Musical Adaptation Of ‘Charlie & The Chocolate Factory’ Fails To Live Up To Expectations

The new musical, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", the latest adaptation of Roald Dahl's acclaimed children's story from 1964, has failed to live up to expectations. The musical opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, in New York. 

According to Variety, the previous adaptations of the classic story were two movies, the first one was in 1971 starring Gene Wilder and another one was in 2005 starring Johnny Depp.  The movies, however, were able to bring the life into the story as it is easy to portray the scenic concept of the story through visual effects rather than drawn arts on stage.

The lavish production from the Warner Brothers was able to produce a great experience for the viewers to understand every detail of the imaginary chocolate factory of Willie Wonka. Not only Johnny Depp played an overwhelming role in the character of Willie Wonka but also the visual effects were undoubtedly a very big factor.

According to The New York Times, the musical did disappoint a bit in the first half but Christian Borle, playing the character of Willie Wonka did a good job. The outlandish costumes for the children's characters didn't make a much of an impact. Ryan Foust playing the role of little Charlie will remind everyone of an excited and loving boy from the story. The sweet experience, though came when the tiny Oompa Loompas, Willie Wonka's assembly line workers appeared on the screen. Choreographed by Joshua Bergasse the crayon color breed brought much life to the stage.  

The musical adaptation of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" had its limitations. Not just in choreography in certain parts but also in character formations and visual effects. Probably the story was not compatible as a musical to be staged with limited visual effects and humanized character performance of certain aspects. The previous movies based on the story also don't make things easy for the musical. The previous experiences actually raise the bar of expectation about the musical which was hard to achieve. 

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