The day after Easter Monday is traditionally a day of abstinence from all things sweet and sugary, chocolatey and creamy, following a weekend of over indulgence and eggs of a most unhealthy kind. Not for us at Official London Theatre, however. We’re in the mood for more and found our guilt-free sugar hit in the form of some tantalising news from the West End’s hugely anticipated Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.
Promising a chocolate garden, an army of squirrels, ingenious stagecraft, new songs by Grammy Award winners Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, and, of course, a gaggle of peculiar Oompa-Loompas, Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes’ production of the Roald Dahl classic will begin previews next month and is whetting theatregoers’ appetites with the release of a selection of rehearsal images.
While we couldn’t spot any golden geese eggs or blueberry-inflated children in the pictures above, signs of Dahl’s world are appearing to the eager eyed and Olivier Award-winning actor Douglas Hodge’s transformation into the eccentric confectioner Willy Wonka has begun. In fact, if the new trailer – also available to view above – is to be believed, the show’s home at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane is also busy getting ready to welcome audiences, although whether those particularly iconic chimneys will really burst from the Grade One listed building’s roof is anyone’s guess…