Ad disclosure: We were provided with press tickets for the purpose of this post.
Last night the four of us were invited along to the Press Night for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory The Musical, presented by BMOS – Birmingham’s rather fantastic amateur musical theatre company.
Each year they stage a performance at The Alexandra in Birmingham, and this year they are one of the first amateur companies to perform this version of the story.
Charlie & the Chocolate Factory is a classic story, and one of Roald Dahl’s most popular books. Although the original tale was written in 1964, this musical version gives it a modern twist while still dealing with the reality of the poverty gap that still exists in our society.
The story is one that most people are familiar with, and the musical version follows it fairly closely; five lucky ticket winners are given a weird & wonderful tour of Willy Wonka’s fantastic chocolate factory, only for them to encounter various problems along the way. Poor Charlie Bucket & his Grandpa Joe are kind and (mostly) well behaved, throughout, but can’t seem to stop themselves dreaming about making something out of nothing.
The musical numbers are a nice mix of original songs that were written for the first version of the musical back in 2013, alongside some of the most iconic songs from the 1971 Warner Bros Willy Wonka film. I hadn’t listened to any of the musical recordings before and the songs that were new to me were rather wonderful – I especially enjoyed the introduction songs for each of the children, as well as Strike That, Reverse It, and A Letter From Charlie Bucket.
Mrs Bucket had me sniffling a little during her beautifully poignant rendition of If Your Father Were Here – you could feel her longing for her lost love in every note.
As for the nostalgic songs from my favourite film version, opening the show with The Candy Man started it off with a sense of joy, and Charlie breaking out into I’ve Got a Golden Ticket when he unwrapped his prize seemed so perfect in that moment. To me it feels like no Charlie & the Chocolate Factory story is complete without the magical song that is Pure Imagination – especially after it was masterfully woven into the score for the recent Wonka origin story film that we all enjoyed.
The modern twists to the story were perfectly done – with characters filming events in an attempt to create a viral video, mentions of Instagram and endorsement deals, and Mike TeaVee turning up to the tour with an iPad. Many of these moments sprinkled amongst the story had the audience giggling at the ridiculous characters on the stage.
The cast themselves did an absolutely amazing job. It was hard to believe at times that this was an amateur performance as many of them seemed like they would fit in perfectly in the West End. In particular, Robbie Love smashed it as Willy Wonka, Annabel Pilcher was a wonderful Mrs Bucket, and Ellen Tozer’s portrayal of the spectacularly spoiled Veruca Salt was fabulous complete with Russian accent and ballet dancing across the stage.
As for Charlie Bucket, the role is being shared between James Cowley and Theodore Traat. We saw Theo’s performance at the Press Night and he did a superb job playing the daydreaming wannabe inventor as he explored the factory with open mouthed amazement. This role was his debut performance with BMOS – and he definitely showed he belongs on that stage.
Of course the factory is operated by singing Oompa Loompas that had the audience laughing with joy at their appearance. The large ensemble cast performed fantastically throughout, dancing the excellent choreography and backing up the main characters in each scene.
The staging was well done, with effective use of props and set pieces, and excellent lighting throughout. The flight in the great glass elevator that finishes the story was particularly well done as it rose into the air against a backdrop of a moonlit starry sky. The costumes were a wonderful mix of traditional Willy Wonka outfits and more modern twists of the classic costumes for each main character.
Overall it was an excellent performance, and it definitely didn’t feel amateur in any way. There were the occasional hiccups you get with any live show – the odd hat getting snagged or mic level dropping at the wrong time – and the cast dealt with them without missing a step.
Lydia says: I think that the whole thing was very fun, and all the children were very funny. The way they did the oompa loompas was very cool and the songs were all fantastic.
BMOS presents Charlie and the Chocolate Factory The Musical is on at The Alexandra until this Saturday 15th June, with an evening performance each day and an additional matinee performance on Saturday.
