CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY to Travel Overseas to Broadway?

Sam Mendes' Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which opened on June 26th in London's West End, is now playing through May 31, 2014 in the UK, and according to the Washington Post, the show will have a life overseas soon after.

Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman confirmed in a recent interview that the musical is "bound for Broadway, but its arrival will be delayed until director Sam Mendes completes the next James Bond movie."

Click here to read the full interview.

The show has received a mixed bag of reviews by London theater critics. The Guardian's Michael Billington described it as "a lavish bonanza of a musical [that doesn't let] us forget that Dahl's book is a morality play in which vice is punished and virtue gets its edible reward". On the other side of the fence, Theatsdesk.com's Sam Marlowe griped that the show was, "as bland and sugary as cheap confectionery", while the Daily Mail's Quentin Letts described Act One "as slow as cold treacle".

Douglas Hodge takes on the lead role of Willy Wonka in the brand-new production at Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London. Directed by Academy Award winner Sam Mendes, the story includes music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman(Grammy winners for Hairspray; Smash), with a book by award-winning playwright and adaptor David Greig (The Bacchae; Tintin In Tibet).

The cast also includes Nigel Planer as Grandpa Joe, Clive Carteras Mr Salt, Jasna Ivir as Mrs Gloop, Paul J Medford as Mr Beauregarde, Iris Roberts as Mrs Teavee and Myra Sands as Grandma Georgina.