The tale of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl will be on Broadway come Spring 2017.
After some time in London’s West End, the musical will be getting the American treatment by three time Tony winning director Jack O’Brien and Oscar winning choreographer Joshua Bergasse. Grammy, Emmy and Tony winner Marc Shaiman as well as Scott Wittman will be providing the music and lyrics for the show.
With a heavy hitting production the performance seems to be on track to be a hit. O’Bien said in a statement that the focus of the show is, “Why does Wonka want to do this Golden Ticket contest and what compels him to want to give it all away? I started with the question why. This is the dramatic premise I hang the whole show on.”
O’Brien also stated that the musical will take much of their inspiration from the icon ’70s movie as opposed to the book. “Since the first production was created for London it’s only fair we do an American version, and in America, our connection is to the 1971 movie and the indelible impression of Gene Wilder as the slyly wicked Wonka,” he said.
It has been over 50 years since Dahl’s novel was released and inspired so many people and performance arts. Sam Mendes directed the musical in London and wont be involved in the broadway production due to other projects. He said in a statement, “I knew I couldn’t marry the time commitment to make a Broadway production with the development of my next projects. As such I am thrilled to be turning the keys to the Broadway Chocolate Factory over to the brilliant Jack O’Brien.”
