Musical Review: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

‘Come with me and you’ll be in a world of pure imagination’; perhaps the most famous line that came from the 1971 movie adaption of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. A story so well known, to so many children worldwide, that it has been adapted twice into film, with a third due to be released in December this year. The stage adaptation opened in June 2013 and ran for three successful years at the Drury Lane Theatre in London. The current version of the show opened in November 2022 at the Leeds Playhouse and opened at the Birmingham Hippodrome on Tuesday, October 17th.

Having read the book, and seen the film adaptation, many times, I was curious to see how this magical story had been adapted for stage to suit a live audience, and I was not disappointed

Having read the book, and seen the film adaptation, many times, I was curious to see how this magical story had been adapted for stage to suit a live audience, and I was not disappointed. The tour rotates four children acting the role of Charlie and I was privileged to see Jessie-Lou Harvie in the title role. From the start, she was in complete command of the stage and was both vocally and artistically incredible throughout the whole show. Being the only child actor surrounded by a cast of adults is intimidating, but she completely held her own and truly shared the joy that so many children (and adults!) have over chocolate.

The story is the familiar one we all know so well. Act 1 focuses entirely on the story before Charlie enters the factory. There are these great musical numbers that are used to help introduce the other four children: Augustus Gloop (Robin Simoes Da Silva), Veruca Salt (Kazmin Borrer), Violet Beauregarde (Marisha Morgan) and Mike Teavee (Teddy Hinde), as they each discover their golden tickets. A big part of Act 1 is the relationship that Charlie has with her family, specifically her four grandparents. Three out of the four actors who played Charlie’s grandparents as well as Charlie’s mum, doubled up as the parents of the four other children, though it took me a while to realise this due to incredibly quick costume changes, every outfit helping distinguish each character making them both unique and recognisable.

The mysterious man himself, Mr Willy Wonka (Gareth Snook) makes his grand appearance at the end of Act 1 and really takes the characters, and the audience, on a journey through the factory over the course of Act 2. Because of the uniqueness of the factory, and its vast rooms, there is little set in Act 2 and, instead, an animation is used on the back wall of the stage to portray the surroundings. Practically, I can see that this was the only way to show all the different spaces in the factory but unfortunately, it felt a bit flat and the story didn’t feel as immersive once they started displaying the set on a screen. However, the actors did somewhat make up for this, reacting to the different scenarios and interacting with the props and the set pieces that were on stage incredibly well.

Overall, it was another enjoyable evening at the Birmingham Hippodrome and I would highly encourage anyone to go and see it

A personal favourite moment of mine was in the ‘Nut Room’, when Veruca decides she must have one of Wonka’s squirrels as her own and it deems her a bad nut before then throwing her down the rubbish shoot. The Ooompa Loompa’s song ‘Veruca’s Nutcracker Sweet’ was highly entertaining as she and her father fail to escape the rubbish and are carried off. The Oompa Loompa’s were perhaps the biggest change from the book and films, portrayed as shiny, silver robots. This was a refreshing change from the films and their dances were a highlight of Act 2, as each of the 4 children were eliminated from the factory.

The songs were also very different, with only ‘Pure Imagination’ and a small amount of ‘The Candy Man’ being familiar to me. The songs were very creative but weren’t catchy in the way that the songs from other shows, like Matilda the Musical, are. Still, the cast was very vocally strong, specifically Wonka, Charlie, Grandpa Joe (Michael D’Cruze) and Mrs Bucket (Leonie Spilsbury), however the entire ensemble definitely pulled their weight in the whole cast songs. Overall, it was another enjoyable evening at the Birmingham Hippodrome and I would highly encourage anyone, especially families with children, to go and see it.

The show is running until November 5th at Birmingham Hippodrome and continues on tour to Liverpool, Dublin, and Glasgow until February 2024.