The Spoiled Child - - Broadway Articles Page 3

The chocolate factory is coming to a city near you! The tour for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has made stops in Cincinnati, Toronto, Boston and more!

Charlie and the Chocolate factory” is big, extravagant and highly entertaining. The two leads, Peter Andreas Hjellnes (Charlie) and Fridtjof Sensæth Josefsen (Willy Wonka), carry the show splendidly on their shoulders. As a musical it has flaws, but the production 'almost' manages to conceal this through solid stage design, beautiful comstumes, solid direction and fun choreography.

As the first familiar notes of 'The Candy Man' wafts across the audience in Carol Morsani Hall, I feel a strong sense of nostalgia. I grew up watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on television and am curious how a show with so many special effects could translate to the stage.

Actor-singer-dancer-choreographer Adam Fleming became a part of Broadway history originating the roles of Sketch in Hairspray and Lucas in Bare. In 2005, he starred in David Brind and Adam Salky's acclaimed short film, Dare, about two teenage boys' tense, spark-filled encounter in a pool following high school play practice. Dare gained a cult following as part of Strand Releasing's 'Boys Life' series and ultimately achieved worldwide popularity via more than 12 Million views on Youtube. The fan fervor (and fan fiction!) eventually inspired a sequel, ten years later. The original and the sequel are now being presented together as The Dare Project and attracting new legions of fans.

In a limited run on October 8-13, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the beloved childhood tale of five lucky children with magic tickets, hits The Straz Center to delight kids of all ages. The story is a lesson in have and have-nots, centering around Charlie Bucket, a poor, kind-hearted boy whose family is on the brink of starvation. Charlie, Violet Beauregarde, Mike Teavee, Veruca Salt, and Augustus Gloop, have found a golden ticket inside a Wonka bar and have gained the privilege of visiting the chocolate factory. Unlike Charlie, the four are sorely lacking in traits of kindness and appreciation.

If you're like me, Dear Readers, you grew up with that indelible classic film, a?oeWilly Wonka and the Chocolate Factorya?? starring the amazing Gene Wilder (and hopefully not that abomination with Johnny Depp). Or maybe you found yourself getting lost in the pages of the Roald Dahl novel, a?oeCharlie and the Chocolate Factorya??. Whichever it is you probably found yourself longing for an Everlasting Gobstopper, or wanting to meet an Oompa Loompa, or terrified of that nightmare infused boat ride in the original film. Whichever version you preferred, rest assured there's something for everyone in the current musical incarnation, bearing the same name as the novel, currently on tour and at the Paramount Theatre. There are a few sound issues, and they've taken a few liberties with the characters to punch it up to modern day, but the whimsy and yearning for a?oePure Imaginationa?? is still quite present.

Berklee President Roger H. Brown presented an honorary Doctor of Music degree yesterday to acclaimed recording artist Imogen Heap during the commencement ceremony for the master's degree programs at Berklee's campus in Valencia, Spain. In advance of the ceremony, graduate students prepared and performed a medley of her  music in her honor at the commencement concert, held at l'Hemisfèric on Saturday.  

BET Networks and Tyler Perry Studios announced today that a new original drama, 'The Oval,' the first series under Perry's exclusive, multi-year content partnership deal with Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA) will begin principal photography this summer at Tyler Perry Studios. Starring Ed Quinn, Kron Moore, Paige Hurd and Daniel Croix Henderson, 'The Oval,' will introduce viewers to the new first family moving into the White House. This picture-perfect couple has it all! Money, status, and pure bliss flank the Mr. & Mrs. However, behind closed doors, they are anything but flawless. With lies, cheating and messy mayhem running amuck, in the new scripted series, we see next level corruption up close and way too personal, directly from the White House. Please believe, you could not write this... but Tyler did!

BWW catches up with Jianxin Wang, director of the Triplex Adventures to chat about bringing the show to the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

City Theatre's Artistic Director, Margaret Ledford, was a joy to interview- as intelligent as she was funny. We talk all things SUMMER SHORTS. City Theatre and the Adrienne Arsht Center present Summer Shorts 2019, May 30 - June 23, at Carnival Studio Theater. The summer theater season starts with a fresh batch of City Theatre's SHORTS at the Arsht Center!

Numi Opera will present Zemlinsky's Der Zwerg at the Theatre in the Ace Hotel this weekend. It's a rare but outstandingly beautiful gem.

The Western Stage is proud to open their 45th season with "The Miracle Worker," the story of young Helen Keller, rendered bl! ind, deaf, and mute from illness, and unable to communicate. Through persistence, love, and sheer stubbornness, tutor Annie Sullivan breaks through the silence and darkness that surround Helen, bringing the world to her once again.

FAMOUS re-opened in April after a successful run in 2018. I decided to speak with the show's Creator/Director Michael Leoni (ML) and producers Michelle Kaufer (MK) and Cassidy Pepper (CP), about how the new production uses stylized movements by the characters, enhanced lighting and sound designs, to bring the play flow so much more fluid than last year's version. The result grabs the audience's attention to the point of being able to hear a pin drop, making the entire experience even more stunning and breathtaking than before. And, of course, its relevance to the #MeToo movement is immediately recognizable as power players move in and out of Jason's life during the party.

When 3-D Theatricals artistic director T.J. Dawson tells you during the curtain speech to read his program note before THE SECRET GARDEN begins, take him at his word. It will go a long way toward helping you understand the feverish dream sequence that lays the foundation for Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman's dark, but ultimately uplifting, musical based on Frances Hodgson Burnett's 1911 classic novel.

Pack up the kids and head to San Francisco's Golden Gate Theater, now thru May 12, to see Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." It's like winning your own golden ticket.

When Theatre Three announced that William Gibson's The Miracle Worker was on the docket for this season, I knew it was going to be outstanding. The well-known tale is about Helen Keller, a deaf, blind, and mute child and her teacher Annie Sullivan. If you haven't read it, you may be familiar with the Patty Duke/Ann Bancroft movie. It shows a small part of how Helen was as a child; spoiled, pitied, and wild. Noticing Helen's potential, Annie plans to teach Helen a host of things like decorum and language. It is her hope that her tutelage will guide Helen to be independent.

Oh my god, I have literally nothing to say about Les Miz. Well, maybe not nothing... not literally! It's not gonna be hard to throw these out, I'll tell you that much. I have so many freaking Les Miz CDs and they all take up so much space at two--even three--discs a pop. The only one I ever really listened to in its entirety more than a couple of times was the Original London cast anyway.

Peter Flynn tackles Sondheim's darkly imagined INTO THE WOODS at Ford's Theatre and the result is sensational. Flynn leads an exceptional cast and, with support from Michael Bobbitt's choreography, Milagros Ponce Leon's set design, and Wade Laboissonniere's costume design, has a hit on his hands.

News emerged today that Hollywood actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were among 50 wealthy people charged in a college cheating scam dumbed 'Varsity Blues', in which they allegedly paid bribes of up to $6 million to secure places for their offspring at top universities. In a strange twist of fate, the breaking story coincides with the UK opening of Joshua Harmon's incendiary satire Admissions, which demonstrates that even those with the most devout liberal principles about progress and fairness can falter when it comes to their own family and self-interest.

If you hear an explosion of energy coming from the east end of the valley over the next couple of weekends, it is almost certainly the production of Hairspray at Indio's Desert Theatreworks. I enjoyed virtually every detail of the production so much that it's hard to know where to start. The performers, the sets, the singing, the dancing, and above all, the exuberance grab us from our chilly winter evenings and whisk us away to a truly happy place!

The 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, today unveiled its feature film lineup. Continuing its tradition of elevating exceptional storytelling rooted in today's global film communities, the 18th annual Festival will showcase debut works from emerging talent and new works from notable filmmakers. The program includes discoveries, comedies, music-centered, political and social films. The 2019 Tribeca Film Festival takes place April 24 - May 5.  

Donna Vivino is Broadway vet with a career starting at age 8 when she took the stage in Les Miserables. Since then she's thrilled audiences in Wicked, Hairspray, Saturday Night Fever, and more. Her latest project has her sharing her skills and art with the next generation in her Journey to Broadway summer program in New Jersey.

As the Candy Man himself said, "come with me, and you'll see a world of pure imagination." It seems the writers and creatives behind CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY playing at the Hippodrome took this phrase to heart. On the basis of pure creativity and theatre magic, this show is a hit for young and old. These days, it's fun to have at least a singular moment of "I don't know how they managed to do that", however in this show particularly from the magic of a soaring paper airplane, to a child gobbled into a television set, there are many of these moments of amazement. And I'm sure the numerous children in the audience were completely taken by the sheer wonder of it.

The Boston premiere of the US National Tour of Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY opened at the Boston Opera House this week, just a year after the Broadway production closed. The core of the Broadway creative team brings in a 36-member cast, including the beguiling candy man Willy Wonka and the Oompa Loompas, his odd little troupe of orange-haired factory workers.

While watching Chance Theater's brand new OC-premiere of EMMA: THE MUSICAL--Paul Gordon's charm-filled 2007 stage musical adaptation of Jane Austen's beloved 1815 novel--I noticed a welcome sensation that took over me throughout most of the production… I could not stop smiling. Delightfully appealing and positively buoyant in a great many aspects, this wonderfully witty and quite beguiling production--directed with engaging gusto by Casey Long--continues performances at their Cripe Stage in Anaheim through December 23, 2018.