'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' Is Coming to Broadway This Spring

Willy Wonka is coming to Broadway! Do you have your golden ticket?

Neal Street Productions, in conjunction with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures and Langley Park Productions, announced on Monday that Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is making its way to New York's Lunt-Fontanne Theatre this spring. The play will open on April 23, 2017, with previews slated to begin the previous month.

The West End play will initiate its Broadway transfer with leading actor Christian Borle in tow as Willy Wonka. Additional cast members are reportedly set to be announced at a later date. Borle will also star in the Tony-winning Falsettos (from famed lyricist William Finn) this fall.

According to Playbill, tickets (of the regular, non-golden variety) for the play are expected to be on sale by mid-September. Playbill also had the initial scoop on the announcement, per a press release:

"For more than 50 years Roald Dahl's story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has captured imaginations around the world, and now for the first time Broadway audiences are invited to experience Willy Wonka's delightful and semi-dark chocolate world first-hand."

Entertainment Weekly featured an excited quote from director Jack O'Brien about the transfer, cribbed from a People magazine article regarding the Chocolate Factory news:

"It's pure pleasure to watch them spin their magic over characters like Charlie Bucket, Willy Wonka, Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregarde and Mike Teavee to create a range of new music for the Broadway production as well as meshing their great gifts alongside some of the beloved classics from the film," the director tells People, calling out 1971's iconic [film].

Below, relive the famous "Pure Imagination" song from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

What is your favorite film version of the Chocolate Factory tale? Do you prefer Johnny Depp's recent take in the 2005 Tim Burton feature, or are you a Chocolate Factory classicist and prefer the great Gene Wilder's Mel Stuart-led 1971 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory?

We want to hear from you. Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

TagsWilly Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl, Lunt–Fontanne Theatre, Christian Borle, Falsettos, William Finn, Jack O'Brien, Gene Wilder, Mel Stuart, Johnny Depp, Tim Burton