WILLY WONKA The Musical?!

Willy Wonka’s Great Glass Elevator may be able to go into space, but can it make it to Broadway?  Warner Bros., along with producers Sam Mendes and Caro Newling sure think so.  Four years after Warner Bros. showed audiences Tim Burton’s vision of the classic Roald Dahl tale, the wheels are in motion to bring the story, and the music, to the Great White Way.  Prolific Scottish playwright David Greig has been hired to write the play while Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (both of the “Hairspray” fame) have been brought on to compose the music.  More on the project after the jump.

According to RiskyBusiness, the production is being managed by Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures which also oversaw the musical adaptation of “The Color Purple” and Elton John’s vampire musical “Lestat.”  Had the latter involved puppets, a la “A Taste for Love,” you probably would have heard of it.  In any event, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” seems like a logical fit for Broadway.  It is a family friendly story with wonderful visuals and is already well known for its music, with the 1971 original motion picture winning the Academy Award for Best Score.  Mendes, who has not yet decided if he will direct, is also well known in the theater community which is where he initially rose to prominence.  There is still a lot of work to be done before the premiere so, while you wait, enjoy “The Candy Man Can,” courtesy of “Scrubs.”

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