Wicked
£9.99The disastrous Wonka-themed event in Glasgow that was shut down by police after just one day has inspired a new show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe called Willy’s Candy Spectacular. The show is the brainchild of producer Richard Kraft, who enlisted a team of songwriters to help create the musical inspired by events he read about in US media. The £35-per-ticket event promised “a chocolate fantasy” but instead delivered a sparsely decorated warehouse with only a few actors. Images and reactions to the disaster became an internet sensation all over the world.
Kraft was fascinated by the news coverage of the debacle and approached playwrights to create a show, which he pitched at the Edinburgh Fringe. The musical features Kirsty Paterson, who went viral after a photo of her wearing a green wig was widely shared, and will play herself and a narrator of the story alongside a cast of theatre veterans such as Shelley Regner of Pitch Perfect, Cassandra Parker from Cabaret, and Eric Petersen. The show features numbers such as “Lower Your Expectations” and “I Coulda Gone to Law School” and offers a parody of the original Willy Wonka story.
Despite the Wonka connections, the producers say the musical has no association with the original event or its copyright owners. Paris Themenn and Julie Dawn Cole, two of the child stars of the 1971 film adaptation, feature in the cast, and Cole says she was angry when she first heard about the Glasgow event, but believes that the success of the novel it was based upon is due to its happy ending and offers hope to everyone.
The musical aimed to bring a celebration of dreamers and those who dared to keep trying, even after a disastrous event. Inspired by the news story, Kraft brought together a team of creative talents and eventually convinced director Andy Fickman to collaborate with them. Originally intended to be only a staged reading, Willy’s Candy Experience grew in popularity and will include costumes and choreography, creating a sense of the much larger show that they plan to eventually bring to Broadway. The story revolves around Willy holding a press conference after his experience is shut down and delivering a masterclass in the art of the non-apology apology
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