CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Previews — Page 8

This sounds positively AWFUL, which is a shame since I love many in the cast and my boyfriend is DYING to see it...

The first act had two "sets" that were pretty much on stage the whole time. Stage right was the Bucket family home which was a two-level set with the Grandparents bed on top and a bathtub/chair on the bottom. It kept coming in and out throughout the show and would weirdly spin around (which had zero purpose since there was no need to see the back of it. That's what led to the gaffe on Grandpa Joe's first song). Stage left was the candy store where Charlie interacted with Wonka.

During the other kids golden ticket songs there was a backdrop that came in that would highlight a scenic image for where they were (Russian landscape for Veruca, for instance).

The outside of the factory came to prominence at the very end of the act and was just a typical house. I didn't mind this being underwhelming because - at the time at least - I figured would add to the magic of the inside of the factory (I was wrong).

Act two is pretty much entirely in the factory which, on its own, is literally just the stage with some angled walls. It's literally blank.

The magical room where everything is edible is a 10x10 box that gets rolled downstage. It was laughable to be honest - even for a high school production to be honest.

The mixing room and the machine for Mike Teavee were basically the same - just a big apparatus int he center of the stage.

Someone else mentioned the "maze" scene where they had to mime through swamp, wind tunnel, flying pans, and then hitting a gong. This wasn't a HUGE miss in my opinion but the scene dragged on and on which took away from it.

Lastly, the elevator is just a glass box that is supported directly from the trap door it comes out of. It just goes up and down (no leftway or rightways or slantways or sideways). It makes Elphaba feel like she is literally flying.

Big, big, big miss.

Sounds like I did good taking this off of my must see list.

Just out of curiosity, how is it with Charlie being the only child actor with the rest of the kids being played by adults? I don't know the adult actors, so I don't know if they look young or not. Like are they able to pass for at least teens? That's 1 thing I find odd about this production.

So to confirm with those who have seen it,

the sets are completely changed from what's in the London trailer?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XodF7sI1kbw

And in the london version the candy garden was this big green lawn/hill piece that rolled forward and had the chocolate pond/waterfall in the centre, which the kid then fell into.. A pipe was then lowered to the pond and the kid was sucked up it.

This is most certainly not a bootleg of that moment...

Crazy question- is it possible some set pieces aren't finished/ working yet? Maybe that accounts for the unfinished/ minimalist nature of the sets seen last night?

I just find it so odd (after ALL the cast interviews of them gushing over the set) that THIS would be the result.

I know its a long shot, but do you think that they simply ran out of time and instead of delaying previews, they started with less than half of their set in place? I mean...it's a stretch, but maybe? lol

I have so many questions. Why put it into a large musical house that has ample storage space and not utilize it? How many producers are on this? People really signed off on this design? Out of the entire Creative staff, no one was like, "Having a minimalist set, might not be a good idea for a show like Wonka." It all just doesn't make sense.

Updated On: 3/29/17 at 03:25 PM

"Crazy question- is it possible some set pieces aren't finished/ working yet? Maybe that accounts for the unfinished/ minimalist nature of the sets seen last night?"

"I know its a long shot, but do you think that they simply ran out of time and instead of delaying previews, they started with less than half of their set in place? I mean...it's a stretch, but maybe? lol "



...no.

Almost every Broadway theater has cramped wing space. That's part of the gig.

I mean they chose that theater... But if I recall the theater in London had a TON of backstage space, so they could get bigger set pieces in. I just don't get why they didn't take that design and scale it down a bit for Broadway.

" To be fair, the Lunt Fontanne is one of those theaters (like the Richard Rodgers or the St. James that SEEMS like a house capable of holding a giant show, but in fact has terribly cramped/ non-existent wing space. Mermaid in particular was particularly hampered by the limitations. That being said, these theatres have held large scale productions, the designer just has to be creative with how they manage the space (Addams Family, Bullets Over Broadway, Beauty and the Beast, and The Producers all come to mind as using the limitations excellently) "



Yes, the Lunt has shallow wings, but so do many other houses on Broadway. Everything lives in the air or below these days.... I know for a fact that the Lunt can hold a huge show. I mean ****, they dug out the basement for the spiral lifts in Titanic. Wonka as designed in London should have been able to fit in there.

The producers probably just wanted to do this on the cheap, and hope the name alone will sell it to families.