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| Lucy Maunder (Mrs Bucket) - Tony Sheldon (Grandpa Joe) - Tommy Blair (Charlie Bucket) in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory |
Book by
David Greig – Music by Marc Shaiman – Lyrics by Scott Wittman, Marc Shaiman
Directed by
Jack O’Brien – Choreographed by Joshua Bergasse Scenic and Costume Design – Mark Thompson – Musical Director – Kellie Dickerson
Presented by
John Frost, Craig Donnell, Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, Langley Park
Productions, and Neal Street Productions.
Capitol
Theatre, Sydney 11th January – 14th April 2019.
Performance
on 11th January reviewed by Bill Stephens.
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| The Bucket Family The Grandaparents - Lucy Maunder (Mrs Bucket) - Tommy Blair (Charlie Bucket) |
Inspired by
Roald Dahl’s own boyhood experiences as a taste tester for a chocolate company
in England, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” follows the adventures of a
young Charlie Bucket (charmingly portrayed on opening night by Ryan Yeates), who
wins one of five tickets in competition to tour Willie Wonka’s chocolate
factory. The other four winners meet bizarre endings during the tour, but
Charlie survives to earn a very special prize from Willie Wonka.
If you’re a
Roald Dahl enthusiast, you no doubt know all this, so your interest in seeing
this musical is probably to see how the story translates as a stage musical.
However, if like this reviewer, you’ve never read the book, or have only seen
one of the two movies inspired by the book, be assured a treat awaits you,
because, freed of the need to compare the musical to the book or films, you can
simply delight in the delicious silliness of Roald Dahl’s subversive ideas and
be entranced by some spectacular stage Gee-whizzery.
To be
truthful though, there isn’t a lot of magic in the first half, except for the
paper plane which drew excited applause. Charlie Bucket’s home, in which he
lives with his struggling mother and four grandparents, is represented by a
rather cramped piece of scenery which is wheeled on an off stage, as is Willie
Wonka’s shop.
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| Ryan Yeates (Charlie Bucket) - Paul Slade Smith (Willie) in the glass elevator. |
However some
delightful characters are introduced, including Charlie’s hard-working mother, Mrs
Bucket (Lucy Maunder) and his Grandpa Joe (Tony Sheldon, who offers a wonderful
‘star’ performance in a relatively minor role).
There’s also the mysterious, silver-voiced Willie Wonka, winningly
portrayed by tall, lanky Paul Slade Smith, who played Grandpa George in the
Broadway production of this show.
Then there
are the other four winners and their parents, each more cringe-worthy than the last, but,
although funny, played in such a broad comic-book manner that it is hard to
relate to any of them as characters, which is just as well, because each comes
to a sticky end in the second half.
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| Jake Fehily (Augustus Gloop) - Octavia Barron Martin (Mrs Gloop) |
And indeed,
it’s the second half when the magic sets in as the audience is transported into
Willie Wonka’s world. Enchanting special effects and projections, vicious squirrels,
the great glass elevator and especially the Oompa Loompas, marvellously
choreographed by Joshua Bergasse, set the show soaring.
Some of the songs
are familiar, especially “The Candy Man” and “Pure Imagination”. A charming
ballad, “If Your Father Were Here”, affectingly sung by Lucy Maunder, Willie
Wonka’s anthem, “It Must Be Believed to Be Seen” and of course “The Oompa
Loompa Song”, linger in the mind. Elsewhere the songs are tuneful and serve the
story well. The costumes are colourful, and the choreography for the
hard-working ensemble of supporting characters is cleverly joyful.
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| Xion Jarvis (Charlie Bucket) - Tony Sheldon (Grandpa Joe) |
Judging from
the enthusiastic reception from the many youngsters in the audience at the
opening night performance, Director, Jack O’Brien has definitely hit a bull’s
eye with this thoroughly likeable and entertaining production of a long-time
favourite.
Photos by Jeff Busby
This review also published in Australian Arts Review. www.artsreview.com.au