Directed by Sam Mendes
Starring Douglas Hodge as Willy Wonka, Nigel Planer as Grandpa Joe, Jack Costelloe and others (see full cast list here)
As the trend is these days where many films are quickly turned into huge broadway productions, i was very excited to hear that Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was coming to the West End. Directed by Sam Mendes, i expected it to be a marvellously colourful production portraying the full extent for Dahl's world to an enthralled audience. I loved the book as a child but i have to say that just by watching the trailers of Johnny Depp's version of this story freaked me out. I didn't even bother watching it so i was even more impatient to see this musical. As a birthday surprise, i was taken to see it and it was everything that i expected it to be!
With the use of special effects and lighting trickery, every unique scene of the book was bought to life on stage by the cast and crew. The play begins with a short documentary illustrated by Quentin Blake on how chocolate is made, it was very well done and the children next to me were glued to it. With the educational aspect out of the way, the story continued to show the harshness of Charlie's family situation complete with the grandparents in the bed. It was emotional and heart warming and the love of the family for one little boy enraptured the audience into the mood of the play.
Post interval, the play went on to tell the demise of the various characters at the chocolate factory with some brilliant use of CGI in quick witted scenes. Augustus Gloop falling into a chocolate waterfall was all done through the clever use of holograms and it was unbelievably flawless. One thing i thought would be sure to be the downfall would be the Oompah Loompahs but even these turned out brilliant. With the use of puppets, they performed dance routines and sang, it was hard to believe that they were indeed not little people. Willy Wonka was thankfully kept eccentric and not as freaky as Depp's version, and so was loved by the audience. The child stars in this production have to be commended with the little boy who played Charlie, being sweet and true to the character from the book. His hope and want to be better for his family was endearing and heart warming to watch.
The sets are truly mind blowing in this show and the production have to be commended for the easy transitions bringing a book that is part fantasy, part reality onto the stage and making it seem real to the audience. I would love to see this play again and really hope it runs for a long time in the West End.
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