Broadway's Got the Golden Ticket! Jack O'Brien-Helmed CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Will Arrive in Spring 2017

Broadway's got the golden ticket!

Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, Langley Park Productions and Neal Street Productions announced that Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY will open its gates on Broadway in the spring of 2017, directed by three-time Tony Award winner Jack O'Brien and choreographed by Tony Award nominee and Emmy Award winner Joshua Bergasse. Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY has music by Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award winner Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Grammy and Tony Award winners Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, and a book by Artistic Director of Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum theatre David Greig. Design team, Broadway theater and dates to be announced soon.

For more than 50 years Roald Dahl's story of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY has captured imaginations around the world, and now for the first time Broadway audiences are invited to experience Willy Wonka's delightful and semi-dark chocolate world first-hand. Willy Wonka, world famous inventor of the Everlasting Gobstopper, has just made an astonishing announcement. His marvelous-and mysterious-factory is opening its gates...to a lucky few. That includes young Charlie Bucket, whose life definitely needs sweetening. He and four other golden ticket winners will embark on a mesmerizing, life- changing journey through Wonka's world of pure imagination. Get ready for chocolate waterfalls, exquisitely nutty squirrels and the great glass elevator, all to be revealed by Wonka's army of curious Oompa-Loompas.

"Why does Wonka want to do this Golden Ticket contest and what compels him to want to give it all away? I started with the question why. This is the dramatic premise I hang the whole show on. Sam and I have both spent our careers putting our personal spin on classics, be it by William Shakespeare or Roald Dahl. Since the first production was created for London it's only fair we do an American version, and in America, our connection is to the 1971 movie and the indelible impression of Gene Wilder as the slyly wicked Wonka." said director Jack O'Brien, "The score will pay homage to the beloved Leslie Bricusse/ Anthony Newley songs that are integral to the American relationship to the story, combined with all new songs crafted by the American team that created one of Broadway's most beloved scores, Hairspray. There is room for both of these talented voices in one classic to tell our version of the story, as long as the story stays eternal and true."

Jack O'Brien has won 3 Tony Awards for his direction of Hairspray, Henry IV and The Coast of Utopia. His other Broadway credits include It's Only A Play, Macbeth, The Nance, Dead Accounts, Catch Me If You Can, Impressionism, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Tony nomination), Imaginary Friends, The Invention of Love (Tony nomination and Drama Desk winner), The Full Monty (Tony nomination), More to Love, Getting Away With Murder, The Little Foxes, Damn Yankees, Two Shakespearean Actors (Tony nomination), and Porgy and Bess (Tony nomination). Off-Broadway credits include Pride's Crossing and Hapgood (Lucille Lortel Award). Other productions include Il Trittico at the Metropolitan Opera, Guys and Dolls at Carnegie Hall, Much Ado About Nothing for The Public's Shakespeare in the Park, and Love Never Dies and Hairspray (Olivier nomination) in London. Mr. O'Brien was the Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre from 1981 till 2007. He has directed six movies for PBS's "American Playhouse." His book, Jack Be Nimble, is published by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux.

Joshua Bergasse won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for NBC's "Smash." Joshua's New York theatre credits include On The Town (Tony nomination); Gigi; Little Me and It's A Bird..It's a Plane..It's Superman! (City Center Encores!); Guys & Dolls and The Sound of Music (Carnegie Hall); and Off- Broadway'sTheBomb-ittyofErrors,CaptainLouieandCagney. AdditionaltheatercreditsincludeUpHere (La Jolla Playhouse), Fame the Musical (tour); Bull Durham (Alliance Theatre - Suzi Bass Nomination); Nerds (Philadelphia Theatre Company - Barrymore nomination); Secondhand Lions (Fifth Avenue Theatre); West Side Story (Stratford Festival); On The Town, Guys & Dolls, Carousel and The World Goes 'Round

(Barrington Stage). Also for television, Bergasse choreographed for FOX's "So You Think You Can Dance." Most recently, Josh choreographed "Sinatra: Voice for a Century" for PBS's Live From Lincoln Center.

The Broadway production of Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY is produced by Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures (Mark Kaufman), Langley Park Productions (Kevin McCormick) and Neal Street Productions (Sam Mendes, Caro Newling).

The Olivier and Evening Standard award-winning London production of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, directed by Sam Mendes and choreographed by Peter Darling, is one of the West End's most popular and successful stage musicals and has broken house records at Theatre Royal Drury Lane where it has been seen by over 1.8 million people since it opened in June 2013. Now in its fourth and final year, it currently sits alongside Miss Saigon and 42nd Street in the top three longest-running productions of the last 50 years at the historic venue, one of London's largest theatres.

Sam Mendes, director of the London production has said "I loved directing CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY and I'm really proud it's having such great run at Drury Lane. But I knew I couldn't marry the time commitment to make a Broadway production with the development of my next projects. As such I am thrilled to be turning the keys to the Broadway Chocolate Factory over to the brilliant Jack O'Brien." The spring 2017 launch of the Broadway production of Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY conflicts with Peter Darling's upcoming projects and he has passed the choreography duties for this new production to Joshua Bergasse.

For more information about the Broadway production of Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY on Broadway please visit: www.CharlieOnBroadway.com.

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