Christian Youth Theatre to Put on Ronald Dahl's WILLY WONKA

The delicious adventures experienced by Charlie Bucket on his visit to Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory light up the stage in this captivating adaptation of Roald Dahl's fantastical tale. Featuring the enchanting songs from the 1971 film starring Gene Wilder and new songs by Leslie Bricusse (Jekyll & Hyde, Doctor Dolittle) and Anthony Newley, Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka is a scrumdidilyumptious musical guaranteed to delight everyone's sweet tooth.

Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka follows enigmatic candy manufacturer Willy Wonka as he stages a contest by hiding golden tickets in five of his scrumptious candy bars. Whoever comes up with these tickets will win a free tour of the Wonka factory, as well as a lifetime supply of candy. Four of the five winning children are insufferable brats: the fifth is a likeable young lad named Charlie Bucket, who takes the tour in the company of his equally amiable grandfather. The children must learn to follow Mr. Wonka's rules in the factory... or suffer the consequences.

Christian Youth Theater (CYT) is an after-school theater arts training program for students ages 4-18. Since its founding in 1980, CYT has grown to be the largest youth theater program in the nation, with Branches nationwide training thousands of students a year.

I asked director, Connor Worthington to tell me what made him want to direct this production of Wonka-

"When I was given the opportunity to direct this show, I was thrilled! Not only was it my first directing role with CYT, but in 2017, my very first show working with this company was stage managing on their last production of Willy Wonka. This felt so perfectly lined up and I couldn't wait to put my spin on this classic tale."

I also asked him-"What do you hope audiences gain/learn by seeing this production?"

"I'm hoping that this younger generation, who may have never seen this story before, can really appreciate the importance of kindness and generosity that we see in Charlie Bucket. And for those adults in the crowd, I hope it's a nice reminder, as well, as we all still have that younger self inside of us."

To post a comment, you must register and login.