Hold your breath , make a wish, count to three. In the world of Willy Wonka, there is no life comparable to pure imagination. Chocolate rivers, everlasting gobstoppers and candied flowers in a sugarcoated meadow are the norm, a three-course dinner can be served in a piece of gum, and words like snozzwangers and wangdoodles are used in everyday conversation.
Drama students at the regional high school will bring this world to life and to the stage in their musical production of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory beginning next week. The play runs from Feb. 17 through Feb. 19 at the high school Performing Arts Center.
Based on the Roald Dahl book, the story follows golden ticket winner Charlie Bucket as he meanders his way through Mr. Wonka’s factory and earns his (candy) stripes to the top. The story has taken many forms over the years, perhaps most notably with Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka in the 1971 movie version and later, in 2005, with Johnny Depp in the role.
Now Rykker Maynard’s name will be added to the list of Wonkas, and this week at rehearsal he was busy learning the fine art of twirling a cane.
“The story is basically about the seven deadly sins,” director Kate Murray said after rehearsal this week. “[Willy Wonka] is the one in control of saying, look, you can gain wonderful things if you’re a good person at heart and otherwise you’re going to have to learn your lesson. It’s a mysterious thing and about having the power of knowing that people need to learn a lesson.”
When it comes to musicals, Ms. Murray said she generally prefers that her theatre arts students not watch the movies before the show. In the case of Willy Wonka, however, she encouraged them not only to watch both of the movies but insisted they read the book.
“Commercially, people have such strong feelings and memories from this movie,” she said. “This is the one time when I said, go ahead and look at it, you need to see what the magic is all about and get a sense of how it should flow.”
The magic of the show is what drew Ms. Murray to choose the play. The script is relatively uncomplicated, the music is well known and relatively straightforward, but the technical aspects of the play are what bring all the pieces together. There will be a chocolate river, special lighting for the magic boat ride, and of course this wouldn’t be Willy Wonka without a little flying.
Ever conscious of safety issues, especially in light of all the recent publicity around Spider-Man, Ms. Murray had the stage hoist system reweighted to accommodate three students being hoisted up at one time. Adult experts from the community will man the pulleys for the show.
“We’re not going to Spider-Man them across the audience,” said tech student and high school junior Jake Sudarsky, who also plays Phinaeus Trout in the play. “Unlike other shows, we have different scenes going on at one time . . . there are much bigger pieces to the show and they’re different in each scene,” he said.
Ms. Murray agreed, pointing at the illusion of creating a large factory and following golden ticket winners through smaller rooms. Students walk doors across stage to move characters from one room to another; large brown fabrics wave in the back to create the river.
“You need to create wonderful illusions to make magic happen,” Ms. Murray said. “It changes the experience for the actors, because they have to create wonder and have to be aware that these things are happening around them and be really safe and think about things that are coming on and off very quickly.”
As with any production, this one has been a learning experience for the tech students, Ms. Murray said. Teachers Debbie Brew and Corinne Kurtz are also learning new things about their students. Ms. Brew and Ms. Kurtz joined the oompa loompa ensemble and were busy learning the lyrics to the riddles.
“It’s a fun show, and we get to know them [the students] on a different level,” Ms. Kurtz said.
“I love that I get to work with a bigger variety of a group of kids,” Ms. Brew said between writing down lyrics on note cards. “I’m impressed with how talented they are.”
Ms. Murray had planned to make this a high school-community production, but in the end only had a few takers from the community. One is regional high school alumnus Ashley Willoughby, who plays Augustus Gloop’s mother.
“I came in to say hello one day and it happened to be audition day. Kate [Murray] asked me if I wanted a role and I said I wanted Mrs. Gloop,” she said. “It’s really tough to do a German accent without sounding angry because Mrs. Gloop is so bubbly.”
The actors may change but the lessons from Willy Wonka are constant and universal. Eat too much chocolate and you’ll end up in the pipe that leads to the fudge room. Have a piece of gum you’re not supposed to try and end up as blueberry juice. Try to steal a squirrel and you’ll end up in the garbage chute. Try to be transported over television and you’ll have to be stretched by a taffy puller.
Or stay true to your heart and your dreams will come true.
Willy Wonka opens on Feb. 17 and runs through Feb. 19 at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Performing Arts Center in Oak Bluffs. Curtain times are 7 p.m. on Feb. 17 and 18, and 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Feb. 19. Tickets are $10, and $7 for students and seniors, all sold at the door.
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