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Enter a World of Pure Imagination with the Cast of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY!
May 17, 2024
Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, starring two-time Tony Award winner Christian Borle (Willy Wonka), begins performances Tuesday, March 28, 2017 and officially opens Sunday, April 23, 2017 at Broadway's Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.
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0:00
Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World, two-time Tony Award winner, Christian Borrell is returning to Broadway in the new musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
0:09
Under the direction of Jack O'Brien, it will open on April 23rd at the Lund Fontaine Theater, and we're here at the legendary Sardis, where we caught up with the company
0:17
Talk about your leading man. I mean, Christian Borel, we all fell in love with, you know
0:21
We love him. I mean, when we had him on Smash, we used to, he wasn't really supposed to sing or do production numbers, but I kept saying, well, maybe someone's missing at rehearsal
0:30
We just kept writing songs for him, so we're happy that this is, and Josh Bagas as well
0:36
And we were writing the songs for this show while we were working on Smash, and Christian was the perfect person to demo them
0:43
So we've already kind of gotten the glibs. He was actually the first person to sing the songs even before the London production
0:51
So, yeah. It's also great to watch him in the rehearsal room, create what he does
0:55
Oh, yeah, because he's like, he's part Warner Brothers cartoon, but he's all heart
1:00
guts too, so, yeah. We really, really couldn't be lucky or happier
1:04
Who do you play? I'm Violet Beauregard. And I am Eugene Beauregard, her father
1:10
Oh my gosh, I can only imagine. Hashtag black Beauregard. I mean, is it wild living in this fantasy world
1:19
It's so wild. And it also is really cool because everyone's taking my input
1:25
Wigs, makeup, like, they're all like, what do you think she should look like
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So I get to kind of create the diva that is violent, which is really exciting
1:32
Have you seen yourselves in the mirror yet all done up? Yeah, I mean, that's still all the work in progress
1:38
But yes, we definitely, I mean, it's definitely been collaborative, and it's definitely going to be fantastic
1:45
Lots of bling. Lots of bling. You have the coolest dressing room. It's the big dressing room, right
1:50
Oh, it is so nice. I mean, you're like a shower. It's like, oh, it's great
1:56
Yes, we have our own little sitting area. Howie? Yeah. You decorated
2:01
What's in there already? There's like gop stoppers hanging on the wall, and then there's step inside a pure imagination sign
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a golden ticket, Star Wars. A huge golden ticket. Christian Boyle put together some Star Wars sets for us and gave it to us
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So we had three Star Wars, well, two Star Wars sets and a Lego Batman set
2:22
You got me a Lego Batman one. It's really nice. It's great. Everyone's going to be hanging in your dressing room
2:27
You know that. All the castes going to hang out. He comes in. Everybody comes in
2:31
Christian Borel, I mean, watch it. Don't start me on Christian. She mad because he so good He so he like he has like an angry but there funny and there funny that makes me angry Fangry
2:47
I've already started to develop a character choice wherein I need to cover my face for how many times I'm laughing uncontrollably
2:54
Jack said you need a chair and a whip because he never stops. I mean, Jack is like, he just creates all this stuff, Wonderman in front of you, and you're like, where did that come from
3:02
Yeah, and every one of them work. Yeah. Hate him. Pretty much
3:08
I have to ask you about the front of your house. I think the L'Enfantan looks so incredible
3:12
I mean, how cool is it? I mean, I never get tired of walking down the street
3:16
watching where you all were. What's it like for you when you saw the Lent Fontaine
3:20
the first time, all done up? I'll tell a really cheesy story because I thought of it the other day
3:25
I moved here right around when Beauty and the Beast was still happening. And so I used to walk around as a little kid in theater school
3:30
And one day I, at half hour, looked up at the theater, and whoever was playing Lumier at the time was in his dressing room
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and looked out at me, kind of nodded. And I thought, one day I'll be there. And then the other day, I was there
3:42
I'm on Broadway, Mom. Welcome back to Broadway with Charlie. Thank you
3:46
How excited are you? I'm wildly excited. I mean, what a treat and what a thrilling opportunity
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to sort of put our stamp on something that everybody knows and thinks they know
3:58
but they don't know this. I mean, nobody sort of knows what we're going to do
4:03
And as a result, I think there's, a lot of fascinating kind of buzz
4:08
Like, is this, I said the other day, I went up to my house this weekend
4:13
and I thought, it's going extremely well. And I thought, I shouldn't say that
4:17
And I don't know, maybe it is that good. Maybe it is that good. It feels like it
4:22
Working with Mark and Scott again, what incredible team. What's it been like working with them and creating this
4:27
Well, we've seen each other over decades now, you know, and their lives have changed, and my life has changed
4:32
And we've gotten closer and more comfortable with one another. and I could sense that this work was very dear to them, very personal to them
4:42
but they hadn't yet released everything they had. They really needed another lung full of air and the opportunity to step out
4:52
and boy, have they delivered. They've got a song in the second act that is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard in my life
4:59
I'm so proud of them. First of all, welcome back to Broadway, both of you. How do you feel excited and happy and lucky
5:06
Yeah, me too. Just thrilled to be in the room. Yeah. I mean, it must be a fantasy world to be living in the world of this show with your creators
5:14
I mean, Jack O'Brien, Mark Seym and Scott Whitman. What's it like being in the rehearsal room
5:19
Well they all sort of teddy bears They love working There no air of sort of we know something that you people don know It sort of like let all get into the sandbox and start making castles together
5:33
The first day of rehearsal, the designer came out and showed us his model, and it was mind-blowing
5:42
It was. I've never seen anything like it. And we're all just, yeah, we're all in it together trying to create this new
5:49
peace and it's a joyous room. Everyone has a twinkle in their eye and we're just having fun
5:55
and that's what's so exciting. What's the whole experience been like for you? It's been thrilling
6:02
really thrilling, truly. To do this with Mark and Scott and with Jack is a dream from true. I was in
6:09
hairspray as a swing in the original cast and I would watch them put together that amazing show
6:14
and just wish I were inside on everything that was going on, you know, behind its same
6:19
there and now I am you know 16 years later and it's just it's really a dream come true
6:25
I'm so excited and we're doing it with this show which is an amazing show it's something I've
6:31
loved ever since I was a kid so I couldn't be happy who do you play I play Mrs. Gloop and I play
6:38
Augustus Group what are your songs oh God we have a lovely song called More of Him to
6:44
Love which is delicious and I love it and we really as far as all that we call them Gt
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Dubs, Golden Ticket Winners. And I think we love each other sort of the most
6:53
Like, some people are irritated by their kids, but we, the first day, just had this immense love for each other
6:58
And we just started laughing, this crazy laugh together at the same time. So I think that's what a song is about pretty much. Absolutely
7:05
And it's in the same key that the kid did it in London. Yeah, yeah. So it was by accident
7:09
I went into my audition, and no one told me what octave it was supposed to be in. So I just sang it up
7:14
And then all of a sudden, Mark and Scott told me later, they were like, yeah, we were going to transpose it, but then we thought it was funny when you did it up there
7:18
And I was like, thanks, I chose a week, all right. Your last callback, did you fly in from out of town
7:24
I did, yeah, I was actually, I've been hanging out in Arizona for a bit
7:28
and was going to a wedding in Colorado, and then my agents called and said, yeah, after that wedding
7:33
you're off the flight of New York. So called the airline and need to change that flight
7:38
And so flew straight from Colorado in, and, like, woke up the next day
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had a couple auditions to let them know that I was the guy
7:46
And so, yeah, and so grateful. that they chose me for this because I'm so incredibly excited
7:52
We were together that last time? No. No. I didn't even know
7:57
I was told by F. Michael Haney, who plays Augustus Gloop, he texted me saying, I know here
8:01
your dad is And I was like tell me tell me He like Ben Crawford And I actually we had worked together before And I was so excited because I had done the lab previously
8:12
I'd had a couple of other dads. I got the real dad. I got the real one
8:17
I remember someone said, Emma, I was like, Emma Fethel is your daughter. I was like, oh, she's a weirdo
8:20
This is going to be great. I was like, this is perfect. Oh, yeah. Like, we're both like a good kind of crazy for this show. Great
8:27
Everybody's bonding, like, the parents with your kids. Because you all look like you could be fond of
8:31
You could be father and daughter. I mean, yeah. Actually, my wife was saying she was like, you guys really look alike
8:38
And we make the same faces kind of too. Yeah, we do like..
8:42
For example, see? So I see you have your headshade. There's obviously an incredible look going to happen for Willy Wonka
8:51
Have you had the whole outfit on yet? I have had the whole outfit. I need to go on record saying that Willie Wonka will not be bald
8:57
It's very important to make that clear. This is for my wood prep. The costume's amazing
9:03
I love it. I put it on and immediately it has a different feel to it, and my cane is great
9:07
It's like a dream. So I asked you, the first time you saw yourself all done up in that mirror
9:11
were you like, wow, could you put into words? No, it was kind of surreal
9:16
And, you know, it's that cliche that as soon as you put those clothes on
9:20
it does half the work for you. There's something so iconic about it. And as someone who doesn't normally wear a top hat and a tail coat
9:28
it helps to get into it. having Scott Whitman and Mark Shaman
9:33
because you were like the first to like sort of sing their songs and you were on Smash. He said they sort of gave you the early songs of this musical, right
9:39
Yes, they were doing demos and sending it around and trying to kind of figure out what the spine of the whole show was
9:46
And they would call me into their studio, and I would sing some of these songs. Some are still in the show, some or not
9:51
But I think maybe like 10 or 12 songs ultimately. I'm probably exaggerating
9:55
That's what I do. I met your boys. The three Charlie's amazing
10:00
You've given them Legos already. for their dressing room. Well, what they don't know is my gift of Legos
10:04
was actually somewhat selfish because I did the Legos. I find it very meditated
10:09
But yes, now I was able to kind of pass them off, and they're adorable. They're going to be incredible each and every one
10:16
It must be so great to have three different Charlies that all give their magical thing that they do
10:22
Yeah. One does it in French. Another one does it with a really obnoxious limp
10:28
and another one just kind of pantomimes the whole thing. You never know what you're going to get with these kids
10:34
It must be really great, seriously. No, they're amazing. Yes, and they have their own unique spirit
10:41
And the thing that they have in common is that they're so focused and so good and so on the ball
10:47
And utterly charming
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