LINCOLNSHIE, Ill.—“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” is a popular children’s book by British author Roald Dahl (1916–1990) about an enigmatic candy-man looking for someone to inherit his chocolate factory. Now, it has been rejuvenated in a delicious production at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, Illinois.
The fanciful novel, first published in 1964, was adapted into movies that have been seen by millions. There was Tim Burton’s direction of the film “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” which starred Johnny Depp in 2005, and the 1971 motion picture “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” that featured Gene Wilder. Both screen versions were so popular that the story was adapted into a stage musical by David Greig. Marc Shaiman wrote the music and Shaiman and Scott Wittman the lyrics. It premiered in London in 2013 and moved on to Broadway in 2017.
