'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' tour brings sweet rewards for cast
For Cary native Kevin Nietzel, returning to the Chicago area as part of the national tour of “Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” has reminded him of his community theater roots.
As a kid performer, Nietzel was a regular at venues such as Palatine's Cutting Hall and the Cary-Grove Performing Arts Centre before he made his professional debut at 13 in a 2005 production of “Oliver!” at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire.
“When I did that, that's when I told myself that this is what I've got to do,” Nietzel said. “I couldn't stop thinking about it.”
Nietzel wears many hats for “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” making its Windy City debut at Chicago's Oriental Theatre starting Tuesday, Oct. 2. He's a “swing” understudying eight ensemble roles plus Mr. Salt. Nietzel is also the assistant dance captain.
The much-revamped musical is about a group of kids - sweet Charlie and four badly behaved others - who win golden tickets and the chance to tour Willy Wonka's magical chocolate factory. The show opened in London in 2013, and then transferred to Broadway in 2017.
Joining Nietzel in the touring cast is Broadway veteran Madeleine Doherty, who was born in Chicago and got her start in community theater growing up in the former GM factory town of Anderson, Indiana.
In the 1980s, Doherty was cast in a 25th anniversary tour of “Stop The World - I Want to Get Off” with its original star and co-author, the late Anthony Newley. He and Leslie Bricusse co-wrote the songs for the beloved 1971 film adaptation “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” Four of their film songs (“Pure Imagination,” “The Candy Man,” “I've Got a Golden Ticket” and “The Oompa Loompa Song”) have been retained for the stage adaptation.
“Tony and I would sit around backstage and talk and imagine what it would be like to put 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' on Broadway,” said Doherty, finding something “really satisfying” to the fact that she got to be in the original Broadway cast of the show decades later.
Doherty originally played Charlie's infirm Grandma Georgina. For the tour, she was recast in the larger role of Mrs. Teavee.
“In this production, they have catered to my strong suits,” Doherty said. She added that the musical's new songwriters, Tony Award winners Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman of “Hairspray” fame, have switched out Mrs. Teavee's song “What Could Possibly Go Wrong?” and replaced it with a once-discarded number called “That Little Man of Mine.”
She said the song has “this incredibly funny twist” about her character's son, Mike, a golden ticket winner.
“He's got all the gadgets and what ultimately happens to him because of those gadgets is hilarious and clever,” Doherty said.
Doherty is also full of praise for another one of the musical's changes made between London and Broadway by Tony Award-winning Broadway director Jack O'Brien. He decided to cast small adult actors in the role of the bratty kids - save for three actual kids who share the title role.
“It tells the story in a very graphic way that Charlie is the only true child with a childlike sense to look at the world and the chocolate factory,” Doherty said. “He's a lot less polluted than the other golden ticket winners.”
Nietzel also praises the show's evolution.
“The whole creative team and production staff is phenomenal,” he said. “They're all excited to revisit the production and make improvements.”
“Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”
<b>Location:</b> Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St., Chicago, (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com
<b>Showtimes:</b> 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday (also Sunday, Oct. 7), 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday (also Oct. 10 and 17); from Oct. 2-21
<b>Tickets:</b> $22-$127