A timeless classic comes to life on stage with the theatrical presentation of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
The play starts out with a candy man explaining that Willy Wonka is a famous candy maker, but that his workers spy on him for other candy makers, and so he is forced to close his factory down. Soon, he reopens it, and then he announces a contest that people from all over the world are excited about.
Five golden tickets will be randomly inserted into Wonka bars all over the world. The prize for this ticket? A grand tour of Mr. Wonka’s factory and a lifetime supply of chocolate!
The news comes out in the newspaper, which is delivered by the local paperboy, Charlie, a poor boy who would give anything to get into Willy Wonka’s factory. Charlie gets a candy bar for his birthday, but there’s no gold. By this time, four of the tickets have been found, one by a slightly overweight boy named Augustus, one by a gum chewing maniac in America named Violet, one by a spoiled girl named Veruca, and one by a boy named Mike who loves to watch TV.
While walking home one day, Charlie finds a dollar in the street. With it he goes to the candy shop and buys two candy bars. He opens one, no gold ticket. He chomps it up, and then, as he is about to gobble up the second one, he sees–gold!
The next day, the lucky contestants meet at Willy Wonka’s factory. Greeted by Mr. Wonka himself, together they all travel to the “nerve center” of his factory, where everything is sugary, sweet, and edible. While they’re there, Augustus accidentally falls into a chocolate river, all the kids get an everlasting gobstopper, and Mr. Wonka shows them all a machine that turns a piece of gum into a three-course dinner!