The Producers of the Helpmann Award nominated spectacular, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, have announced the four boys who will play the role of Charlie Bucket in the Brisbane season of Roald Dahl’s delicious musical at the Lyric Theatre – QPAC from 18 March 2020, following critically acclaimed seasons at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre and Melbourne’s Her Majesty’s Theatre.
Oliver De Los Santos (10 years old), Phineaus Knickerbocker (12), Cooper Matthews (10) and Flynn Nowlan (12) will share the role of Charlie Bucket in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Charlie lives with his mother and his four grandparents in a little wooden house near a great town, and is the final child to find a Golden Ticket.
Willy Wonka, the most amazing, fantastic, extraordinary chocolate maker the world has ever seen, is played by Paul Slade Smith, who received a nomination for Best Actor in a Musical at this year’s Helpmann Awards. Slade Smith was part of the original Broadway cast of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, appearing as Grandpa George, and has appeared in My Fair Lady, Finding Neverland, Wicked and The Phantom of the Opera.
Ninety and a half year old Grandpa Joe, an enthusiastic storyteller and eternal optimist, is to be played by John O’May – who has had a long and illustrious career on the musical stage including South Pacific, The Phantom of the Opera and Mamma Mia! as well as plays for Sydney and Melbourne Theatre Companies and the ABC TV series The Divorce.
Lucy Maunder will play Mrs Bucket – who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical at the Helpmann Awards for this role. Most recently Lucy played songwriter Cynthia Weil in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, and prior to that starred in Matilda: The Musical and for the Gordon Frost Organisation, as Lara in Dr Zhivago and Rizzo in Grease.
Jake Fehily and Octavia Barron Martin play Augustus Gloop and Mrs Gloop, Karina Russell and Stephen Anderson are Veruca Salt and Mr Salt, Jayme-Lee Hanekom plays Violet Beauregard with Madison McKoy as Mr Beauregard, and Harrison Riley and Jayde Westaby are Mike Teavee and his mother Mrs Teavee.
Completing the wonderfully talented cast are Johanna Allen, Sheridan Anderson, Hayden Baum, Kanen Breen, Bayley Edmends, Bronte Florian, Todd Goddard, Madison Green, David Hammond, Sasha Lian-Diniz, Aaron Lynch, Jordan Malone, Kassie Martin, Phoenix Mendoza, Joseph Naim, Adam Noviello, Glen Oliver, Danielle O’Malley, Jackson Reedman, Emma Russell, Taylor Scanlan and Thalia Smith.
Step inside a world of pure imagination. Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is the perfect recipe for a delectable treat: songs from the original film including Pure Imagination, The Candy Man and I’ve Got a Golden Ticket, alongside a toe-tapping and ear-tickling new score from the songwriters of Hairspray.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is perhaps Roald Dahl’s best-known story and has proved to be one of the most enduring children’s books of all time. The story of Charlie Bucket, the five Golden Tickets, the Oompa-Loompas and the amazing Willy Wonka has become firmly embedded in our culture since it was first published in 1964. Conservative estimates suggest the original book has sold over 20 million copies worldwide; it is now available in 61 languages.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory continues at Melbourne’s Her Majesty’s Theatre until 2 February, before playing Brisbane’s Lyric Theatre – QPAC from 18 March 2020. For more information and tickets, visit: www.charliethemusical.com.au for details.
Image: Cooper Matthews, Oliver De Los Santos, Flynn Nowlan and Phineaus Knickerbocker will share the role of Charlie Bucket in the Brisbane season of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (supplied)