The rumours are true! Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Musical is due to premier at the London Palladium next June, backed by a phenomenal production and design team including Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures and Neal Street Productions.
The musical will be directed by Sam Mendes, who is probably best known for his film American Beauty which won five Academy Awards and six BAFTAs and for founding the Donmar Warehouse in 1992. The music and lyrics, which will be completely original, are to be written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, who are the duo responsible for the score behind the musical Hairspray, for which the pair won the Tony, Grammy and Olivier Awards. They also teamed up for Broadway’s “Martin Short: Fames Becomes Me” and “Catch Me If You Can” and most recently worked on a new television series for NBC, “Smash”. Mark Thompson has the responsibility of recreating the magical world of Willy Wonkas’s factory through the set and costume, which we’ve been assured will include many surprises and will not fail to delight in the imagining of the legendary Oompa Loompas. Thompson’s most recent accomplishments include “One Man, Two Guvnors”, “Bombay Dreams”, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat”, and “She Stoops to Conquer”. Peter Darling will be in charge of the show’s choreography, for which he’s recently just one an Olivier Award for another of Roald Dahl’s musical reincarnations, “Matilda The Musical”.
The show is currently offering an exclusive priority period for groups of 12+ with general sale of tickets being released in October of this year. The musical has been four years in the making and is tipped to be the next big musical spectacular, so grab yourself a ticket and enter the fantastical world of Mr Dahl.
If the production of Roald Dahl’s “Matilda the Musical” success is anything to go by, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is bound to be a West End hit of 2013!
