CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
Source: Centerstage Chicago

Dec. 1997

For those of you familiar with director Michael Pieper's work at the Trap Door Theatre, his collaboration with Emerald City Productions on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory may be a shock--it's a kids' show. Boys of the Peggy August Club this ain't.

And it would be unfair to judge it by the same standards as his other work. This isn't drama, it's children's theater. And based on the delighted mob of 60-odd rugrats in the audience, I'd say this show is pretty darn successful.

There's a lot here for children to like. Gaudy costumes, magic acts, melodramatic good and bad characters, and sappy meaningless musical numbers. Especially effective are the characters who interact with the audience and treat the kids like they're part of the show. Roll over, Mr. Brecht.

What's it about? You had a deprived childhood if you never read Roald Dahl's delightful tale of eccentric candymaker Willie Wonka and his secret search for an heir to his chocolate empire. Five Golden Tickets are hidden in chocolate bars across the country. The five lucky children who find them get a guided tour of the magical Wonka Factory and a lifetime supply of candy.

The Good: this is a story only your dentist could hate. Other people's kids liked it, your's probably will too.

Alert! Halt! Stop reading unless you're a glass-half-full insecure twentysomething critic like I am!

The Bad: Alrighty, then--the deadening acoustics in the Athanaeum mainstage. Didn't the owners just renovate this space? Actors' words flew from their lips only to fall like bricks into the unoccupied orchestra pit. Musical numbers that should have overwhelmed the space sounded tinny and distant. A small star going supernova upstage center would have been missed by all but the most sensitive ears.

Pieper's no fool, and he knew this going in. His actors perform with a mad, clowning, circus-like energy to keep the Ritalin-deficient audience interested. It's a valiant effort, and it was the right decision. But even good acting and directing can't save the moments of dialogue when the entire cast is on stage desperately trying to look busy. Which leads us to--

The Ugly: Dramatic Publishing strikes again with yet another wretched adaptation of a classic children's book. This script is more suitable for a fifth grade pageant than the talented professionals you'll see on stage.

What makes good children's theater? And is it possible to remain faithful to a children's book while adapting it?

Anyone who saw Lifeline Theater's Fellowship of the Ring last winter knows that it can be done. Serious children's theater is possible. Like Tolkien's Middle-Earth, Dahl's bizarro world is filled with serious themes that run contrary to songs like, "The Candyman Can."

Let's end this on a good note: Pieper made the best of a bad script. Chuck Baucci's performance as Charlie is especially worthy of note, as is loose cannon Eric Johnson's Slugworth, who reminded my wife of a Shakespearean-style clown.

So if you've got kids, take 'em to see Emerald City's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. They'll come away wanting to read the book, and you can get them started now on a lifelong theater-going habit.

By Samuel Forensis