WILLY WONKA EXPERIENCE MUSICAL TO FEATURE ORIGINAL VERUCA SALT
A musical comedy about the disastrous Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow will feature two child stars of the original 1970s film.
Julie Dawn Cole and Paris Themmen played Veruca Salt and Mike Teavee in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which starred Gene Wilder as the eccentric factory owner.
They will serve as narrators for Willy’s Candy Spectacular at the Edinburgh Fringe.
The musical was inspired by a Wonka-themed event which made headlines in February.
Visitors to the “immersive experience” in Glasgow, where tickets were £35-a-head, found themselves in a near-empty warehouse.
Police were called to deal with angry parents, and the event was cancelled halfway through its first day.
An image of an actress dressed as an Oompa Loompa and standing behind a table laden with test tubes went viral, with social media users likening the set up to a meth lab.
Kirsty Paterson, the actress, will also appear in Willy’s Candy Spectacular, which will run at the Edinburgh Pleasance King Dome from Aug 9-26.
Cole will narrate from Aug 9-18, with Themmen taking over until the end of the run.
Both hold the 1971 film in great affection. Cole, 66, from Surrey, continued to act and has appeared in Casualty, Doctors and Emmerdale.
Themmen, 65, quit acting for various careers including real estate, retail and film production.
The musical features songs written by the Emmy Award-winning Doug Rockwell and Tova Litvin.
They said: “The first time we heard about the Glasgow experience was reading a headline that said, ‘Police called to underwhelming Willy Wonka event’. It all sounded so ridiculous that we had to click on it.”
Andy Fickman, the show’s director, said: “I feel like Willy Wonka himself standing at the gates to the factory with this remarkable cast all arriving with their golden tickets ready to perform.
“Working with this glorious cast in this dreamy musical is already a joy, but to add the original Veruca Salt and Mike Teevee to the mix – my head is having an explosion of sweet treats.”
Organisers of the Glasgow event refunded tickets and apologised to customers, saying: “Unfortunately, last minute we were let down in many areas of our event and tried our best to continue on and push through.
“[We] now realise we probably should have cancelled first thing [in the] morning instead.”
2024-07-15T16:17:27Z dg43tfdfdgfd