The new Off-Broadway musical Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Stage Adaptation has received generally positive reviews from theater critics. The production, presented at Theatre Three on Theatre Row for a limited run through Jan. 30, 2022, features the iconic characters created by A.A. Milne in a new story interpolating songs written by Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman for the animated Disney films. The creative team includes Jonathan Rockefeller (book, direction), Jake Bazel (addl. dialogue), Nate Edmonson (original music, orchestrations), Lindsay McWilliams (costumes), Jamie Roderick (lights), David Goldstein, Matthew Herman, and Johnny Figueredo (sets), and Matthew Lish and Ben Durocher (puppets). The cast includes Jake Bazel (Pooh), Chris Palmieri (Tigger), Kirsty Moon (Piglet / Roo), Emmanuel Elpenord (Eeyore / Rabbit / Owl), Kristina Dizon (Kanga / Owl), and Kaydn Kuioka (Christopher Robin).
DC Metro Arts (Deb Miller): The cuddly puppets are brought to life by a skilled cast of six puppeteers/actors. … Not only do they believably manipulate their adorable charges (with the bigger ones attached to parts of their bodies for fully connected movement), they also provide the distinctive voices and personalities of the different characters. … Winnie the Pooh is a thoroughly charming show that will keep children and adults alike happily enthralled for every moment of the hour-long performance. It’s a perfect family-friendly event for the holidays, or anytime, with an uplifting moral that bears repeating: be friendly and helpful, work together and get along.
New York Theatre Guide (Juan Michael Porter II): The newly opened Off-Broadway musical adaptation of Pooh has eschewed a theme park approach and focused instead on the story’s folksy charm. … This Rockefeller Production-designed show respects its source material and allows the action to unfold almost exactly as it does on the page. … I’m thrilled that the [Disney] behemoth trusted this production team to do so with gentle care rather than exaggerated flash. … Happily, with Winnie the Pooh, Disney has finally committed itself to theater for all; whether they are children, people living with stimulation limitations, or individuals simply desiring a joyful time.
Theater Pizzazz (Marilyn Lester): It’s a real treat. These magical characters, reimagined as puppets, are on a Great Adventure in their home turf, the Hundred Acre Wood, and the antics are prime Pooh. Lovers of Milne’s creations, especially young children, will be happily entertained throughout. … Milne’s stories subtly incorporated positive values into the adventures of the animals, and this Rockefeller captures in the spirit of the original tales. … The puppeteering and stagecraft of Winnie the Pooh were all delightfully first-rate.
Time Out (Raven Snook): I was consistently enchanted by the show’s low-tech magic — eye-popping puppets, blooming fake flowers, hills covered in literal blankets of snow — and by its gentle lessons about friendship, teamwork and the importance of fun. But what about Winnie the Pooh’s target demo? To judge from the rapt expressions of my date and her slightly older peers, they were as delighted as little bears in honey pots. … Pooh and his pals in the colorful Hundred Acre Wood look like they’ve just been sprung from a Disney cel, and they sound like that, too. 4 out of 5 stars.