19-FEB-19 Chocolate!!!

[DiveMilw]

I'm just about to head out to usher for the touring production of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".  I don't love the cast recording so I'm looking forward to seeing how the songs fit into the story.  Maybe I'll like them better within the show.  

[scenicdesign71]

Bummer, I had hoped there might be actual, edible chocolate somewhere in this thread.     Oh, well... made me look.

I didn't see C&TCF in NY, and I haven't heard the cast album, but I was vaguely curious about the design, on which a friend from work did some painting.  The few pics I saw looked nice, and the few things I heard about the set made it sound (relatively) smaller and more restrained than one might expect, given the material.  Maybe not a "world of pure imagination," but at least tipping a (purple) hat to the idea, rather than simply steamrolling over it with boatloads of candy-colored stuff.

Which naturally got me a bit curious... though not, in the end, curious enough to actually see it.  So do let us know what you think!

[DiveMilw]

I really, really felt like I saw a scaled down touring friendly set.  It was a world of budget conscious imagination.  Or it could have been exactly what was on Broadway.  Based on some of the photos I've seen the set was not over-the-top nor even what I would have expected from a Broadway show.  Some of the projections didn't make any sense to me and during the first act there was a neon-like border framing the space at each place where the "leg" curtains would be.  That was really weird.  And I really felt like the projections could have been "more".  Obviously, I didn't get the concept they were using.

The show wasn't too bad.  I still didn't like most of the songs that much but they were better live than on the CD.  In the original movie I despise Grandpa Joe but in the musical I didn't mind him.  The actors were all good.  The Oompa-Loompas were fantastic and got a HUGE reaction from the audience when they made their first appearance.  

If you have kids I would take them to see this.  Not really young kids. There are a couple of violent things which happen onstage. The worst is that..

Spoiler: ShowHide

  Veruca Salt meets her demise by being torn apart by the nut sorting squirrels.  

  If you don't have kids and can get an inexpensive ticket and want to see it then do so.  The cast is good and the book, although not great, isn't bad.  It makes for an entertaining night out.  

Looking at photos online I think the set was pared down for the tour.  Makes sense.  The show didn't do all that well in NYC so they couldn't plan on getting top dollar from the venues.  The business end of show business does have to make sense to put a show on tour.