Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Eccles

Last night I had the chance to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a musical based on the beloved book by Roald Dahl, and I thought it was a lot of fun.  Willy Wonka (Cody Garcia), the world's greatest chocolatier, laments that making chocolate has become bitter for him and he wants to find someone to take over his chocolate factory.  Charlie Bucket (Kai Edgar) is an imaginative boy who loves chocolate but, because his family is desperately poor, he can only afford one chocolate bar a year on his birthday.  Wonka decides to invite five lucky children who find a golden ticket in one of his chocolate bars to tour his factory and soon four children from around the world, Augustus Gloop (David Nick), Veruca Salt (Angela Palladini), Violet Beauregarde (Zakiya Baptiste), and Mike Teavee (Jacnier), find tickets.  Charlie dreams of finding a golden ticket but, even though Grandpa Joe (Steve McCoy), Grandma Josephine (Jenna Brooke Scannelli), Grandpa George (Stanton Morales), and Grandma Georgina (Nicole Zelka) encourage him, his mother (Claire Leyden) warns him not to get his hopes up.  Charlie doesn't find one in his birthday chocolate bar but Wonka contrives to give him another one with a golden ticket inside.  The children join Wonka in the world of pure imagination but four of them give into their negative impulses.  The greedy Augustus falls into a chocolate waterfall after being warned not to drink from it, the obsessed Violet blows up into a giant blueberry after being warned not to chew an experimental piece of gum, the spoiled Veruca is pulled apart by the squirrels who sort the nuts after demanding one for herself, and the addicted Mike is shrunk inside a TV after misusing WonkaVision.  The imaginative Charlie gives into his desire to look at Wonka's inventions but this convinces Wonka to take Charlie on the Great Glass Elevator and give him his factory.  I loved the colorful projections, sets, and costumes (especially inside of the factory), the full body puppets used for the Oompa Loompas (they are hilarious), and the performances (especially the adorable Edgar as Charlie and the charismatic Garcia as Wonka).  However, I didn't think that any of the songs were particularly memorable.  There were only a couple that made an impression on me, including "Willy Wonka!  Willy Wonka!" and "The Oompa Loompa Song," and I liked them because of the choreography and the performances by the ensemble.  I also felt that the second act got bogged down with all of the special effects.  It was really cool to see Violet transform into into a giant blueberry and to see Mike shrink inside of a TV in front of our eyes but the execution of these and other stunts slowed the action down considerably.  I enjoyed this show and I am glad that I got to see it but I do not count it as a favorite.  It will be at the Eccles Theatre through June 19 (go here for tickets).