REVIEW: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Newcastle Tyne Theatre

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Newcastle Tyne Theatre & Opera House

Until Saturday 15 November 2026

A family friendly musical is charming audiences at the Opera House down Westgate Road this week. 

Based upon the popular Roald Dahl book, the tale of a young lad that gets a chance to tour the local chocolate factory, works as a musical. The big surprise is that it took until 2013 for the show to be launched in the West End. I have been lucky in that I saw both the London show and the recent professional tour. This is an amateur performance but a  number of the cast have worked professionally and it shows.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory follows young Charlie Bucket (Liam Mather-Pender), a kind-hearted boy from an impoverished family who dreams of a better life beyond the ramshackle house he shares with his parents and four bedridden grandparents. When the reclusive confectioner Willy Wonka announces a global competition—five Golden Tickets hidden in his chocolate bars, each granting its finder a tour of his mysterious factory and a lifetime supply of sweets—Charlie's wildest fantasy seems impossibly out of reach. But fortune smiles on the Bucket family, and Charlie claims the final ticket, joining four other children—spoiled Veruca Salt (Isabel Langston), gum-chewing Violet Beauregarde (Emma Damo), gluttonous Augustus Gloop (Finn Cassidy), and television-obsessed Mike Teavee (Ethan Fagan) —on a fantastical journey through Wonka's candy wonderland. They accompanied by parents that reflect their children's habits, the story is one in which Dahl examined human behaviour.

Now the musical, by David Greig, is a product of this century and it has been updated from the classic book and movie to include mobile phones and social media. I guess that helps make it relevant to a generation that have never known life without them. Beyond that, the story stays fairly faithful to the intention of the original text. The music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman does an effective job of telling the story. There are some classic musical "I want" songs like If Your Father Was Here which Eloise Damo, as Charlie's Mother Mrs Bucket sang with emotion. The most popular song from the 1971 movie Pure Imagination is still here and Gram Cummings took ownership of this classic number.

Whilst the title mention's Charlie, this show, especially in the second act, has Wonka as the central character and Cummings has the onstage charisma to be centre stage. As he deals with each naughty child, he does so with a malice free smile. Likewise Alan Davison's Grandpa Joe is a affable chap that is clearly proud of his grandson, and in doing so Davison has got the tone right.

The kids do really well in their respective roles, coping well if something doesn't quite go to plan as the action unfolds. The ensembles best moment is the reveal of the Oompa Lumpas and the squirrels. Both scenes got a positive reaction off the audience.

Perhaps the obvious change with the recent tour is in the props and special effects. Having said that, the show copes well with bringing the television room to life and visualising the effect of blueberry pie. The show also features live musicians which helps with the energy of the production.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a fun musical and this version made for a very pleasant evening at the theatre.

Review: Stephen Oliver

Tickets:

Tickets are available from the theatre box office and website: https://www.tynetheatreandoperahouse.uk/whatson/starlight-theatre-productions-presents-charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-2/#Tickets_in