Review: ROALD DAHL'S CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY is Pure Imagination at Detroit Opera House!

Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is currently playing until March 1st at the Detroit Opera House. The hit Broadway musical features songs from the original film including, "Pure Imagination," The Candy Man," and "I've Got the Golden Ticket," alongside a toe-tapping and ear-tickling new score from the songwriters from Hairspray. The beloved tale of Charlie Bucket searching for the last golden ticket to enter the factory of the elusive Willy Wonka has been turned into a musical that is fun for all-ages.

The show tells the story of Willy Wonka, the world-famous inventor of the Everlasting Gobstopper, who has just made an astonishing announcement: his marvelous - and mysterious - factory is opening its gates to a lucky few! That includes young Charlie Bucket, whose life definitely needs sweetening. He and four other golden ticket winners will embark on a mesmerizing, life-changing journey through Wonka's world of pure imagination. Get ready for Oompa-Loompas, incredible inventions, the great glass elevator and everything else you remember from the classic book and movies!

The absolute highlight of the show is Cody Garcia as Willy Wonka. There have been many incarnations of Wonka: Gene Wilder's, Johnny Depp's, Christian Borle's from the original Broadway production, even the one I have imagined in my own head from reading the novel so many times. I feel with many adults and children that Wonka is a character who people feel they already know and know very well. I felt Garcia created his own version of Wonka, but stayed true to what Roald Dahl created. It felt like I was watching an old friend on stage and I liked that. He was funny and off-putting. Strange, yet still kind. Quirky and confusing, yet showed how fast Wonka's brain worked ahead of everyone else's. Plus, he could sing and it was a wonderful to hear him pull the audience into the dream of "Pure Imagination."

You can read the book (something this writer has done many times) or watch the movies over and over again, but there is only one opportunity to see Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory live on stage here in Detroit and that is at the Detroit Opera House through the end of the week.

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Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory runs until March 1st at the Detroit Opera House. For more information and tickets, visit www.BroadwayInDetroit.com.

Connect with Roald Dahl's Charlie and Chocolate Factory on Twitter at @CharlieOnBway, on Instagram at @CharlieOnBway, on Facebook at facebook.com/CharlieOnBway, and www.CharlieOnTour.com.

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