“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" Comes to Pantages

Living up the Gene Wilder’s iconic Willy Wonka character in Mel Stuart’s 1971 movie musical “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” is tough, just ask Johnny Depp who tried, yet failed, in the 2005 film remake.

Now the Broadway touring company of the musical version of Roald Dah’s 1964 story is performing “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The New Musical” at the Pantages through April 14.

Some things keep true to the book, with Charlie Bucket (played brilliantly by Rueby Wood opening night and alternating with actors Collin Jeffery and Henry Boshart) remaining a poor lad living in a cramped house made out of things his mother salvages from the local dump and sharing quarters with his grandparents and mom.

Although he dines on cold cabbage soup most nights, on his birthday he gets a candy bar from the Wonka chocolate factory in his town.

When chocolatier Wonka (played by Noah Weisberg with nuances of a little Jim Carrey), begins to have a bitter taste in his mouth, he launches a contest offering a tour of his factory for five lucky bar buyers who find a golden ticket.

The first act’s highlights center around Wood as Charlie with standout performances on “A Letter from Charlie Bucket” and “I’ve Got a Golden Ticket.” Also, in the first act the audience is introduced to the other four winners and their accompanying parents, including the big Bavarian sausage eating Augustus Gloop (Matt Wood) and his mother (Kathy Fitzgerald); mean Russian ballerina Veruca Salt (Jessica Cohen, with lots of fancy footwork) and her father (Nathaniel Hackmann); social media addicted Mike Teavee (Daniel Quadrino) and his alcoholic stuck in the 1950’s mother (a great performance by Madeleine Doherty) and gum chewing Violet Beauregarde (Brynn Williams) who wants to become a social media star with the help of her father.

The fable stays true to the book, where spoiled children don’t succeed and in this case are torn apart, pulverized and blown up; and virtuous children like Charlie end up winning, in this case obtaining the keys to Wonka’s kingdom of sweets.

The big standouts in this version of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” are the magnificent magical sets from Mark Thompson, the clever use of the Oompa-Loompas from Basil Twist, the classic songs “The Candy Man” and “Pure Imagination” and the new “Strike That, Reverse It” and finale “The View from Here.”

Kids might find the second half of the show a bit dark with giant black squirrels pulling apart ballerina Veruca Salt, but children of all ages will leave the Pantages on a sweet note.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The New Musical, plays through April 14. Tickets can be purchased at the Pantages box office and at https://www.hollywoodpantages.com.