Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (Broadway)
Closed 2h 30m
Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (Broadway)
75

Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (Broadway) NYC Reviews and Tickets

75%
(951 Ratings)
Positive
72%
Mixed
20%
Negative
8%
Members say
Entertaining, Funny, Delightful, Disappointing, Clever

About the Show

Two-time Tony winner Christian Borle stars as magical candy master Willy Wonka in the new Broadway musical adaptation of Roald Dahl's beloved children's book. 

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Show-Score Member Reviews (951)

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58 Reviews | 10 Followers
90
Clever, Entertaining, Funny, Great staging, Great singing

See it if You enjoy excellent performances from every cast member, creative costumes, clever songs and a very funny Christian Borle as Willy Wonka

Don't see it if your inner child will not allow you to come out and play or enjoy this very lovable production of one of Roald Dahl's most iconic books.

50 Reviews | 8 Followers
90
Entertaining, Great staging, Quirky

See it if Amusing take on a familiar tale

Don't see it if You object to spoiled kids

118 Reviews | 26 Followers
90
Delightful, Entertaining, Funny

See it if An excellent choice for a seven year old who has read the book...and her grandmother.

Don't see it if The child you are bringing has a short attention span.

82 Reviews | 29 Followers
90
Ambitious, Delightful, Enchanting, Great acting, Fluffy

See it if You want a fun night. Christian Borle NEVER disappoints because he is the best. Definitely need a solid imagination in certain scenes.

Don't see it if You are expecting the classic movie.

224 Reviews | 43 Followers
90
Clever, Enchanting, Entertaining, Great staging

See it if You love Christian Borle and something that is a little outside of the box.

Don't see it if You expect a traditional musical or if you don't want to escape and be entertained.

108 Reviews | 15 Followers
90
Ambitious, Entertaining, Funny, Great singing, Delightful

See it if You are looking for a feel good show you don't have to think about!

Don't see it if You don't want to be surrounded by children!

84 Reviews | 8 Followers
90
Entertaining, Funny, Great staging, Great writing, Clever

See it if you enjoyed the movie

Don't see it if you have no imagination

51 Reviews | 4 Followers
89
Clever, Ambitious, Great staging

See it if You are a fan of the movie. It brought you back to childhood and made you think you were a kid again.

Don't see it if You want thought provoking and meaningful. It was a light entertaining show.

Critic Reviews (52)

The Hollywood Reporter
April 23rd, 2017

"The perversely charmless new musical will have little to offer grown-up audiences. Kids might find more to enjoy in this frantic Frankenstein's monster of a show, but that doesn't make it less of a misfire...This choc-atrocity has got to rank as one of the most aesthetically off-putting family musicals in memory...Between O'Brien's hyperactive direction and Thompson's biliously colorful designs, there's little to love...Spare yourself the empty calories."
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The Washington Post
April 24th, 2017

"'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' imagines itself cleverly subversive, but it’s just a shrill and nasty cartoon. The production labors under the illusion that killing off irritating children in a candy factory is hilarious, when instead it comes across as one indulgent act of mean-spiritedness...Borle wears a disconcerted look throughout much of the proceedings, as if he just finished a meal that didn’t agree with him."
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Chicago Tribune
April 23rd, 2017

"A deeply disappointing musical...You do get flashes of Dahl's brand of caustic fun. For a few seconds. They're gone with the snap of a light cue or a bit of a sugar-free trick...It's emblematic of how a musical with unlimited imaginative potential never fully decided whether this was to be a retro experience or a cultural probing of the moment. Either one could have worked. But not without that moment when a world of sugar unfolds, and a boy's aching heart almost stops."
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Entertainment Weekly
April 23rd, 2017

"The roles are mostly well played, the book is fine, the songs are serviceable, and the sets are fairly clever, but none of it is—transporting...The best thing about the new production is Christian Borle as Wonka...As good as Borle’s version is, Wilder still owns it. That may not be surprising. But what is is how flat most of the musical feels. From the moment the curtain raises until the moment it finally drops, there’s a sense that something is missing. Something magical. "
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AM New York
April 23rd, 2017

"Disastrous and distasteful...An ultra-aggressive, play-it-up silliness pervades every aspect of the show, turning what is a tender and fanciful story into a loud and brash frenzy...There is a desperate quality to Borle’s upbeat performance. He pushes too hard, resorting to increasingly larger antics in an attempt to win over the crowd...The new songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman are terrible."
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Theatermania
April 23rd, 2017

"Incorporating songs from the film, it seems to present itself as earnest entertainment for children and nostalgic adults. Grieg's caustic book and Shaiman and Wittman's pastiche score, on the other hand, feels like a beast with much sharper talons...The show gets considerably better in the second act, when it becomes the Christian Borle show. He exudes a manic genius that fits the eccentric candy industrialist...He can't save everything though...A musical that doesn't know what it wants to be."
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Lighting & Sound America
May 1st, 2017

"If it is hardly the best musical on Broadway, it is surely the most improved...The book suffers from the fact that it takes an entire act to get to the chocolate factory...The second act is, quite possibly, the most macabre children's entertainment ever...If 'Charlie' isn't likely to entertain adults looking for a sophisticated Broadway musical, it is probably just the thing for parents looking to take the kids to a show. They aren't likely to notice its less-than-seamless assembly."
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Talkin' Broadway
April 23rd, 2017

"It's just bad: plain, simple, and totally. Although, to be fair, it does keep one-upping itself—this is not a musical that's willing to settle for second-worst...Should have been a slam-dunk property...This show rebukes all of that potential, as well as stamping out the material's warmth and charm...As for Shaiman and Wittman's score, it's shallow and tacky, by leagues the pair's weakest work for Broadway...A massive, melty mess."
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