For weeks, over 50 students at Brownwood High School have been hard at work, creating and constructing a fanciful set, memorizing lines, and beginning production for this fall’s show of choice, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. Opening to the public on October 31st, the vivid colors of Willy Wonka’s candy land will delight audiences of all ages. “The kids have always wanted to do this show,” said Larry Mathis, show director and Fine Arts Department Chair. “And with the success of the children’s book and the movies, we know people will enjoy this show. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
In what opens as a humble beginning, Charlie Bucket, his family, and an offbeat chocolatier soon treat the audience to sweet lessons about gluttony, greed, and self-control with the help of some unscrupulous children and singing Oompa Loompas. Released in 1964 as a children’s book, a feature film in 1971 and remade in 2005, the story itself comes with varying degrees of interpretation. When Mathis first received the script, certain important aspects, such as a lack of Oompa Loompas, caused concern. “The same thing happened a couple years ago when we put on James and the Giant Peach,” Mathis said. “So I wrote my own script. It is closer to the book than the movies, but there are a few different things, a few surprises, that I think the audience will like.”
Along with script changes, and the challenge of incorporating squirrels, a workshop made of candy, an inflating girl and a shrinking boy, this version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will feature several new technical exercises for the Fine Arts Center. Remember the part where Willy Wonka builds a castle made of chocolate which unfortunately melts in the hot desert sun? You’ll just have to see it to believe it.
Rehearsals began along with the fall semester, and the show is beginning to come together with limited rehearsal time left. “These kids are very involved at the school,” Mathis said. Coordinating schedules for the large amount of students has given the show an unpredictable pace, but the dedication and talent of the cast and crew makes for a colorful and lighthearted story that will brighten the Dorothy McIntosh Fine Arts Center the first week of November, opening on Halloween Night (Monday the 31st) and running throughout Tuesday, November 1st, Thursday, the 3rd, and Saturday, the 5th; all shows begin at 7:00 PM and run approximately an hour and fifteen minutes. Cost for the show is $5.00 per adult and $3.00 per student.
BISD students will get a preview, with Coggin Elementary, East Elementary and the Intermediate School viewing Thursday, October 27th, and Northwest Elementary and Woodland Heights on Friday, October 28th. “It’s going to be a good run,” Mathis said, “and as it comes together it will be fun to see what the show looks like.”
Photos show students and teachers at recent rehearsals.
