‘James and the Giant Peach’ Makes a Splash

Roald Dahl’s children’s favorite is a colorful, animated spectacle on stage at Chicago area’s Marriott Theatre.

The cast of "James and the Giant Peach" at the Marriott Theatre in Illinois. Courtesy of Liz Lauren

LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill.—Many who see Roald Dahl’s byline on a story know that when they open his books, they will be immersed in a fantasy world in which good children triumph over evil, where playfully breaking the rules is prized over docile obedience, and where mischief and dark humor abound.

Such is the case with Dahl’s “James and the Giant Peach,” published in 1961 (followed by “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (1964) and “Matilda”(1988)). “Peach” was adapted into a musical in 2010 and is now playing at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, Illinois.

From Book to Stage

The fantastic and bizarre story of “Peach” was adapted into a one-hour musical by Timothy Allen McDonald with an uplifting musical score by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. It revolves around little James Trotter, who becomes an orphan after a rhinoceros that escaped from the London zoo ate his parents. He is forced to live with relatives, Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker, who treat the boy like their personal slave.