Today I'll be starting exploring my upcoming production of Willy Wonka for Lexington Children's Theatre, which will go up in late July. We had our second design meeting today, and these are two roughs that I presented along with my character research.
This version of Wonka has the music from the Gene Wilder "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" with a more faithful adaptation of the book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl. We want to explore what a deliciously dangerous place this factory actually is. You can see some of the images that I am working from here.
The sketch of the four bad kids is the beginning of exploring archetype. Each kid represents not only a deadly sin (sloth, pride, gluttony and bitchiness, respectively), but also some of the evils of childhood (obsession with media, being a braggart, indulgence, and being a spoiled brat). Mike is way wired, and always keeps his electro gadgets handy. Violet wears her achievements on her sleeve, and is one of those incredibly overzealous Girl Scouts, who's not in it for community service. Augustus, is well, hungry, dirty and pleasantly plump. And Veruca is a version of Anna Wintour, mainly for her style and obsession with furs.
The squirrels are probably going to be puppets. They are all cute and sweet, until provoked. Then they transform into maniacal EVIL SQUIRRELS OF DOOM!
So many reasons why I just loooooove Theatre for Young Audiences.
I personally love the Anna Wintour influence!
ReplyDeleteWow, the kids are great! I think the Anna Wintour inspiration really shines through, because i thought about her before i read the text, just looking at the sketch.
ReplyDeleteAnd, that's a cool iteration of the squirrel. As a crafts artisan (most of the time), i can't help but be a bit envious of whomever gets to make those.