Five children are given a tour of Willy Wonka’s magical chocolate factory, only one takes home the top prize. Roald Dahl published his book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 1964, but in 2022 the themes and morals are still just as relevant. The four children with bad qualities such as gluttony, greed, vanity and rudeness, lose out to the kind, modest child Charlie. The poignant inequality between rich and poor is of all times in any case. Watch Charlie’s four grandparents suffer from the cold in their rickety little house, and the current energy crisis immediately makes you think.
From Charlie Two films have already been made, and a third film, starring Timothée Chalamet as the young Willy Wonka, is in the works. A musical version premiered in London in 2013, followed by a Broadway version in New York in 2017. It is that musical that has now premiered in the Netherlands, with a mix of new songs and the well-known songs from the films, such as The Candy Man and Pure Imagination. The two acts are clearly divided: before the break we meet Charlie Bakker and his family and see which children find a golden ticket. Only after the break is the chocolate factory entered and the children drop off one by one in special rooms such as the Chocolate Room and the Nut Room.
A leading creative team has been given the freedom to put its own stamp on the Dutch adaptation. Apart from the title, which has remained in English, so that the main character here is called Charlie and not Charlie, the story has been very skilfully translated into Dutch. Rik van den Bos translated the dialogues, Thomas van Luyn the lyrics. This duo has Charlie successfully entered the Dutch cabaret and musical tradition with lyrics that sometimes echo the tone of Annie MG Schmidt. The four songs that introduce the ‘nasty’ kids Caspar (glutton), Veruca (splurged), Violet (vain social media star) and Joris (game addict) are so fast, witty and satirical you’ll want to hear them again immediately. .
What is striking about the script is that chocolatier Willy Wonka has been given a bigger role in the beginning of the story. Disguised as a hobo, he shows up in Charlie’s life and sends him towards the fifth golden ticket. That’s different from the book and the movies, where it’s not clear whether Charlie finds his ticket through sheer luck or through Wonka. In this musical, Wonka’s involvement has actually become too explicit; giving a subtle hint would have been better.
Apart from this objection, it is nice to see Wonka interpreter Remko Friday on stage so much. Friday does an excellent job in the iconic role, and knows how to alternate pure, beautiful vocals with comical and busy moments, in which he can sometimes lose an imitation. Here, Willy Wonka is an eccentric, older artist who sometimes also hints at his own vulnerability. At the premiere, Vrijdag formed a perfect duo with 9-year-old Noah Fontijn, one of the five actors who plays Charlie. Fontijn impressed with his clean singing and brutal playing. The high level of the child actors stands out in this production anyway.
Because the story is so well-known and therefore predictable, you are especially curious about the interpretation of specific elements. Where the musical in London in 2013 stunned with sensational sets and special effects, in the Netherlands it has been less grandiose and there is a greater appeal to the imagination. Nevertheless, designer Joris van Veldhoven has provided enough beauty with his artistically furnished factory rooms (including an Escher image). The great find of this production, however, are the Oompa Loompas. Wonka’s uniformed factory workers are dressed as pantomime players, with white faces and white gloves. They keep popping up in surprising places in the decor and that makes for strong comedy.
Added together it makes Charlie and the Chocolate Factory into an extremely entertaining show for young and old. A true work of art, just like Willy Wonka’s own timelessly fascinating factory.
Oompa-Loompas through the years
Willy Wonka’s small factory workers, the Oompa Loompas, were explicitly African in the first draft of the 1964 book, and have therefore been associated with racism and slavery by critics. Roald Dahl took the criticism and adapted his story in a new edition of the book in the 1970s. He came up with an imaginative background story for the poetry and singing Oompa Loompas, which can also be heard in the new musical in a cheerful song. The gist of it is that Oompa Loompas come from the jungles of Loompaland, where they were forced to live fearfully in the trees and eat dirty caterpillars because there were all sorts of dangerous animals, such as snobbs, roaming the ground. Oompa Loompas love cocoa beans, and therefore see Willy Wonka as their great savior.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Musical
★★★★ ren
By the Theater Alliance. Director Jasper Verheugd, text David Greig, music Marc Shaiman. Translation Rik van den Bos and Thomas van Luyn.
11/9, DeLaMar Theater Amsterdam. Tour until 5/3/23.