Wonka Onstage – ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ opens in Ojai

Willy Wonka (Cecil Sutton) announces a world-wide contest for a lifetime supply of chocolate. Dean Zatkowsky Photo
Willy Wonka (Cecil Sutton) announces a world-wide contest for a lifetime supply of chocolate.
Dean Zatkowsky Photo

Mention “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” and three things spring to most people’s minds: the cherished book by Roald Dahl and the two movies that altered how different generations have imagined the goings-on inside the factory. But who knows of the play?

This entirely different thing — adapted by elementary school teacher Richard George and later given the thumbs up by Dahl — is a blank slate for designers, with no descriptions of characters or sets. It’s a chance for a production to go mad, to act like, shall we say, kids in a candy store. That’s exactly what goes down tonight in Ojai when Gai Jones and Ojai ACT unveil their version.

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