Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures announces the Broadway premiere of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

WARNER BROS. THEATRE VENTURES, LANGLEY PARK PRODUCTIONS

AND NEAL STREET PRODUCTIONS TO PRESENT

THE BROADWAY PREMIERE OF THE NEW MUSICAL

A WONKA-SIZED EVERLASTING SHOWSTOPPER

CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

DIRECTED BY THREE-TIME TONY AWARD® WINNER

JACK O’BRIEN

CHOREOGRAPHED BY TONY AWARD NOMINEE AND EMMY AWARD WINNER

JOSHUA BERGASSE

THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY IS OPENING ON BROADWAY IN SPRING 2017

MUSIC BY MARC SHAIMAN

LYRICS BY SCOTT WITTMAN AND MARC SHAIMAN

BOOK BY DAVID GREIG

BASED ON THE BEST-SELLING NOVEL BY ROALD DAHL

(New York, NY) Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, Langley Park Productions and Neal Street Productions announced that Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY will open its gates on Broadway in the spring of 2017, directed by three-time Tony Award winner Jack O’Brien and choreographed by Tony Award nominee and Emmy Award winner Joshua Bergasse. Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY has music by Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award winner Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Grammy and Tony Award winners Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, and a book by Artistic Director of Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum theatre David Greig. Design team, Broadway theater and dates to be announced soon.

For more than 50 years Roald Dahl's story of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY has captured imaginations around the world, and now for the first time Broadway audiences are invited to experience Willy Wonka’s delightful and semi-dark chocolate world first-hand. Willy Wonka, world famous inventor of the Everlasting Gobstopper, has just made an astonishing announcement. His marvelous—and mysterious—factory is opening its gates…to a lucky few. That includes young Charlie Bucket, whose life definitely needs sweetening. He and four other golden ticket winners will embark on a mesmerizing, life-changing journey through Wonka’s world of pure imagination. Get ready for chocolate waterfalls, exquisitely nutty squirrels and the great glass elevator, all to be revealed by Wonka's army of curious Oompa-Loompas.

“Why does Wonka want to do this Golden Ticket contest and what compels him to want to give it all away? I started with the question why. This is the dramatic premise I hang the whole show on. Sam and I have both spent our careers putting our personal spin on classics, be it by William Shakespeare or Roald Dahl. Since the first production was created for London it’s only fair we do an American version, and in America, our connection is to the 1971 movie and the indelible impression of Gene Wilder as the slyly wicked Wonka.” said director Jack O’Brien, “The score will pay homage to the beloved Leslie Bricusse/ Anthony Newley songs that are integral to the American relationship to the story, combined with all new songs crafted by the American team that created one of Broadway’s most beloved scores, Hairspray. There is room for both of these talented voices in one classic to tell our version of the story, as long as the story stays eternal and true.”

Jack O’Brien has won 3 Tony Awards for his direction of Hairspray, Henry IV and The Coast of Utopia. His other Broadway credits include It’s Only A Play, Macbeth, The Nance, Dead Accounts, Catch Me If You Can, Impressionism, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Tony nomination), Imaginary Friends, The Invention of Love (Tony nomination and Drama Desk winner), The Full Monty (Tony nomination), More to Love, Getting Away With Murder, The Little Foxes, Damn Yankees, Two Shakespearean Actors (Tony nomination), and Porgy and Bess (Tony nomination). Off-Broadway credits include Pride’s Crossing and Hapgood (Lucille Lortel Award). Other productions include Il Trittico at the Metropolitan Opera, Guys and Dolls at Carnegie Hall, Much Ado About Nothing for The Public’s Shakespeare in the Park, and Love Never Dies and Hairspray (Olivier nomination) in London. Mr. O’Brien was the Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre from 1981 till 2007. He has directed six movies for PBS’s “American Playhouse.” His book, Jack Be Nimble, is published by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux.

Joshua Bergasse won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for NBC's "Smash." Joshua’s New York theatre credits include On The Town (Tony nomination); Gigi; Little Me and It's A Bird..It's a Plane..It's Superman! (City Center Encores!); Guys & Dolls and The Sound of Music (Carnegie Hall); and Off-Broadway’s The Bomb-itty of Errors, Captain Louie and Cagney. Additional theater credits include Up Here (La Jolla Playhouse), Fame the Musical (tour); Bull Durham (Alliance Theatre - Suzi Bass Nomination); Nerds (Philadelphia Theatre Company - Barrymore nomination); Secondhand Lions (Fifth Avenue Theatre); West Side Story (Stratford Festival); On The Town, Guys & Dolls, Carousel and The World Goes 'Round (Barrington Stage). Also for television, Bergasse choreographed for FOX's "So You Think You Can Dance." Most recently, Josh choreographed “Sinatra: Voice for a Century” for PBS’s Live From Lincoln Center.

The Broadway production of Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY is produced by Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures (Mark Kaufman), Langley Park Productions (Kevin McCormick) and Neal Street Productions (Sam Mendes, Caro Newling).

The Olivier and Evening Standard award-winning London production of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, directed by Sam Mendes and choreographed by Peter Darling, is one of the West End’s most popular and successful stage musicals and has broken house records at Theatre Royal Drury Lane where it has been seen by over 1.8 million people since it opened in June 2013. Now in its fourth and final year, it currently sits alongside Miss Saigon and 42nd Street in the top three longest-running productions of the last 50 years at the historic venue, one of London’s largest theatres.

Sam Mendes, director of the London production has said "I loved directing CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY and I'm really proud it's having such great run at Drury Lane. But I knew I couldn't marry the time commitment to make a Broadway production with the development of my next projects. As such I am thrilled to be turning the keys to the Broadway Chocolate Factory over to the brilliant Jack O’Brien.” The spring 2017 launch of the Broadway production of Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY conflicts with Peter Darling’s upcoming projects and he has passed the choreography duties for this new production to Joshua Bergasse.

For more information about the Broadway production of Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY on Broadway please visit: ChalieOnBroadway.com

Follow Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube at @CharlieOnBroadway

BIOGRAPHIES

MARC SHAIMAN (Music/Co-lyricist) wrote the music and, with partner Scott Wittman, co-wrote the lyrics for the musical Hairspray, which won Tony and Olivier Awards for Best Musical and for which the team was awarded a Tony and Grammy Award for their score. They also collaborated on the Broadway musical Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me and, most recently, Best Musical Tony-nominated Catch Me If You Can, for which Marc was also nominated as co-orchestrator. Marc is a five-time Oscar nominee for his work on Sleepless in Seattle, The First Wives Club, Patch Adams, The American President and South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. Additional film credits include When Harry Met Sally, Beaches, Misery, City Slickers, The Addams Family, A Few Good Men, Sister Act, George of the Jungle and The Bucket List. He is an Emmy Award winner for co-writing Billy Crystal's Oscar medleys, and has most recently been an Emmy, Grammy and Golden Globe nominee for the original songs he co-wrote with Scott Wittman for the television show “Smash.” Additional Grammy and Emmy nominations have resulted from his collaborations with Bette Midler and Harry Connick Jr (with whom he appeared at the Royal Albert Hall). Marc's Prop 8: The Musical can be seen at FunnyOrDie.com.

SCOTT WITTMAN (Co-lyricist) co-wrote (with Marc Shaiman) the lyrics for the Tony, Grammy and Olivier-winning musical Hairspray. He also served as an executive producer on the hit film starring John Travolta. They teamed up again on Broadway for Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, which he also directed, and Catch Me If You Can, which received a Tony nomination for Best Musical. For their original songs on NBC's musical drama “Smash,” Scott and Marc were nominated for an Emmy, Grammy and a Golden Globe Award. On “Smash” they have composed songs for Jennifer Hudson, Uma Thurman, Bernadette Peters and Liza Minnelli. Their original score for the Marilyn Monroe musical Bombshell was released on Sony Records. For Patti LuPone, Scott has created and directed two Broadway shows, three recordings and two sold-out Carnegie Hall concerts. He also directed Patti LuPone in her one-woman show at Donmar Warehouse.

DAVID GREIG (Book). His award-winning work includes The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart (Tron, National Theatre of Scotland), Midsummer (Traverse, Soho and Tricycle), Dunsinane (RSC at Hampstead and National Theatre of Scotland), Damascus (Traverse and Tricycle), Outlying Islands (Traverse and Royal Court), The American Pilot (RSC), Pyrenees (Paines Plough), The Cosmonaut's Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union (Donmar Warehouse and Paines Plough) and The Architect and Europe (Traverse). Adaptations include Creditors (Donmar Warehouse), The Bacchae (Edinburgh International Festival), Tintin in Tibet (Barbican, Playhouse and UK tour), When the Bulbul Stopped Singing (Traverse), Caligula (Donmar Warehouse) and Peter Pan (National Theatre of Scotland, Traverse and Barbican). Work for children and young people includes The Monster in the Hall (TAG), Yellow Moon (TAG), Gobbo (National Theatre of Scotland) and Dr Korczcak's Example (TAG).

WARNER BROS. THEATRE VENTURES (Producer). Continuing Warner Bros.’ mission of presenting the finest entertainment across all media and platforms to global audiences, Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures (WBThV) is the company’s live stage play division, which develops and produces first-class musicals and other stage productions. With access to Warner Bros.’ vast library of iconic film and television properties, as well as extensive relationships with top theatrical talent, WBThV is well-positioned as a dynamic and resourceful creative entity in the live theater arena. Currently represented by the London production of Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY now in its fourth and final smash years at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, WBThV is also co-producing the Tony and Olivier Award winning Best Play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time on Broadway. Recently WBThV was represented by the critically acclaimed Broadway production of Oscar-winner William Goldman’s adaptation of Misery directed by Will Frears, starring Bruce Willis and Laurie Metcalf. As part of its ongoing development activities, WBThV is constantly exploring production opportunities, working in various capacities with award-winning theater, film and television producers. The division’s roster of upcoming projects includes dramas, comedies and musicals based on both library titles and original concepts. WBThV has previously been represented on Broadway with the Tony Award-winning musical The Bridges of Madison County as well as the holiday hit Elf, which broke box office records at the Al Hirschfield Theatre during its initial run. The division also co-produced the original musical Secondhand Lions at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre and is readying productions of Dave, 17 Again, Beetlejuice and Dog Day Afternoon for the stage. WBThV also licenses third-party stage rights to the various properties held within the studio’s vast media library, including such productions as Hairspray, The Bodyguard, Top Hat, Singin’ in the Rain, The Wizard of Oz, The Color Purple, 42nd Street and Honeymoon in Vegas, Gigi, Doctor Zhivago, as well as the upcoming Diner.

LANGLEY PARK PRODUCTIONS (Producer). Kevin McCormick is President of Langley Park Productions, a studio-based production company at Warner Bros. McCormick recently produced the romantic drama The Lucky One, starring Zac Efron, and the 2011 comedy Arthur, starring Russell Brand and Helen Mirren. He was also a producer on The Gangster Squad, starring Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. Previously, McCormick was President of Production at Warner Bros. Pictures. Assuming that post in January 2008, he had day-to-day oversight of, and responsibility for, Warner Bros. Pictures’ creative team and the movies produced by the company, including such award-winning and critically acclaimed films as Gran Torino; The Dark Knight, which broke box office records worldwide and is currently the third-highest-grossing film of all time, domestically; The Hangover, which is, domestically, the highest grossing R-rated comedy of all time; and the worldwide hit Sherlock Holmes. Among the studio’s other films during his tenure were Get Smart, the top-grossing Harry Potter franchise, The Informant!, Watchmen and Terminator Salvation. In addition, he oversaw the division’s London office and reported directly to Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group. McCormick joined Warner Bros. Pictures in 1999 as Executive Vice President, Production, overseeing such notable films as Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Michael Clayton, Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai, Matchstick Men, Insomnia, Syriana, and Burton’s Corpse Bride and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. McCormick began his career as an executive producer on the film Saturday Night Fever.

NEAL STREET PRODUCTIONS (Producer) was formed in 2003 by Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris and Caro Newling to produce film, television and theatre, with Nicolas Brown joining as fourth director in the company’s tenth year. In 2015 Neal Street moved under the umbrella of parent company, All3Media. Previously Sam Mendes and Caro Newling established and ran the Donmar Warehouse 1992-2002. Recent theatre includes: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman, David Grieg, produced with Warner Brothers Theatre Ventures, world premiere Theatre Royal Drury Lane May 2013, opening Broadway 2017. Also Shrek The Musical by Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire produced with DreamWorks Animation (Broadway 2008, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane 2011), touring nationwide from July 2014 – 2016. The Bridge Project, a three-year transatlantic venture with the Old Vic/Brooklyn Academy of Music presenting five classic plays for worldwide stages across fifteen international cities, directed by Sam Mendes: The Winter’s Tale/The Cherry Orchard with Simon Russell Beale and Rebecca Hall, The Tempest/As You Like It with Stephen Dillane and Juliet Rylance, Richard III with Kevin Spacey. Previously: Three Days of Rain with James McAvoy, The Vertical Hour with Julianne Moore and Bill Nighy, The Painkiller with Kenneth Branagh and Rob Brydon, and world/ UK premieres of The House of Special Purpose by Heidi Thomas, All About My Mother by Sam Adamson, The Hound of the Baskervilles by Steve Canny and Peepolykus, Days of Wine and Roses new version by Owen McCafferty, Anna in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz and Fuddy Meers by David Lindsay-Abaire. West End/Broadway transfers include: Merrily We Roll Along (Menier Chocolate Factory), South Downs/The Browning Version, Enron (Chichester Festival Theatre), Hamlet, Mary Stuart and Red (Donmar Warehouse), Sunday in the Park with George, and forthcoming This House by James Graham in a co-production with NT, CFT, Headlong. Film and television include: Heidi Thomas’ series “Call the Midwife,” John Logan’s series “Penny Dreadful,” “Stuart A Life Backwards,” Starter for Ten, Things We Lost in the Fire, Jarhead, Revolutionary Road, Away We Go, Blood and “The Hollow Crown” for BBC Two featuring “Richard II” (dir Rupert Goold), “Henry IV Part 1 & Part 2” (dir Richard Eyre), “Henry V” (dir Thea Sharrock) , and forthcoming “Henry VI parts 1 and 2”, “Richard III” (dir Dominic Cooke).

ABOUT ROALD DAHL AND HIS LEGACY

Roald Dahl was a spy, ace fighter-pilot, chocolate historian and medical inventor. He was also the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The BFG and many more brilliant stories. He remains the World’s No.1 storyteller. Born in Cardiff of Norwegian descent, Roald Dahl (1916–1990) joined the RAF at the age of 23 and began writing, initially for adults, after being injured in a plane crash during WW2. Sitting in a hut at the bottom of his garden, surrounded by odd bits and pieces such as a suitcase (used as a footrest), his own hipbone (which he’d had replaced) and a heavy ball of metal foil (made from years’ worth of chocolate wrappers), he went on to write some of the world’s best-loved children’s stories. His first children’s story, James and the Giant Peach, published in 1961, was a hit and every subsequent book became a best-seller. Today, his stories are available in 58 languages and, by a conservative estimate, he has sold more than 200 million books. Many of these stories have also been adapted for stage and screen, including the 1971 film classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Wes Anderson’s acclaimed Fantastic Mr Fox, and the multi-award winning Matilda The Musical from the RSC with music by Tim Minchin. The next Roald Dahl story to hit the big screen will be Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of The BFG, which is set for release in July 2016. 2016 marks Roald Dahl’s centenary. Entitled Roald Dahl 100, 2016 marks 100 years since the birth of Roald Dahl – the world’s number one storyteller. There will be celebrations for Roald Dahl 100 throughout the US in 2016, delivering a year packed with gloriumptious treats and surprises for everyone. We believe in doing good things. That’s why ten percent of all Roald Dahl income* goes to our charity partners. We have supported causes including: specialist children’s nurses, grants for families in need, and educational outreach programmes. Find out more at roalddahl.com. The Roald Dahl Charitable Trust is a registered UK charity (no. 1119330). * All author payments and royalty income net of third party commissions. www.roalddahl.com

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