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.
Somewhere along the way, the spirit of Dahl's writing has gotten trampled - the nimble wordplay, the eccentric humor, the mischievous horror, the mordant social satire - replaced by an abrasive parade of garish color and ugly incidents that rarely spell fun. This choc-atrocity has got to rank as one of the most aesthetically off-putting family musicals in memory. There's a creepiness to the show that's not Dahl's subversive creepiness or even Johnny Depp's fey creepiness in the unwatchable Burton movie. In fact, when Borle's Wonka goes out into the world incognito as a stringy-haired candy shop owner, it could almost be sex-offender-registry creepiness.
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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