiful Noise review: Neil Diamond pulls back the curtain on his catalog of hits for new Broadway musical Britney Spears musical heading to Broadway in 2023