Yeah....I can see why this failed on Broadway. The book is to blame. It is shockingly morbid. They mention death every ten seconds. In Act 1, it gets repetitive. In Act 2, it is super creepy. Willy Wonka even admits that he murders his enemies towards the end of the show ("Murder is always a good enough punishment"....wtf) and literally almost gets in a physical fight with Grandpa Joe. And speaking of him, the characters are so bland as well. Grandpa Joe is reduced to nothing but a crackpot, Willy as mentioned is a psychopath and actually an *beep* hole in general, and the kids are all stereotypical. Mrs. Teevee is an alcoholic and mentions alcohol so often as well.
Act 1 is fine enough, but Act 2 is unbearable. It has so much filler (What was with that booby trap scene), distasteful jokes when someone dies (adding to Willy being a psychopath and three out of four kids actually die), and really gruesome deaths. And yes, Veronica being tear limb by limb (with blood on the props) by squirrels is just as bad as it sounds. One more note on the book: Why did they reveal Willy Wonka at the beginning and...
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have him suggest his plans to the audience? Also, if he always intended to give the factory to Charlie, what was even the point of the factory tours and golden tickets?
The music was either forgettable or average at best. I'm glad they brought out the movie's songs to give the audience some familiarity.
But, here are the bright sides. They did improve on the sets. The chocolate room isn't still the greatest, but at least the small cubicle of "chocolate" is surrounded by projections of a valley and a jungle. Still looks fake, but it's better than to have nothing but a glass box.
All of the actors are great and they make the best of working what they have. Henry was my Charlie and he was wonderful! His singing is gorgeous and he is really endearing. I had Willy Wonka's understudy, Benjamin and for going on the first time ever, Benjamin acted like he had been doing it the whole time. Benjamin was really great and he reminded me a lot of Gene Wilder's Wonka with the little moments of warmth and kindness Wonka should be having at most of the show. He even brought out Gene's sarcasm sometimes throughout the show. He pulls out the "No. Stop. Come back." bit when Mike tries to reach the TV. James Young as Grandpa Joe did his very best with the material and he played Joe as kind, but cooky. Adults as the other children worked better than I thought, even though the girls were much more believable than the boys. Amanda Rose as Mrs. Bucket was one of my favorites. Her "If Your Father Were Here" was emotional.
Also, the effects were great. Oompa-Loompas were done perfectly and they were hilarious. They handled Violet's popping in a effective way with the costumes. But, my favorite was tiny Mike. Even though it's obvious how he's done, it still looks believable.
