Charlie & The Chocolate Factory - Palace Theatre, Manchester - Thursday 13th July 2023

Come with me and you will be in a world of pure imagination... or will you?! Read on to find out!

Story

Everybody knows and loves the story of the Roald Dahl classic, the original movie and the remake with Johnny Depp, so I can imagine people come to this show with very high hopes for it to be a smash hit like the other Roald Dahl reimagining, Matilda.

Well, unfortunately, I felt this show does not translate well at all from the book or the 2 movies that have been released over the years. The whole 1st act was a build up to going into the factory and the plot seemed very processed, if that makes sense? It was the same formula for each scene just with a different golden ticket winner.

This meant we didn't actually meet Willy Wonka until the end of act 1 and act 2 was a rush through all the factory rooms and amazement of the chocolate world. Act 1 felt too dragged out and act 2 felt too rushed. There was no balance of this.

Not relating to the story but a creative decision that was made... the scenes in the Bucket home were all signed in BSL as well as being spoken which I thought was incorporated very well and was very accessible. That was until we changed scenes and then it disappeared! I think if you're going to do it, do it all the way through and don't drop it after 1 scene as this, if anything, makes it more inaccessible!

I won't spoil anything regarding the Oompa Loompas, however they are not orange and are not what I expected!

Cast

The saving grace of this show was definitely the amazingly talented cast of performers that made up the Buckets, the golden ticket winners, their parents and the ensemble of Oompa Loompas around the factory.

We had a last minute change of Charlie after a 10 minute delay so we had the wonderful Haydn Court as the titular character. This role would be a BIG challenge for any seasoned adult performer as the stage time is immense with hardly any let up but Haydn smashed it! His voice was beautifully innocent and the acting made you believe that Charlie is a complete angel compared to his golden ticket winner counter-parts.

Gareth Snook played the elusive chocolatier, Willy Wonka. He delivered a great performance albeit a little shouty and one-note during the first song. He reminded more of Gene Wilder's portrayal meaning he clearly cared about the children and the factory but didn't really show it and was more nonchalant on the outside. His comedic delivery was great with some innuendos that the adults got and loved as the children let it go right over their heads! I think the script isn't the most intuitive and relies on overdone jokes but Gareth still managed to make it a funny performance.

The golden ticket winners were played by adult performers (I don't know if this has changed since the shows West End run?) and I don't think this worked. It was very obvious they were all adults and they didn't manage to capture the mind-set of an overexcited child going into a world class chocolate factory.

Music

None of the songs were memorable and made me leave humming them. It felt like the score was trying to replicate Matilda's amazing music by Tim Minchin but it didn't work and just sounded repetitive and in all honestly, boring.

Set

There was minimal set throughout the show apart from the Bucket House and the sweet shop from the beginning of the story. The rest of show relied on screens on the floor and on the back of the stage. These were cool with some good effects but I felt that they relied too much on using these rather than making the show more interesting with set pieces.

Overall

I was very disappointed with this Roald Dahl classic story. There was no magic or imagination to speak of and I left with a bitter taste in my mouth rather than the sweet chocolate feeling I was expecting.

Story ⭐

Cast ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Music ⭐

Set ⭐⭐

Overall ⭐⭐