Alex Jennings to replace Douglas Hodge as Willy Wonka

Alex Jennings will play Willy Wonka in the record-breaking West End production of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the role currently played by Douglas Hodge.

Jennings’s first performance will be on Monday 19 May 2014

Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has quickly become one of the West End’s most popular and successful stage musicals. It has broken records at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, where it has been seen by over half a million people since it opened in June 2013. It is currently taking bookings until 30 May 2015.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Musical: Theatre Review

Written in 1964, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is one of Roald Dahl’s most loved books. Also made into two films (one in 1971 and one in 2005) its a franchise that people of all ages have loved and grown up with, and now its a West End Musical! 

The production is very good, its magical with elements that truly are astounding and take you back to your childhood. Quite often I found myself with my jaw almost to the ground at some of the aspects of the show. Sam Mendes’s direction flows so well with huge help from the swift and flawless scene changes. He has brought the sharpness that movies have to the stage, you do not get bored at any point in the show. The pace of it moves quite fast, too fast at some points. You almost feel like some things could have been cut out to enable some of the really good moments to be drawn out a little. The set, by Mark Thompson, was fantastic.