Tickets for the Broadway production of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, starring two-time Tony Award winner Christian Borle, go on sale to the general public beginning September 16 at 10 AM ET via Ticketmaster.com.
The new musical will begin previews March 28, 2017, prior to an official opening April 23 at Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre (205 West 46th Street).
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has music by Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award winner Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Grammy and Tony Award winners Scott Wittman and Shaiman and a book by David Greig.
Broadway audiences will get a fresh look at Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when it arrives in New York next spring. Two Americans have been tapped to reshape the London-born musical for Broadway audiences.
Three-time Tony Award-winning director Jack O'Brien, who delivered Shaiman and Wittman a Broadway hit with Hairspray, has taken over the helm of the musical for its New York bow, which will also feature new choreography by Tony Award nominee and Emmy Award winner Joshua Bergasse.
The London original, which continues its run through January 7, 2017, was directed by Oscar winner Sam Mendes, with choreography by Tony and Olivier Award winner Peter Darling.
It was previously reported that Borle (Something Rotten!, Peter and the Starcatcher) will play Willy Wonka in the Broadway premiere of Chocolate Factory. It will be a busy season for Borle, who will also play Marvin in a fall Broadway revival of William Finn and James Lapine’s Tony-winning musical Falsettos, which begins September 29.
“Christian was the first — and in truth, perhaps the ONLY person I could imagine to create the role of Willy: his combination of child-like fantasy, edge, mystery, and sheer star power seemed destined for this role,” O’Brien said in an earlier statement. “I confess I prayed a lot! But this one, at least, was answered!”
Additional casting will be announced at a later time.
“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,” according to press notes. “Willy Wonka, world famous inventor of the Everlasting Gobstopper, has just made an astonishing announcement. His marvelous—and mysterious—factory is opening its gates…to a lucky few. That includes young Charlie Bucket, whose life definitely needs sweetening. He and four other golden ticket winners will embark on a mesmerizing, life-changing journey through Wonka’s world of pure imagination. Get ready for chocolate waterfalls, exquisitely nutty squirrels and the great glass elevator, all to be revealed by Wonka’s army of curious Oompa-Loompas.”
The Broadway production will have scenic and costume designs by five-time Tony Award nominee Mark Thompson, lighting design by four-time Tony Award nominee Japhy Weideman, puppet design by Obie and Drama Desk Award winner Basil Twist and orchestrations by three-time Tony Award winner Doug Besterman. Casting is by Telsey + Company/Rachel Hoffman, CSA.
The Broadway musical will be produced by Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures (Mark Kaufman), Langley Park Productions (Kevin McCormick) and Neal Street Productions (Sam Mendes, Caro Newling).
The Olivier and Evening Standard Award-winning London production of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has broken house records at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, where it has been seen by more than 1.8 million people since it opened in June 2013.
(Updated September 16, 2016)
