Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
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Cititour.com Review
Willy Wonka was never a warm and fuzzy father figure, even in the classic Gene Wilder film. But in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Broadway musical based on Roald Dahl’s novel, a trip to his candy-making establishment can be as dangerous as a visit to Sweeney Todd’s barbershop.
To be sure, there’s a macabre fun to be had seeing insufferably spoiled children silenced (even dismembered in one instance), but overall, this labored, commercially driven London transfer, directed by Jack O’Brien, offers only brief drippings of joy.
Without a doubt, the highlight is two-time Tony winner Christian Borle as the merry and menacing chocolatier. A comic genius with a beautiful voice, he’s brilliant from the moment he comes onstage at the top of the show singing “The Candy Man,” the most tuneful of a few songs from the 1971 film that have been integrated into the show.
The rest of the songs, by Hairspray’s Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, can’t compare, and the show’s book, by Scottish playwright David Greig, is a hodgepodge of ideas haphazardly stitched together. There’s a cartoonish quality to the proceedings that negates any emotional impact, from the way his family’s poverty is depicted (buying rotting vegetables for dinner) to the way some of the children leave the factory (in pieces).
Although the show has been heavily rewritten for Broadway, the basic story is the same. Reclusive chocolate maker Willy Wonka hides five golden tickets inside his beloved candy bars, and the children who find them win a tour of his chocolate factory, with one receiving a grand prize of a lifetime’s supply of chocolate. The only decent kid in the bunch is poor Charlie Bucket — a role shared by three child actors (Jake Ryan Flynn, Ryan Foust and Ryan Sell) — who is stuck living with his mother and four bed-bound grandparents, including Grandpa Joe (John Rubinstein).
The rest of the children are self-centered brats (and their oafish, indulgent parents aren’t any better). In a departure from the 2013 London version, these kids are played by adults: German glutton Augustus Gloop (F. Michael Haynie); spoiled Russian princess Veruca Salt (Emma Pfaeffle); and fame-hungry Violet Beauregarde (Trista Dollison) and internet-obsessed Mike Teavee (Michael Wartella), both Americans.
The first act merely sets up Act II’s chocolate factory tour, when we get to see Borle at his madcap best and Jackie Hoffman’s perfect comic timing as parent Mrs. Teavee. The visual highlights are the Oompa Loompas, the band of little people who make Wonka’s candy, played by kneeling members of the ensemble, whose faces poke out of Basil Twist’s puppets.
But it’s not enough to make this musical more than a brash commercial enterprise designed to sell lots of candy. (See the Wonka Empori-Yum in the lobby.) We end up rooting for Charlie not because we’ve warmed up to him but because the other children are so terrible. But don’t worry — there’s plenty of chocolate to make you feel better.
By Diane Snyder
Visit the Site
http://www.charlieonbroadway.com
Cast
Christian Borle, Jake Ryan Flynn/Ryan Foust/Ryan Sell, John Rubinstein, Emily Padgett, Kathy Fitzgerald, F. Michael Haynie, Ben Crawford, Emma Pfaeffle, Alan H. Green, Trista Dollison, Jackie Hoffman, Michael Wartella
Open/Close Dates
Opening 4/23/2017
Closing 1/14/2018
Preview Open/ Preview Close Dates
Preview Opening 3/28/2017
Closing Open-ended
Box Office
877-250-2929
Theatre Info
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
205 West 46th Street
New York, NY 10036
Map
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