Sunday, June 15, 2025

Broadway: “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” Universally Panned, Faces Few Awards, But Still Selling Tickets

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“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” opened on Broadway last night to uniformly negative reviews. This is after the show was completely overhauled from its debut in London’s West End. Somehow, as an observer said, it got worse.

“CCF” probably has no shot at a Tony nomination for Best Musical, either. So far “Dear Evan Hansen” is well in the lead, followed by “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812,” “Come from Away,” “Groundhog Day,” and then maybe “Anastasia,” which opens tonight, or “Bandstand,” which opens later this week. There will be no golden ticket for Charlie.

And yet, the show is selling tickets. The name alone seems to be enough. While numbers for this past week won’t be out until this afternoon, “CCF” is doing more than a million bucks a week so far in previews. But who knows what it’s cost at this point?

Its appeal may be that it’s a family show, and no one cares what the reviewers think. And that could carry it for a year or more. You never know.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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