CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews- Page 7

[newintown]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 11:42am

"Interesting that the rotten kids are actually killed off...I can't recall how it's dealt with in the book."

In the book, the other children are all seen leaving the factory, worse for wear, but very much alive.

[Tag]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 11:43am

The moment when Charlie finds the golden tickets is completely anti-climactic.

This was a huge problem in London as well.  He finally gets the ticket and then they went directly into some terrible Grandpa Joe song.  Has that not been remedied by adding I've Got A Golden Ticket?

[kellyhallo]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 11:46am

PeterQuill said: "Wow they actually show Violet's remains? Holy crap

how did they handle the rest of her scene? Her initial inflation and her final blueberry form. I saw the blueberry costume on Instagram and it looks so... small. Is there anything else to it?

 

"

First the purple track suit she is wearing inflates a bit, she runs off stage. Comes back out with an even bigger inflated costume, runs off stage. Comes out in basically a big purple ball, rolls of stage and explodes. We hear her explode off stage and then the purple material comes flying out from the wings.

[kellyhallo]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 11:49am

amazingamandakate said: "In the book, the children are seen leaving the factory. I think they handle it differently in each of the movies but I do think this is the first version where they're definitively dead.

 

"

Spoiler - the kids aren't actually dead. The Oompa Loompas somehow manage to put them back together for the last number of the show.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 11:51am

kellyhallo said: "Spoiler - the kids aren't actually dead. The Oompa Loompas somehow manage to put them back together for the last number of the show."

Of course, because you can totally bring decapitated and exploded bodies back to life

Updated On: 3/29/17 at 11:51 AM

[PeterQuill]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 12:06pm

Is Violet's rolling costume this one?

https://instagram.com/p/BSNFy8RjWB2/

The designer said it's only under 4 feet in diameter. I'm curious to see how that effect looked on stage. 

[tyguy1980]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 12:17pm

That is Violet's costume, except she doesn't roll. She runs across the stage. Whatever is brought on to roll off is just a prop.

Updated On: 3/29/17 at 12:17 PM

[haterobics]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 12:19pm

disneybroadwayfan22 said: "Of course, because you can totally bring decapitated and exploded bodies back to life"

I suppose you were on board that clapping would save Tinkerbell, though?!

[PeterQuill]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 12:22pm

Wow that's disappointing. If she's a blueberry how the hell do her long legs stick out so she can run?

in London they take advantage of her immobility and turned her into an enormous blueberry disco ball. Wth is this. Wow they truly dropped the ball. 

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 12:23pm

haterobics said: "disneybroadwayfan22 said: "Of course, because you can totally bring decapitated and exploded bodies back to life"

I suppose you were on board that clapping would save Tinkerbell, though?!

 

"

Lol true 

[Fosse76]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 12:24pm

PeterQuill said: "Is Violet's rolling costume this one?

https://instagram.com/p/BSNFy8RjWB2/

The designer said it's only under 4 feet in diameter. I'm curious to see how that effect looked on stage. "

Lame. It's obviously a prop, and significantly smaller than the actress playing her. I was off to the side in row c, and the stagehand was standing there with it before she left the stage. The who demise was slow and anti-climactic (her final demise was the only thing even remotely entertaining). In fact, the Augustus Gloop and Veruca Salt demises were also anticlimactic. It's both a pacing and directorial problem. Only Mike's demise was fluid and properly paced.

I agree with everyone about the sets. To say they are underwhelming is to be generous. The factory sets are practically non-existent.

Marc Shaiman is proving that Hairspray is his opus, since everything else he's done theatrically is underwhelming (and I heard quite a bit of SMASH sneaking into this score), I would say only two or three songs in the show by him are decent enough to remain. But the mother's song and dance with Charlie's father was long, boring and pointless. I was desperately hoping for her to stop and start singing Cheer Up, Charlie (and the dialogue leading up to this seemed to tease that this was what was coming). The show absolutely should have ended with a reprise of Pure Imagination. 

Really the only way to save this show artistically would be to dump at least 60% of Shaiman's score (including replacing the mother's song with Cheer Up, Charlie), and NOT replace them with anything. Re-stage the demise scenes of Augustus, Violet and Veruca so that they flow better, and re-design the lighting to hide the minimalism of the factory sets (since they can't really do anything to fix that). I think it can be done, but I doubt they will fix what really needs to be fixed.

[Flacd]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 12:42pm

all of this....it really doesn't  seem a broadway production

[PeterQuill]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 12:44pm

Wow this is all just so disappointing

i saw that the playbill didn't have Juicy on it. Is Violet the only child with no exit song at all? That seems weird

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 12:45pm

@Fosse76: Or, you know, they had a perfectly decent score from the movie and some... okay... ish... new songs from the version currently licensed by MTI. Why not take the script, make it as close to Dahl as his family and any audience can choke down, and use the score? It worked for Mary freakin' Poppins, and the advantage in this case is that the new songs are at least written by half of the movie's songwriting team, so it sounds like they fit better.

Updated On: 3/29/17 at 12:45 PM

[catalana3]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 12:47pm

BroadwayConcierge said: "wssinsider said: "Valurca Salt. The squirrels come out with her limbs and her head."

Omg NO."

The audience around me gasped at this and didn't entirely know how to react. I think this may need to change. 

[EvanK]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 1:02pm

Wow, how depressing. The sets looked insane in the London Version.. if you are going to this show, you want it to be HUGE. How did the team miss this? Time for a rebuild. Close down, new design, reopen. 

[Flacd]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 1:07pm

How re they gonna know about audience reviews like your, guys?

I'm not an expert of bway productions, is it possible a re-opening with great changements?

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 1:10pm

I have no real desire to see this, though I love the Wilder version, but killing the kids- yikes. Dahl was certainly dark, but that's a pretty major step beyond. 

[HenryTDobson]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 1:12pm

Killing the kids is completely unnecessary. These reports make me sad and very uninterested.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 1:15pm

Can someone clarify- are they actually killing the kids or do they come back at the end? (I don't mean literally)

Updated On: 3/29/17 at 01:15 PM

[adamgreer]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 1:16pm

Yikes. 

The one thing I would expect from a Broadway musical of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is an elaborate and colorful set, at least for the factory.  

This sounds dreadful. 

[newintown]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 1:19pm

What a strange writing team - book by a Scottish playwright of small "serious" dramas (and no other musical theatre experience), paired with a songwriting team known for simple fun showtunes, and a director with a definite talent for putting together a tidy show (most often a comedy or musical comedy).

The book writer seems to be odd man out here.

[drewalexander]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 1:21pm

Can someone explain in detail how much set there really is? Like is it only backdrops, is it only that 10x10, is there any backdrops that fly in? Also, is the Glass Elevator as magical or is it a let down as well? I have tickets for June but I am extremely dissaplointed from what I'm hearing 

[Cfried]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 1:22pm

I'm not understanding the lack of sets, especially because it is the same designer as the London production. The West End production's sets were jaw-droppingly gorgeous, imaginative, and inspired...so it really hurts to hear that this is the polar opposite. I want this to succeed but it seems the new creative team has dropped the ball. Hoping for massive changes before I see it. 

[Flacd]

Posted: 3/29/17 at 1:24pm

Sam Mendes is a master. Jack o'Brien maybe was not the right man for that.

Anyway sets are the most unexpleinable thing for this bway production