Breaking News: Christian Borle's Got the Golden Ticket! The Two-Time Tony Winner Will Lead CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY on Broadway

Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, Langley Park Productions and Neal Street Productions announced today that two-time Tony Award winner Christian Borle (Something Rotten, Peter and the Starcatcher) will originate the role of Willy Wonka in the Broadway premiere of Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY which begins performances in March 2017, at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre (205 West 46th Street).

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, a book by Artistic Director of Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum theatre David Greig, choreography by Tony Award nominee and Emmy Award winner Joshua Bergasse, and is directed by three-time Tony Award winner Jack O'Brien.

"Christian was the first - and in truth, perhaps the ONLY person I could imagine to create the role of Willy: his combination of child-like fantasy, edge, mystery, and sheer star power seemed destined for this role," said director Jack O'Brien. "I confess I prayed a lot! But this one, at least, was answered!"

Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY has scenic and costume designs by five-time Tony Award nominee Mark Thompson (One Man, Two Guvnors; A Raisin in the Sun), lighting design by four-time Tony Award nominee Japhy Weideman (Bright Star, The Visit), puppet design by Obie and Drama Desk Award winner Basil Twist (The Pee-Wee Herman Show, The Adams Family),and orchestrations by three-time Tony Award winner Doug Besterman (Aladdin, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella).

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.

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 bySam 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.