I want to admit right off the bat that when I first found out that I was going to see Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, I was less than impressed. I wondered how a Broadway musical remake of a children’s book was supposed to stand in the ranks with shows like The King and I, Miss Saigon, or Hamilton. Well, let me just tell you that from the moment the opening number started, I knew I had misjudged this show from what I thought I knew. While this show wasn’t the same type of concept as other Broadway shows, it was fun and whimsical and I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard at a show. This show was by far one of the funniest shows I’ve had the chance to see, and if for nothing else, I would recommend trying to see it just for that reason.
The show opens with the cast’s rendition of “The Candy Man,” sung but Willy Wonka himself accompanied by the Ensemble. This is then followed by the ensemble’s performance of “Willy Wonka! Willy Wonka!” Sung by the one and only, Charlie Bucket. The reprise of “The Candy Man,” follows Charlie’s performance of “Willy Wonka! Willy Wonka!” and is also sung by the actor who plays Charlie. Because the part is played by a child in the traveling performance, Charlie is played by one of a few different children at each performance, and the actor who played Charlie in this show had some serious talent. After singing the reprise of “The Candy Man,” Charlie makes his way home where Grandpa Joe sings “Charlie, You & I” before a performance of “A Letter from Charlie Bucket,” which is performed by the grandparents, Charlie, and Mrs. Bucket.
As each of the golden tickets are found, the show cuts to a scene of each of the other children finding their tickets, starting, of course, with the Gloops. Mrs. Gloop, Augustus Gloop and the Ensemble perform “More of Him to Love,” before they jump back to a songless scene with Charlie. This scene is followed by another Golden ticket, which is found by Veruca Salt, where she and Mr. Salt perform “When Veruca Says,” before the scene cuts back to Charlie. However, there are still two more children who find golden tickets before Charlie, and they also get their own introduction numbers. Mr. Beauregarde and Violet Beauregarde (both played by actors of color!!) accompany the ensemble in the performance of “The Queen of Pop.” This performance is then followed by our introduction to the Teavee family, where Mrs. Teavee and Mike Teavee accompany the Ensemble in “What Could Possibly Go Wrong?” This performance is followed by a ridiculously emotional performance by Mrs. Bucket entitled, “If Your Father Were Here.” This song was so beautiful, that it literally brought tears to my eyes, and I really did not expect to cry at a performance of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. After such an emotional number, the musical broke the tension with Charlie and Grandpa Joe performing both “I’ve got a Golden Ticket” and “Grandpa Joe” with the rest of the Grandparents and Mrs. Bucket. Act one then ends with a song sung by Willy Wonka, accompanied by the Ensemble, entitled, “It Must Be Believed to Be Seen.”
After the first act, I knew that this performance was going to be one of my absolute favorites out of all the shows I had seen, and we hadn’t even seen inside the factory yet! All of the characters were so convincing and funny, that it would be hard for anyone not to enjoy this show! After a brief intermission, we jumped back in with act two!
Act two begins with a performance of “Strike That! Reverse It!” sung by Willy Wonka and accompanied by the Ensemble. This song details the rules of being in the factory, and then we enter the magical world that is the Wonka Factory with a performance by Willy Wonka, Charlie, Grandpa Joe, and the rest of the Golden Ticket winners of “Pure Imagination” as well as the reprise of “Grandpa Joe.” As the characters move through the factory, we follow the cast through the next few songs, starting of course, with “The Oompa Loompa Song” performed by the Oompa Loompas themselves! I want to take a moment to give credit to the actors who were playing the Oompa Loompas, because honestly, it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen, and they did a fantastic job. After the Oompa Loompas are introduced, they perform another number with Willy Wonka entitled, “Auf Wiedersehen Augustus Gloop,” in which we lose the Gloops off the tour. The Oompa Loompas then sing with Wonka again, this time, in a song entitled, “When Willy Met Oompa,” which detailed how it was that Willy Wonka came to know the Oompa Loompas. There is a scene in which we lose Violet to the Chewing Gum incident, which is not accompanied with a song, however, after that, we move through the factory again, this time, to the sorting room, where highly trained squirrels sort the good nuts from the bad nuts. As the story goes, Veruca wants one of the squirrels, and so she goes after them with a wild ballet, the ending of with, in my opinion, probably traumatized some of the children in the audience. This number is called “Veruca’s Nutcracker Sweet,” and is performed by Veruca, Mr. Salt, and the Squirrels themselves (again, props to the actors here)! We then lose Veruca and Mr. Salt from the tour, as Wonka, the Teavees, and the Buckets continue on to the next room of the factory where Willy Wonka, Mike Teavee and his mom, along with the Oompa Loompas, preform “Vidiots,” as we lose Mike Teavee off the tour as well. Now that all of the children, except Charlie have suffered irreversible accidents in the factory, Charlie and Willy Wonka perform “The View From Here,” in Wonka’s glass elevator. This is followed by the entire company singing “The Candy Man (Bows),” which is the end of the performance.
After the show was over, I was admittedly pretty sad. I didn’t want it to be over because this show was that well put together! If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend going, even though it is a “children’s show.” I think the show is definitely geared more towards and older crowd, so I wouldn’t recommend bringing any young children to see it (as I said, there are some scenes that might be traumatising for them). I won’t spoil any more of what happens, but definitely check this show out if it is touring in a city near you!