Interview: Jeff Cox on CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY's Vivid Music
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY is now playing at the Sands Theatre through June 14.
Singapore — In the 1971 film adaptation called Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley, and Walter Scharf put together a score that became a core part of this story’s legacy. Songs like “Pure Imagination” and “The Candyman” have reached outside the chocolate-covered walls and emerged as pop culture staples. The sweetness and nostalgia infused in the beautiful, sweeping music is held close to heart by many people across generations.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has just landed in Singapore’s Sands Theatre. The musical theatre spectacular promises to let audiences experience the world they know and love. The score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman expands on the beloved music, befitting audiences of imaginative dreamers who’ve been waiting to be immersed in this music live.
We had the privilege of speaking with Jeff Cox, the music director of Charlie. Jeff is a New York-based music director and conductor who’s worked on many tremendous musical theatre scores like The Band’s Visit on Broadway and its North America Tour and the Wicked North American Tour.
Jeff gave us an inside look into the nostalgic and energetic musical world of the show.
BWW: For someone new to the world of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, how would you describe the music of this show?
Cox: The music of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is as colorful and varied as the characters themselves. Marc Shaiman’s score runs the gamut of musical genres, from timeless Broadway tunes to Bavarian folk, funk-pop, jazz, rock, and everything in between. It’s as if the challenge was to be as musically daring and vivid as Roald Dahl’s imagination.
BWW: What draws you to the music of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?
Cox: It feels so visceral and alive and energetic—the music literally pulls you forward through the story. The pacing is finely tuned, and whenever you arrive at one of the meaningful, well-crafted ballads, it feels just right.
BWW: So many people hold the films and their music very close to heart, and “Pure Imagination” has become such a timeless classic. What do you think makes it continue to resonate with generations of people?
Cox: Timeless is exactly right—it’s hard to put into words, but I think the secret is the straightforward, earnest melody and the rich chromatic harmonies that dance and move underneath. It feels orchestral and like it points towards something without ever really giving it to you, just showing you what is possible.
BWW: Having the privilege of live theatre, how is the music expanded to better emotionally immerse the audience in this world?
Cox: Live theatre is uniquely special, owing in no small part to the music, which involves the collaboration of not only a talented cast but also a live orchestra and our hardworking sound team. Whether the orchestra is located in a traditional pit or backstage out of sight, we work every night to create the magical world of Charlie’s fictional town and the factory itself. In addition to the songs themselves, there is quite a bit of underscoring throughout the show, during which the orchestra continues to tell the story and acts as a scene partner with the actors onstage, whether or not the audience is consciously aware of it.
BWW: This story contains small, sweet moments, but also big, absurdly hilarious moments. How does the music drive these vastly different moments?
Cox: This is thanks to the excellent orchestrations by Doug Besterman. The textures he creates serve each moment uniquely, whether a delicate flute and harp underscore or the whole band roaring away. It may be obvious to say but instrumentation alone makes a huge difference to the storytelling, and the choices in this score are tailored to each beat of the story.
BWW: There are so many eccentric and iconic characters in this world, how does the music help characterise them?
Cox: I have to return to the breadth of genres mentioned before to answer this question. In particular, the introductory songs for each of the golden ticket winning children are so unique and specific to each character; they really give each parent-child combination a unique and immediate flavor in terms of the audience’s first impression. Some shows are designed for the music to all feel cut from the same cloth, whereas the Charlie score hangs together almost because each song is so different, all while having a common language.
BWW: Do you have a personal favourite detail in the score that you don’t get to talk about enough?
Cox: It varies by the day, but I’ve always enjoyed one particularly clever two-bar transition in “Charlie, You and I”. It pivots from D major to F#7 sort of without you realizing it until it’s already happened. And then what follows is Grandpa Joe singing one of my favorite melodies of the show—I wish it could be expanded into its own full song.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is now playing at Sands Theatre, Marina Bay Sands, for a strictly limited season from 19 May to 14 June 2026. Presented by Broadway International Group and Broadway Asia, in association with Base Entertainment Asia, the internationally acclaimed Broadway musical makes its first stop in Southeast Asia, inviting audiences of all ages, as well as fans of the beloved book and films, to step inside an immersive theatrical world of pure imagination.
Photo Credit: Jeremy Daniel
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