Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (Broadway) NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (951)
See it if you just want a fun show.Borle is a gem & always worth seeing in anything.This has your favorite songs from movies, is just as delightful.
Don't see it if you like serious musicals.Like all Dahl books, this has a deep message & a dark side.But it is MUCH improved since London & is worth seeing.
See it if You love Christian Borle, you enjoy the book and want to see it on stage, you want to see an update of the Willy Wonka movie.
Don't see it if You dislike Broadway flash, you hate musicals, you want something serious.
See it if You're a fan of the movie and want to see Christian Borle shine as Willy Wonka. This show is fun, hilarious and truly anybody can enjoy it.
Don't see it if You're expecting a huge, expensive set, this isn't it or if you're expecting it to be exactly the same as the movie.
See it if loved the Gene Wilder movie version or just want an all-ages night out at the theater.
Don't see it if you don't like the Roald Dahl story, have a strong objection to the fantasy depiction of children being killed. Read more
See it if You loved the movie and the book…seeing the last performance was a revelation to this lover of Roald Dahl’s masterpiece!!
Don't see it if You don’t believe in imagination and want realism…it’s not for you
See it if you like fun family musicals
Don't see it if you like more adult fare
See it if There's a surprise waiting for you here. Beside the clever staging there's a poignancy to this this I didn't expect. Charlie had my heart.
Don't see it if Second act is a bit long and predictable. Audience of kids and adults not to everyone's liking but perfect for this show.
See it if Surprisingly entertaining.Great story, music, singing. Sets are clever, creative, fun & colorful. Imagination required.;-) Borle at his best
Don't see it if you expect the movie and/or lavish over-the-top sets. Some scenes are shocking but it's following the original book.Some inappropriate jokes Read more
Critic Reviews (52)
“With a new director, plus new, and notably less expensive, designs and an extensively revised book and score, it moves faster and establishes its relationships far better…Charlie's obnoxious fellow claimants for Wonka’s factory tour are now played by adult actors, not kids; the Oompa Loompas are newly kitted out in body suits from which the actors' own heads pop out, while the new and less embellished design allows the audience to make its own imaginative leaps.”
Read more
"Why does this production feel too small, too meager, and not magic enough? 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' needs to go big, surely, or not at all. The modesty of this production feels a little lost on the stage...The show is far from a disaster, just far too timid. Borle and Flynn are charming flip sides of the same quirky coin, and as compadres are lovely to watch...There is a critically lacking wonder and magic here—and Charlie and Wonka deserve buckets of both."
Read more
"More often than it should, 'Charlie' fails children when trying to speak to adults, and vice versa...An inability to hit the right tone and sustain it is a serious problem...The music is a combination of other songs from the film and mostly bland new work by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman...For all its attempts to recreate the delight of Roald Dahl’s story, it left me with something of a toothache."
Read more
"A family-sized, mouth-watering mélange of eccentric perversity and tenderhearted pleasure...Act I seems to dawdle quite a bit...Still, the opening act has its virtues. Among them is the presence of one of Broadway’s most distinctively appealing leading men playing Wonka, Christian Borle...It’s in Act II that the dazzle quotient soars. Charlie’s competitors are disposed of in deliciously sadistic ways, and the secrets of Willy Wonka’s candy making are revealed."
Read more
“I found this musical version oddly sweet and gooey, but David Greig’s book I found more Dull than Dahl. As a result, despite star Christian Borle’s game effort to inject charm into the characters of Willie Wonka and the ‘Candy Man,’ the long first act didn’t offer me much to cheer about…The second act improves noticeably for Mr. Borle comes into his own and the Oompa Loompas arrive.”
Read more
"'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' wants very badly to be loved. It restores some elements that were in the original story, while updating it to the present and adding references to hip-hop and tweeting...There’s also animation, large squirrels, and lots of funny business in Act Two, when Borle lets loose with his wryly witty taunting antics. The show has a lot of hard sell, but some rewards, as it lampoons gluttony at Broadway prices."
Read more
"A hot mess of a Broadway musical: loud, crass, and deeply confused about the point of its source material...When you compound Dahl's cynicism with garden variety vulgarity, the result is toxic...Borle plays Wonka with a kind of passive-aggressive detachment that is both off-putting and dull...Yet as much as this show veers all over the place, and as chintzy as Mark Thompson's sets sometimes appear, 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' features its share arresting weirdness and wonder."
Read more
“Sadly, the show fails to keep faith with its source material, proving to be an uneven mixture of satire and wistfulness…The show’s creators aren’t sure whether to present a childhood fantasy or a dark allegory...The musical numbers written especially for the stage are not nearly as strong as the tunes used in the film…But Borle does an excellent job...‘Charlie’ reminds one of a rather misshapen cake. It may taste okay, but the proper overall effect is lost.”
Read more