KMC Presents ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’

By Maya Moore | News, Copy Editor

This spring, the Kapaun Mt. Carmel theater department brings a world of “pure imagination” to the stage with its production of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”
The musical, based on the book by Roald Dahl, follows Charlie Bucket, a young boy with a large imagination and a passion for Wonka’s chocolate. Willy Wonka, a reclusive chocolatier, offers Charlie and four other children the opportunity of a lifetime: a tour of his famous factory, ending with Charlie winning it all.
Charlie is played by two children, 13-year-old Teddy Jennings and 9-year-old Elle Russell. They will each play the role in two of the four shows. Jennings has theater experience as he previously played the understudy of Jack in “Into the Woods” at Wichita Children’s Theatre, Flynn Rider in “Tangled” at Rosary Catholic School in Oklahoma and Fritz in Ballet Wichita’s production of “The Nutcracker.”
“He’s an innocent little boy and his family is poor,” Jennings said. “I feel really good that there’s another person helping me with that role and that I get to be here with all these lovely people.”
Russell has played Shirley and Gladys in “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” the caterpillar in “Addie and Wonderland,” and Gretel in “Hansel and Gretel” at Wichita Children’s Theatre.
“I realized that, my character, from being, like, good and grateful that you can end up with an amazing lifetime, happily ever after,” Russell said.
Director Gabe Heffernan described the child characters in the musical, as well as the parents accompanying them, as generally exhibiting unfavorable qualities.
“There are five children and there are five parents,” Heffernan said. “They are all basically caricatures of different horrible characteristics, like greed and gluttony, except for Charlie. He’s kind of the perfect child. The girls are full of themselves … Augustus is just a greedy, gluttonous boy. And Mike Teavee is obsessed with technology. So, watching them all interact will be very funny.”
Freshman Freddie Crile will play Willy Wonka, a role larger than he has been cast in previously, as Wino #2 in “The Little Shop of Horrors.”
“I’m nervous,” Crile said. “One, because I’m a freshman and it’s my first time ever being a lead. It’s like a lot of singing and lines to remember, but also, I don’t want Mr. Heffernan and Mrs. [Michelle] Vardaman to think they made the wrong decision, you know? So, like, I want to really do good … It’s kind of a big step up from some random drunk guy to Willy Wonka.”
Junior Matthew Heppler plays Grandpa Joe, the grandfather of Charlie who inspired his love of Willy Wonka and accompanies him throughout the tour of the factory.
“I’m going to have a lot of fun with the cast, a very good lineup for the show,” Heppler said. “I think so long as we can hold it together, hopefully, we can have great musical numbers … I’m really excited.”
The show will be performed April 16-18 at 7 p.m. Student and adult tickets cost $10.