Charlie and the Chocolate Factory The New Musical — Drury Lane, London, 2nd Jan 2014

I'm not a big theatre-goer: the last time I went was way back in 2001 when my wife was too ill to attend the West End production of My Fair Lady—a 30th birthday treat from her parents—and I took her place. It was OK, I suppose… y'know, for a musical.
Over twelve years later, and my wife's poor health once again sees me making use of her spare ticket—this time to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with the kids. This was much more fun, but then it did have dancing squirrels in it, something in which My Fair Lady was sorely lacking.

Standing on Hungerford Bridge with the kids before making our way to the theatre.

To be honest, I was always going to be more interested in this production, being both a fan of Roald Dahl's book and the 1971 movie adaptation (which didn't have squirrels, but which did feature numerous orange dwarfs with green hair). Hell, I even know all the words to The Candy Man (who can take a rainbow, wrap it in a sigh, soak it in the sun and make a groovy lemon pie? The candy man, the candy man can…).

Sadly, The Candy Man doesn't feature in this stage production, nor do any of the other songs from the film save for Pure Imagination right at the end—but I still had a lot of fun (and so did the kids), even from the cheap seats way up on the balcony.

Thora and Corey at Drury Lane.

Admittedly, The Candy Man would have been nice, just so that I could have quietly sung along to myself, but even without it, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory The Musical is still one heck of an entertaining show (and far better than Tim Burton's movie from 2005).