Willy Wonka

William C. Wonka (Mainly known as Willy Wonka) is one of the main characters in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Musical. He's the owner of his very own chocolate factory and also a homeless tramp that Charlie met before at the rubbish dump.

When singing "Strike that, Reverse it!" to the five families in the waiting area, he has five imaginative chairs for the families because their kids are all wearing different outfits. The chairs are: A computer chair for the Teavee family, a princess chair for the Salt family, a normal wooden chair for the Bucket family (most sensible), an office sort of chair for the Beauregarde family, and a chair that resembles a grandfather chair for the Gloop family.

He's portrayed as an entertaining, funny, magical man with the chocolates he makes. He has workers called the Oompa-Loompas. After the four children had disappeared in their fates, Charlie was the only child left. When they came to the Imagination Room, Wonka shows Charlie and Grandpa Joe a book which they can't open. After Grandpa Joe confronts Wonka about Charlie's prize which is just an Everlasting Gobstopper, they were about to fight, when Charlie stops them saying he still likes the prize. As Wonka left for a while, Charlie opened the book and wrote in new inventions as Wonka came back and saw him. He told Charlie that he won and then they both went for a ride on the Great Glass Elevator. As they flew back down to the factory, Charlie was now the new owner of the factory and his family moved in with him. Wonka then left and revealed himself as the Tramp that Charlie met at the dump.

Portrayals[]

West End[]

Douglas Hodge (May 2013-May 2014)
Alex Jennings (May 2014-May 2015)

Alex Jennings as Willy Wonka
Ross Dawes (understudy)
Derek Hagen (understudy)
Jonathan Slinger (May 2015-January 2017)

Broadway[]

Christian Borle

First National Tour[]

Noah Weisberg

Second National Tour[]

Cody Garcia

Australia[]

Paul Slade Smith
Stephen Anderson

Italy[]

Christian Ginepro

Oslo[]

Fridtjof Stensæth Josefsen

Brazil[]

Cleto Baccic

Paris[]

Arnaud Denissel

Denmark[]

Simon Mathew
Cartsen Svendsen

The Netherlands[]

Remko Vrijdag

Madrid[]

Edu Soto
Victor Massan

Belgium[]

Nordin de Moor

UK and Ireland Tour[]

Gareth Snook

Spanish National Tour[]

Daniel Diges

Japan[]

Koichi Domoto

Songs[]

Wonka performs in six numbers:

"The Candy Man" which he fully reveals himself to the audience.
"You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet", where he introduces himself to the public.
"It Must be Believed to be Seen," which he finally reveals himself to the public and invites the five Golden Ticket winners and their parents to his factory.
"Strike That! Reverse It!," where he meets the Golden Ticket winners and their parents and get them to sign a contract before beginning the tour.
"Simply Second Nature," where he explains his creations and artwork to the parents in the Chocolate Room.
"When Willy Met Oompa," where he explains the group about how he first discovered the Oompa-Loompas.
"Pure Imagination," Where he sings about a world of Pure Imagination.
"The View From Here" where he explains to Charlie what he has won.
"A Little Me," where he prepares Charlie to become the new owner of the factory. This also happens in "The Candy Man (Reprise)" in the UK Tour.
"It Must be Believed to be Seen (Reprise)," where he reveals himself as the mysterious tramp and says goodbye to Charlie, the Oompa-Loompas and his factory.
"Almost Nearly Perfect (Reprise)", where he says says goodbye and leaves just like above.

He also appears in "Willy Wonka! Willy Wonka!", "Auf Wiedersehen Augustus Gloop", "Juicy!", "You Got Whacha Want", "Veruca's Nutcracker Sweet" and "Vidiots!"