‘Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka Jr.’ coming to Lake Zurich Performing Arts Center
Seth Paine Elementary School promises a musical production of pure imagination as fourth- and fifth-grade students take the stage to star, sing, and dance in “Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka Jr.”
The shows will be at 7 p.m. on Feb. 16 and 17 at Lake Zurich’s Performing Arts Center. For ticket availability, visit search.seatyourself.biz/webstore/accounts/sethpaine/buy-tix.
“Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka Jr.” follows the story of five children who unwrap a prize hidden inside five random Wonka Bars: Golden Tickets granting them each a lifetime supply of chocolate, plus a tour of Wonka’s fabled chocolate factory by Willy Wonka himself.
This timeless story by Roald Dahl has become a worldwide phenomenon, being adapted into three critically acclaimed films-including the most recent “Wonka.” “Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka Jr.” features many of the songs from the iconic 1971 film, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music, Original Film Score.
Starring as the lead characters are Sullivan Chamberlain as Willy Wonka and Carter Madsen as Charlie Bucket. Together with their classmates, they turn a story of poverty and plenty, selfishness and selflessness, into a musical bubbling with fantastic wonders and effervescent delights behind every door.
The story begins in the overcrowded, one-room home of Charlie Bucket, where he lives with Mrs. Bucket (Victoria Reagan) and Mr. Bucket (Colin Flynn), as well as Grandma Georgina (Harper Towne) and Grandpa George (Billy McDermott), and Grandma Josephina (Annabel Munson) and Grandpa Joe (Charlie Burton).
The Buckets live in poverty and survive on cabbage soup. One day Mr. Bucket loses his job. Life for the Buckets becomes more hopeless when suddenly Charlie finds the last Golden Ticket.
Charlie chooses his Grandpa Joe to escort him to Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, where they meet fellow Golden Ticket winners Augustus Gloop (Theodore Bercher), Veruca Salt (Cate Charpentier), Violet Beauregarde (Emma Coup) and Mike Teavee (Luke Dekker).
The children are escorted by their parents, Mrs. Gloop (Taryn Guthrie), Mr. Salt (Jabob Tonzi), Mrs. Beauregarde, and Mrs. Teavee (Ayla Schafer).
Four of the five children are born rule-breakers. Inside the chocolate factory, they’ll face their greatest temptations and an unexpected challenge: follow Mr. Wonka’s rules, or else.
Candy Woman (Kendra Alvarado) sings the iconic song “The Candy Man,” while the cast brings to life your favorite Willy Wonka songs, including the magical “Pure Imagination,” the hopeful “I’ve Got a Golden Ticket,” the catchy “Oompa-Loompa-Doompadee-Do,” and the insatiable “I Want It Now!”