The hit musical based on Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factor, is finally coming to Broadway, although American audiences will have to wait over a year before it opens.
Warner Bros. Theatrical Ventures announced the expected Broadway production today. Although a venue was not set, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory The New Musical is set to open in Spring 2017.
Although the West End production had Sam Mendes as director, the Broadway production will have three-time Tony winner Jack O’Brien (Hairspray, Henry IV and The Coast of Utopia) directing. Hairspray songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman wrote new songs and David Grieg penned the book.
“The score will pay homage to the beloved Leslie Bricusse/Anthony Newley songs that are integral to the American relationship to the story, combined with all new songs crafted by the American team that created one of Broadway’s most beloved scores, Hairspray,” O’Brien said in a statement to Playbill. “There is room for both of these talented voices in one classic to tell our version of the story, as long as the story stays eternal and true.”
Dahl’s novel was adapted for the big screen twice - first in 1971 as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder as the enigmatic chocolatier and then in 2005 with Johnny Depp as Wonka. The musical debuted in London in 2013.
The cast for the Broadway version will be announced later.