Winnie the Pooh puppet musical headed to NYC stage

May 25 (UPI) -- Performances of a new musical about the classic children's literature character Winnie the Pooh, are to begin Oct. 21 at New York's Theatre Row, producers announced Tuesday.

"Deep in the Hundred Acre Wood, a new adventure is about to happen. Disney's iconic 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 new beautifully crafted musical stage adaptation," a press release said.

The puppet show was created and will be directed by Jonathan Rockefeller, whose theatrical credits include The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show and Paddington Gets in a Jam.

Winnie the Pooh will feature music by the Sherman Brothers, with additional songs by Pooh creator and author, A.A. Milne, who died in 1956 at the age of 74.

"The question we posed ourselves when creating this intimate musical adaptation was, 'How do we bring Pooh from the screen and onto the stage in an entirely fresh and new way, yet one that still pays homage to the deep canon of Winnie the Pooh iconography?' The answer was easy... Well, conceptually easy, in theory... We needed to create incredible, brilliant and amazing puppetry that makes it impossible to believe the characters aren't real. Audiences can expect their hearts will be captivated by the characters, and their imaginations will soar with these life-size puppets," Rockefeller said in a statement.