CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Partners With Children's Cancer Charity My Room In Melbourne

Producers John Frost, Craig Donnell, Warner Bros Theatre Ventures, Langley Park Productions and Neal Street Productions are delighted to announce that Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is partnering with My Room to bring hope, strength and joy to children and their families facing life-threatening cancers.

Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will host a My Room Gala Performance raising money for children's cancer charity My Room on Sunday 27 October at 6pm. The producers of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will donate all proceeds from the sale of the My Room tickets to help achieve a 100% cure rate for all childhood cancers.

Tickets to this special event are now available for sale at myroom.com.au at the special discounted price of $79.90.

Producer Craig Donnell said, "We are thrilled to be collaborating with My Room as our official charity partner on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in Melbourne. One of the major themes in this production is the power of 'pure imagination' allowing your wildest dreams to come true. We hope to help many deserving children get that opportunity. Just as Charlie Bucket finds his golden ticket and changes his family's life, it's our hope that this partnership will raise vital funds to achieve the goal of 100% cure rate for childhood cancers."

My Room CEO, Margaret Zita OAM said, "We are delighted to partner with the producers on this fabulous production and extremely grateful for the opportunity. Cancer doesn't just affect a child - it impacts a family. Allowing those families to come together and enjoy an amazing production like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is something that is treasured and appreciated. They make for memories that are forever embedded into the future."

My Room is a volunteer led organisation dedicated to raising funds to achieve a 100% cure rate for childhood cancers. It helps fund family support, medical equipment, clinical care and research trials to patients and families affected by cancer without bureaucracy.

In 1992, a group of parents came together with the humble goal to raise enough money to renovate the rooms on the cancer ward of The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH). They achieved that goal, and more. In 1998, the same group of dedicated parents helped create the Children's Cancer Foundation (CCF) to act as an umbrella organisation for groups supporting paediatric cancer. My Room and CCF continue to work together, speaking with one voice, and acting with one vision to make Australia a global leader in the ­fight against childhood cancer. All grant-funding decisions are made jointly to achieve the best outcomes.

Between 2002 and 2004, My Room, in collaboration with the Children's Cancer Foundation, conducted an unprecedented capital campaign, which raised $23 million to reconstruct the Children's Cancer Centre at the Royal Children's Hospital and build linked research facilities. These facilities opened in 2006 set a new standard for paediatric cancer care and research in Australia. Over the past 27 years, My Room has raised more than $20 million to improve the quality of life for patients with childhood cancer.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is currently playing at Melbourne's Her Majesty's Theatre following a hugely successful six-month season at Sydney's Capitol Theatre. It moves to the Lyric Theatre, Brisbane from March 2020.

Five boys share the role of Charlie Bucket in Melbourne in this delicious tale, Benjamin Belsey (10 years of age, from Point Cook), Elijah Slavinskis (10, Ashburton), Edgar Stirling (10, St Kilda), Lenny Thomas (12, Bonbeach) and Lachlan Young (13, Camberwell). 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. Slade Smith was part of the original Broadway cast of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, appearing as Grandpa George, and most recently appeared in the Broadway revival of My Fair Lady at Lincoln Center.

Ninety and a half year old Grandpa Joe, an enthusiastic storyteller and eternal optimist, is played by Australian show business royalty Tony Sheldon. Winner of the 2019 Helpmann Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for his role as Grandpa Joe, Sheldon is best known for playing the role of Bernadette in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert for over 2,000 performances in Australia, New Zealand, London, Toronto and on Broadway. In the role of Mrs Bucket, a kind, caring mother and a woman of few words, is Lucy Maunder. Most recently Lucy played songwriter Cynthia Weil in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, and prior to that toured New Zealand, Adelaide and Perth in Matilda: The Musical, in which she played Miss Honey and was nominated for a Helpmann Award. For the Gordon Frost Organisation, Lucy played 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.

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