CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews- Page 7
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#150
Posted: 3/29/17 at 11:42am
"Interesting that the rotten kids are actually killed off...I can't recall how it's dealt with in the book."
In the book, the other children are all seen leaving the factory, worse for wear, but very much alive.
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/19/05
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#151
Posted: 3/29/17 at 11:43am
The moment when Charlie finds the golden tickets is completely anti-climactic.
This was a huge problem in London as well. He finally gets the ticket and then they went directly into some terrible Grandpa Joe song. Has that not been remedied by adding I've Got A Golden Ticket?
Chorus Member Joined: 6/24/08
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#152
Posted: 3/29/17 at 11:46am
PeterQuill said: "Wow they actually show Violet's remains? Holy crap
how did they handle the rest of her scene? Her initial inflation and her final blueberry form. I saw the blueberry costume on Instagram and it looks so... small. Is there anything else to it?
"
First the purple track suit she is wearing inflates a bit, she runs off stage. Comes back out with an even bigger inflated costume, runs off stage. Comes out in basically a big purple ball, rolls of stage and explodes. We hear her explode off stage and then the purple material comes flying out from the wings.
Chorus Member Joined: 6/24/08
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#153
Posted: 3/29/17 at 11:49am
amazingamandakate said: "In the book, the children are seen leaving the factory. I think they handle it differently in each of the movies but I do think this is the first version where they're definitively dead.
"
Spoiler - the kids aren't actually dead. The Oompa Loompas somehow manage to put them back together for the last number of the show.
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#154
Posted: 3/29/17 at 11:51am
kellyhallo said: "Spoiler - the kids aren't actually dead. The Oompa Loompas somehow manage to put them back together for the last number of the show."
Of course, because you can totally bring decapitated and exploded bodies back to life
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#155
Posted: 3/29/17 at 12:06pm
Is Violet's rolling costume this one?
https://instagram.com/p/BSNFy8RjWB2/
The designer said it's only under 4 feet in diameter. I'm curious to see how that effect looked on stage.
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#156
Posted: 3/29/17 at 12:17pm
That is Violet's costume, except she doesn't roll. She runs across the stage. Whatever is brought on to roll off is just a prop.
Updated On: 3/29/17 at 12:17 PM
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#157
Posted: 3/29/17 at 12:19pm
disneybroadwayfan22 said: "Of course, because you can totally bring decapitated and exploded bodies back to life"
I suppose you were on board that clapping would save Tinkerbell, though?!
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#158
Posted: 3/29/17 at 12:22pm
Wow that's disappointing. If she's a blueberry how the hell do her long legs stick out so she can run?
in London they take advantage of her immobility and turned her into an enormous blueberry disco ball. Wth is this. Wow they truly dropped the ball.
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#159
Posted: 3/29/17 at 12:23pm
haterobics said: "disneybroadwayfan22 said: "Of course, because you can totally bring decapitated and exploded bodies back to life"
I suppose you were on board that clapping would save Tinkerbell, though?!
"
Lol true
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#160
Posted: 3/29/17 at 12:24pm
PeterQuill said: "Is Violet's rolling costume this one?
https://instagram.com/p/BSNFy8RjWB2/
The designer said it's only under 4 feet in diameter. I'm curious to see how that effect looked on stage. "
Lame. It's obviously a prop, and significantly smaller than the actress playing her. I was off to the side in row c, and the stagehand was standing there with it before she left the stage. The who demise was slow and anti-climactic (her final demise was the only thing even remotely entertaining). In fact, the Augustus Gloop and Veruca Salt demises were also anticlimactic. It's both a pacing and directorial problem. Only Mike's demise was fluid and properly paced.
I agree with everyone about the sets. To say they are underwhelming is to be generous. The factory sets are practically non-existent.
Marc Shaiman is proving that Hairspray is his opus, since everything else he's done theatrically is underwhelming (and I heard quite a bit of SMASH sneaking into this score), I would say only two or three songs in the show by him are decent enough to remain. But the mother's song and dance with Charlie's father was long, boring and pointless. I was desperately hoping for her to stop and start singing Cheer Up, Charlie (and the dialogue leading up to this seemed to tease that this was what was coming). The show absolutely should have ended with a reprise of Pure Imagination.
Really the only way to save this show artistically would be to dump at least 60% of Shaiman's score (including replacing the mother's song with Cheer Up, Charlie), and NOT replace them with anything. Re-stage the demise scenes of Augustus, Violet and Veruca so that they flow better, and re-design the lighting to hide the minimalism of the factory sets (since they can't really do anything to fix that). I think it can be done, but I doubt they will fix what really needs to be fixed.
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#161
Posted: 3/29/17 at 12:42pm
all of this....it really doesn't seem a broadway production
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#162
Posted: 3/29/17 at 12:44pm
Wow this is all just so disappointing 
i saw that the playbill didn't have Juicy on it. Is Violet the only child with no exit song at all? That seems weird
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#163
Posted: 3/29/17 at 12:45pm
@Fosse76: Or, you know, they had a perfectly decent score from the movie and some... okay... ish... new songs from the version currently licensed by MTI. Why not take the script, make it as close to Dahl as his family and any audience can choke down, and use the score? It worked for Mary freakin' Poppins, and the advantage in this case is that the new songs are at least written by half of the movie's songwriting team, so it sounds like they fit better.
Broadway Legend
joined: 5/1/05
Blocked: After Eight, suestorm, david_fick, emlodik, lovebwy, Dave28282, joevitus, BorisTomashevsky, Seb28
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#164
Posted: 3/29/17 at 12:47pm
BroadwayConcierge said: "wssinsider said: "Valurca Salt. The squirrels come out with her limbs and her head."
Omg NO."
The audience around me gasped at this and didn't entirely know how to react. I think this may need to change.
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#165
Posted: 3/29/17 at 1:02pm
Wow, how depressing. The sets looked insane in the London Version.. if you are going to this show, you want it to be HUGE. How did the team miss this? Time for a rebuild. Close down, new design, reopen.
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#166
Posted: 3/29/17 at 1:07pm
How re they gonna know about audience reviews like your, guys?
I'm not an expert of bway productions, is it possible a re-opening with great changements?
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#167
Posted: 3/29/17 at 1:10pm
I have no real desire to see this, though I love the Wilder version, but killing the kids- yikes. Dahl was certainly dark, but that's a pretty major step beyond.
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#168
Posted: 3/29/17 at 1:12pm
Killing the kids is completely unnecessary. These reports make me sad and very uninterested.
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/08
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#169
Posted: 3/29/17 at 1:15pm
Can someone clarify- are they actually killing the kids or do they come back at the end? (I don't mean literally)
Updated On: 3/29/17 at 01:15 PM
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#170
Posted: 3/29/17 at 1:16pm
Yikes.
The one thing I would expect from a Broadway musical of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is an elaborate and colorful set, at least for the factory.
This sounds dreadful.
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#171
Posted: 3/29/17 at 1:19pm
What a strange writing team - book by a Scottish playwright of small "serious" dramas (and no other musical theatre experience), paired with a songwriting team known for simple fun showtunes, and a director with a definite talent for putting together a tidy show (most often a comedy or musical comedy).
The book writer seems to be odd man out here.
Swing Joined: 6/2/15
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#172
Posted: 3/29/17 at 1:21pm
Can someone explain in detail how much set there really is? Like is it only backdrops, is it only that 10x10, is there any backdrops that fly in? Also, is the Glass Elevator as magical or is it a let down as well? I have tickets for June but I am extremely dissaplointed from what I'm hearing
Broadway Star Joined: 9/15/16
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#173
Posted: 3/29/17 at 1:22pm
I'm not understanding the lack of sets, especially because it is the same designer as the London production. The West End production's sets were jaw-droppingly gorgeous, imaginative, and inspired...so it really hurts to hear that this is the polar opposite. I want this to succeed but it seems the new creative team has dropped the ball. Hoping for massive changes before I see it.
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews#174
Posted: 3/29/17 at 1:24pm
Sam Mendes is a master. Jack o'Brien maybe was not the right man for that.
Anyway sets are the most unexpleinable thing for this bway production
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