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
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory to buy the rights to the book and finance the picture for the purpose of promoting a new Quaker Oats "Wonka Bar". David L. Wolper and Roald Dahl agreed that the film would be a children's musical, and that Dahl himself would write the screenplay. However, Wolper changed the title to "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". Screenwriter David Seltzer conceived a gimmick exclusively for the film that had Wonka quoting numerous literary sources, such as Arthur O'Shaughnessy's "Ode", Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest", Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and William Shakespeare's "The Merchant