Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to open in West End
- Published
Dahl (r) published his classic tale in the US in 1964 and the UK in 1967
A new West End musical, based on Roald Dahl's novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, is to open next year.
Sam Mendes will direct the show, which will have its world premiere on 23 June 2013 at the London Palladium.
Dahl's 1964 book tells of a poor young boy who wins the chance to explore a magical sweet factory.
It is not yet known who will play the factory's eccentric owner Willy Wonka, previously played on film by Gene Wilder in 1971 and Johnny Depp in 2005.
Mendes won an Oscar for directing 1999 film American Beauty and is at the helm of Skyfall, the latest James Bond movie.
His stage work includes an acclaimed revival of Oliver! that opened at the Palladium in 1994.
Warner Bros are behind the new musical adaptation, along with producer Kevin McCormick and Mendes' Neal Street Productions.
Songs for the show will be written by Mark Shaiman and Scott Wittman, the Tony-winning team behind the musical Hairspray and US TV series Smash.
Scottish playwright David Greig is writing the script, while Peter Darling - a recent Olivier winner for his work on Matilda the Musical - will provide the choreography.
The Palladium previously played host to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - a musical based on the children's novel by Bond creator Ian Fleming, whose 1968 film version Dahl worked on.
Tickets for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory go on sale in October, three years on from when plans to stage it first came to light.