Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (franchise) co-production with American Lyric Theater and Wexford Festival Opera. A musical based on the novel, titled "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" premiered at the West End's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in May 2013 and officially opened on 25 June. The show is directed by Sam Mendes, with new songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, and stars Douglas Hodge as Willy Wonka. The production broke records for weekly ticket sales. Coincidentally, Hodge was also the voice of a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory audiobook, as part of a package of Roald Dahl CDs read by celebrities. There are two "Charlie
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory reason behind his Golden Tickets, names Charlie his successor. They ride the Great Glass Elevator to Charlie's house while the other four children go home (Augustus squeezed thin, Violet all blue in the face, Veruca covered in trash, and Mike stretched ten feet tall). Afterwards, Wonka invites Charlie's family to come live with him in the factory, and they do. Dahl’s widow said that Charlie was originally written as 'a little black boy.' Dahl’s biographer said the change to a white character was driven by Dahl’s agent, who thought a black Charlie would not appeal to readers. In the first