Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (musical) producers announced that production would close on 14 January 2018 after 27 previews and 305 performances. The US tour premiered on 21 September 2018 in Buffalo, New York at Shea's Performing Arts Center. It is a replica of the Broadway production and stars Noah Weisberg as Willy Wonka, James Young as Grandpa Joe and Amanda Rose as Mrs Bucket, with the role of Charlie being alternated between Henry Boshart, Collin Jeffery and Rueby Wood. The Australian premier of the musical will be held at Sydney's Capitol Theatre on 5 January 2019. The musical will be a replica production of the
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is actually Mr. Wilkinson, an employee of Wonka, and the offer to buy the Gobstopper was a morality test that only Charlie passed. The trio enter the "Wonkavator", a multi-directional glass elevator that flies out of the factory. Soaring over the city, Wonka reveals that his actual prize is the factory; Wonka created the contest to find an heir worthy enough, and so Charlie and his family can immediately move in. Wonka then reminds Charlie not to forget about the man who suddenly received everything he ever wanted. Charlie asks, "What happened?" to which Wonka replies, "He lived happily ever