(seen at the afternoon performance on 28th June 2023)
Back in 2015 the first edition of this stage musical adaptation of the much-loved Roald Dahl book appeared at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Reading over the monkey’s opinion, it noted that there was plenty to like in the show, but it was overblown and lacking charm. Revisions for Broadway gave it nine months there, probably thanks to re-introducing more of the adored songs from the 1971 film.
Leeds Playhouse have now gone considerably further as their 2022 version hits the national touring circuit.
The great news is that it is good. Really good. Rather like Wonka’s “meal in a stick of gum” there are a few issues as the courses run, but for the most part this is a tasty treat avoiding too much tooth-rotting sugar.
All the nasty cynicism and bravado of the first run has gone in favour of a show which sticks far more faithfully to the original source material, contains some snappy one-liners and a top hat full of magic.
The first half zips along and we can tick off the remembered childhood sequences as they appear. Only Mr Bucket does not exist in this one, but the show does not require him with five adults to supervise our brave Charlie.
With the long-winded opening cartoon and street sequence gone, we meet immediately optimist Charlie (Haydn Court at this performance) and his recycling habit. “Almost Nearly Perfect” not only sums up his philosophy, but his character’s personality from the start.
A brief establishing chocolate shop moment – irascible but kindly Mrs Pratchett (Victoria Nicol) shining - and on to a cardboard hovel the Bucket family call home.
If Court’s performance is confident and endearing, with a sweet voice warming further after his opening number, then his relatives almost steal the show. Michael D’Cruze’s Grandpa Joe is everybody’s idea of a grandfather. Adoring, hilarious yet dignified – and his uniform is an inspired visual gag.
Bedmates Grandma Josephine (Kate Milner-Evans), Grandpa George (Christopher Howell) and Grandma Georgina (Emily Winter) share an amusing number or two (the rather questionable Indian song is fortunately gone), and are outrageous keeping score and reacting to the announcement of each bratty winner. The monkey is betting that their bottle is full...
Biggest star is Leonie Spilsbury, Mrs Bucket, who keeps the household together. Compassionate, workhorse and dreamer, her solo “The Candyman Can” stops the show. Her incorporation of sign-language is another perfect touch adding depth to the role.
By shortening the “winning ticket” reveals of each child, Jerry (Ewan Gillies) and Cherry (Lucy Hutchison) as studio and roving reporter respectively have fewer opportunities than previously - but both deliver a joke or two when the script allows.
The other four children – played by adults rather than have the difficulty of touring with junior actors – have been re-written to again bring them further in line with the original concept.
Augustus Gloop (Robin Simoes Da Silva) is a carnivorous blimp enabled by his mother (Kate Milner-Evans). Both handle the exaggerations with skill, and a little Bavaria works rather well.
Kazmin Borrer is a huge hit as spoilt Veruca Salt. Pink and ungainly in ballet outfit, Borrer is one naturally funny grotesque. Unlikable businessman Mr Salt is played by Christopher Howell as someone who cannot admit that he is getting what he deserves. Either way, Borrer’s balletic introduction is a highlight of the first half and just one of choreographer Emily Jane Boyles achievements in the production.
In one of the few disappointing changes, “The Double Bubble Duchess” number, introducing Violet Beauregarde (Marisha Morgan) as a glittering multi-media rap act has been dropped in favour of an inferior song and “Californian Influencer” persona. Morgan and her mother (Emily Winter) do their best, but the colour just isn’t as strong for those who remember when having an entourage seemed credible.
Conversely, unbearably violent Mike Teevee (Teddy Hinde in resentful form you can almost smell) has been reigned back into a rather sad teenage boy with a television addiction and hormonal rather than psychopathic outbursts. Dropping the excesses works far better and Leonie Spilsbury gets to sparkle again as his mother – particularly in later scenes delivering the classic line “they are singing again, it can’t be good” and nabbing a terrific handbag / puppet routine.
Just as in this opinion, it’s a long time – and after a moving cheer for our hero’s late winning moment – before we meet Mr Wonka (Gareth Snook) himself.
Exceptionally annoyingly, the horrible “Seen to be Believed” number is still in place to introduce the great chocolatier. A long-winded drag to bring the curtain down on act one, we must endure the interval before the crazy is unleashed.
Worth the wait, as Snook strides and clowns, mixes serious and frivolous emotions with waterfall speed and launches zingingly accurate attacks with a battery of verbal missiles and even better comic timing. That afternoon a misbehaving chute also got the treatment it deserves.
Even before blueberry pie is served, act two holds massive difficulties for designer Simon Higlett. He takes considerable credit for the first act’s lavish dump / chocolate store (yes, really, though it may not survive the tour given how the two halves kept crashing together as they moved), hovel and television proscenium surround. They can move around the country by truck, too. Far harder than that sounds for a start – this scenery would look impressive in permanent West End residence.
Problem is, there is an audience expectation of a factory living up to the visuals of the 1971 movie. Realising that nothing short of a Disneyland ride budget could do that, Higlett is considerably more cunning.
The “chocolate room” is an empty stage, with director James Brining allowing the cast seemingly free rein to communicate their thoughts in expressive gesture.
Add Simon Wainwright’s stunningly good video projections to Chris Fisher and Chris Cox’s magic skills in creating the illusions, and it is more than enough to draw us into the world of imagination.
It pays off well through the rest of the story. Visiting other rooms (the boat ride is inspired, the elevator a hoot in every way – “Scotch Room. For Butterscotch? No, I just like Scotch” – introduces more elaborate scenery as we go. The result is a building up of expectation rather than diminishing returns of the original run.
You are going to crave a giant cuddly squirrel (they REALLY missed a trick at the gift shop on that one), and a great television room sequence provides an hilarious ending to the section.
The Oompa-Loompas are perhaps a little too sinister to smaller theatregoers, but they get snatches of their movie songs back to properly drive the second half where the previous incarnation's numbers did not. Strong enough to swing the show over the odd languor, they mark each brat’s disappearance with the outlandish glee required.
Perhaps moving (a rather statically delivered) "Pure Imagination" to earlier in the act is right, enhancing the bare stage; but the substituted new song for the elevator finale does not quite cut it emotionally as this venerated classic could at this crucial point.
Still, Neal Street Productions, Playful Productions, Hunter Arnold and Gavin Kalin Productions spare no expense at all, this touring production means business and looks it. With a 10 piece orchestra under Ellen Campbell’s expertise, the well edited score is delivered as lively as the characters on stage above can play them.
A bit of a shame that the song titles are not listed in the programme – and to discover them costs an extra £10 for a souvenir brochure, but that’s a gripe not detracting from the achievement.
The crudeness and excess is gone, leaving a jar full of luscious candy, entertainingly fun as a book of jelly beans.
A family treat when it comes to your local theatre.
4 stars.