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

“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.