After more than 50 years, two actors are returning to the world of Willy Wonka (sort of). Julie Dawn Cole and Paris Themmen, two child stars in 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factorywill participate in a live stage reading Willy’s Candy Feastan upcoming musical parody inspired by the disastrous Wonka incident that made international headlines earlier this year.
Cole played the insatiable Veruca Salt as chocolatier Willy Wonka in the classic film starring Gene Wilder, while Seiman played the cowboy-hat-wearing McTeaver. Both will take part in a live reading at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and serve as narrators. Cole will star in the film from August 9 to 18, with Seiman taking over the cast from August 19 to 26.
Willy’s Candy Feast Inspired by the real-life Wonka event in Scotland, organizers are promoting it as an “immersive experience” that will take Willy Wonka fans into the Magic Kingdom. They used rich imagery generated by artificial intelligence to promote the campaign. Unfortunately, this “Magic Kingdom” ended up being a nightmare set in a drab warehouse, an experience so frustrating that people compared it to a meth lab and instantly went viral.
Kirsty Paterson, known as the Sad Oompa Loompa during the real-life Glasgow disaster, is also among the cast reading the musical live. Other cast members include Shirley Regner (pitch perfect series), Eric Peterson (Musical “School of Rock”, Shrek: The Musical), Nicole Greenwood (clear at a glance), Wilkie Ferguson (Broadway Motor City: The Musical), Cassandra Parker (singing and dancing), singer-songwriters Monica Evans and Chris Vilain (freak show).
The musical’s producers are little mermaid Live producer Richard Kraft and his Kraft-Engel Productions. Kraft and Andy Fickman are writing a book for the musical, which has been releasing songs in recent weeks in anticipation that it will eventually hit the stage. Ricky Lindholm, Daniel Merzluft, Doug Rockwell and Tovar Litvin, Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner, Megan Cavallari, Kate Micucci, Jennifer Lucy Cook and Kraft are the musical’s songwriters.