See photos from Willy’s Candy Spectacular at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Playbill becomes fringe theatre

See photos of Willy’s Candy Spectacle at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Inspired by the “Willy’s Chocolate Experience” debacle in Glasgow, the parody musical is currently running.

Willy’s Candy Spectaclethe parody musical based on the Willy Wonka debacle in Glasgow is currently playing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. And we’ve got a first look at the stage version of The Unknown and the sad Oompa Loompa. See photos from the new musical below.

The musical runs until August 26th at the Pleasance King Dome.

The main roles are played by the 1971 Willy Wonka the film actors Julie Dawn Cole (who played the spoiled young Veruca Salt) and Paris Themmen (the TV-obsessed Mike Teevee) and Kirsty Paterson (Sad Oompa Loompa from the Chocolate Experience in Glasgow, who reprises her role in the musical).

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Photos: Willy’s Candy Spectacular at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024

The cast also includes Broadway star Eric Petersen (School of Rock), Wilkie Ferguson III (Motown), Shelley Reynolds (Pitch perfect), Nicole Greenwood (In clear view), Cassandra Parker (cabaret), Monica Evans and Chris Villain (Freak show). Special guests are also expected.

The parody musical is based on a book by producer Richard Kraft and Andy Fickman, who also directs. The film score features songs by various teams, including Kraft and Megan Cavallari, Tova Litvin and Doug Rockwell (High School Musical: The Musical: The Series), Riki Lindhome, Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner (First Date), Daniel Mertzlufft (Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical) and Jennifer Lucy Cook.

Previously titled Willy Festa musical parodyThe project was unveiled earlier this year, shortly after the event on which it is based became a viral sensation.

Glasgow’s Willy’s Chocolate Experience caused a stir on social media in late February when families expecting an “immersive experience” based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the prequel film from 2023 Wonka were greeted with half-hearted candy decorations, flimsy backdrops, and a menacing masked figure called “The Unknown” (no relation to the films). Parents reported crying children leaving the house, the police were called, and photos of the whole fiasco spread like wildfire on social platforms.

“If you announce it, they will come,” Kraft says in a statement. “It was only in March that I came up with the idea for a stage musical. I had a press release before I had a show. Then a great team of top songwriters wrote our sixteen-tune score. Next, the perfect director, Andy Fickman, signed on. And now our dream cast has assembled to premiere this crazy idea at the Edinburgh Fringe Fest. Even in my wildest imagination, I could not have imagined this would all come together so beautifully and so quickly. It’s just delicious.”

“I feel like Willy Wonka himself, standing at the gates of the factory where this remarkable cast arrives with their golden tickets, ready to perform,” adds Fickman. “Working with this amazing cast in this dream musical is a joy, but when you add the original Veruca Salt and Mike Teevee, it’s a candy explosion in my head!”

In the weeks leading up to the musical’s world premiere, the production released demos of the show’s songs, including “The Best Show I’ve Ever Seen,” “One Big Fucking Nothing,” “I Coulda Gone to Law School,” “I Was Never That Way,” and “The Unknown.”

Visit WillysCandySpectacular.com.