In the stage reading of Willy’s Candy Spectacular: A Musical Parody, Julie Dawn Cole and Paris Themmen, who portrayed Veruca Salt and Mike Teevee in the Gene Wilder film from 1971, will share narrating duties.
The program is based on the tragic Willy’s Chocolate Experience, which made headlines worldwide in February after being billed as a “chocolate fantasy” where “dreams become reality.” However, what guests found was a bare-bones warehouse where kids could only get a few candies and a quarter of a dollar.
On the first day of operation, the £35-per-ticket event came to an abrupt end when irate parents called the police and demanded their money back.
On Monday afternoon, the parody’s cast was revealed, featuring performers Monica Evans and Chris Villain alongside Shelley Regner from the Pitch Perfect series, Eric Petersen from Shrek the Musical, Nicole Greenwood from In Plain Sight, Wilkie Ferguson from Motown: The Musical, and Cassandra Parker from Cabaret.