ROALD DAHL's most treasured tale is coming to the land where sweet dreams come true- Broadway- in a delicious new musical! Willy Wonka, world famous inventor of the Everlasting Gobstopper, has just made an astonishing announcement. His marvelous- and mysterious- factory is opening its gates... to a lucky few. It's a world of pure imagination.
And who better to conjure up this confectionary wonder than three-time Tony Award-winning director JACK O'BRIEN, the Grammy and Tony-winning songwriters of Hairspray, MARC SHAIMAN and SCOTT WITTMAN, and internationally acclaimed playwright DAVID GRIEG. Audiences around the world have long adored the best-selling book and films, but none have experienced the magic of Wonka quite like this- until now.
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY The New Musical: It must be believed to be seen.
Why does this latest production, a production first seen in London, feel too small, too meager, and not magic enough? Charlie and the Chocolate Factory needs to go big, surely, or not at all...The show is far from a disaster, just far too timid. Borle and Flynn are charming flipsides of the same quirky coin, and as compadres are lovely to watch-even if their final glass lift journey, which modestly raises them from the ground before just as modestly bringing back them back down, seems to speak more generally to this cautious, not-outrageous-enough production. There a critically lacking wonder and magic here-and Charlie and Wonka deserve buckets of both.
O'Brien rebuilt the New York version as a simpler affair, hoping the audience would use its imagination to fill in the blanks; the result is an unusually dull set design by Mark Thompson and effects that would hardly have seemed special twenty years ago. When Wonka, who has spent much of the first act in disguise as a candy store owner in order to give Borle something to do, reveals himself as the grand wizard of chocolate, the transformation scene involves a crowd gathering around him while he takes off his overcoat. At least the Oompa-Loompas are fun - the first one or two times we meet them. Even so, I doubt this musical would have proved at all likable even if an apt style and thrilling visuals had been found for it. The story is too maudlin and, at the same time, too angry.
2013 | West End |
West End Original Production West End |
2017 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2018 | US Tour |
First National Tour US Tour |
2021 | US Tour |
Non-Equity Tour US Tour |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Puppet Design | Basil Twist |
2017 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Christian Borle |
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