CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY by Carol Kaufman Segal

           
 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, written by David Greig, based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Roald Dahl, is playing at The Pantages Theatre in Hollywood.   Dahl also wrote the book Matilda which was also made into a musical (see review on this site).  I had never read either novel nor had I ever seen either musical until this season.  I thoroughly enjoyed Matilda the Musical.  However, I find Charlie and the Chocolate Factory entirely too appalling to even be considered for children.  I understand that Dahl was trying to create a point about good and bad children, but the manner in which it is accomplished, in this fairy tale, is beyond my acceptance.  This is not to say that the production, itself, was not well done.

           

 Charlie Buckett (alternates: Henry Boshart, Collin Jeffrey, Rueby Wood) is from a very poor, but loving family and Charlie is a warm-hearted young boy.  When he finds out that Willy Wonka (Noah Weisberg), the owner of a chocolate factory, is giving away five tickets to five lucky children who can find them hidden in the factory’s chocolate bars, he longs to be one of those lucky “kids”.  And wouldn’t you know it?   Charlie finds the very last golden ticket.  There is excitement in his family, and Grandpa Joe (Clyde Voce), who hasn’t walked in years, hops out of bed and accompanies Charlie on his dream-come-true adventure.    
            
The following are the other four children who were lucky enough to join Charlie on the tour: (or were they?)  Veruca Salt (Jessica Cohen), Augustus Gloop (Matt Wood), Violet Beauregarde (Brynn Williams), and Mike Teavee (Daniel Quadrino, each one more flawed in character than the other, and as they roam through the factory each one is eliminated in a not too pleasant fashion, leaving Charlie, the well-mannered and caring child, the one who is given the chocolate factory by Willie Wonka.

            
There is some outstanding music in the production by Marc Shaiman with lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman.  At the opening, young Reuby Wood was a delightful and talented Charlie and the entire cast carried the play off perfectly.  If the outcome of the children, in order to make a point, does not affect you, as it does me, then this might be a show that you can enjoy        

            
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory plays Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 PM, Saturdays at 2 PM and 8 PM, and Sundays at 1 PM and 6:30 PM, through April 14, at the Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles.  For further information call (800) 982-2787, or go online at HollywoodPantages.com.