Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (musical) recently closed Broadway version (instead of the West End one) and will feature only 4 child actors who will alternate the role of Charlie. The remainder of the "child" characters will be played adult actors. On 13 October the primary cast was announced and includes U.S. actor Paul Slade Smith (who played Grandpa George in the original cast of Charlie on Broadway) as Willy Wonka alongside Australian actors Tony Sheldon as Grandpa Joe and Lucy Maunder as Mrs Bucket. The role of Charlie will be shared between Tommy Blair, Ryan Yates, Xion Jarvis and Oliver Alkhair.. The play opens with
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (musical) inside the factory, giving Wonka an idea. Charlie returns to the decrepit shack he lives in, which he shares with his mother and four bed-ridden grandparents: Grandpa George, Grandma Georgina, Grandpa Joe, and Grandma Josephine. Charlie and Grandpa Joe play a pretend, game recalling how the latter became Wonka's security guard ("Charlie, You and I") before his mother comes home, giving Charlie an old notebook for homework. Charlie daydreams and scribbles a letter to Willy Wonka, suggesting new candies he should consider inventing, before folding it into a paper airplane and tossing it out the window into the night ("A