When Esther and William were one
Their Godmother bought them a collection of Roald Dahl audio books
A few weeks, perhaps months ago
We started listening to them
Every story we listened to they loved
George’s Marvellous Medicine was first
Then The Twits
Before introducing them to Charlie
And Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory
And The Great Glass Elevator
Esther and William cannot get enough of Roald Dahl
They know every detail of every story they have heard
Off by heart
On Tuesday
We were so lucky to have tickets
For Charlie and The Chocolate Factory
The West End show!
I was a bit worried about taking Esther and William out late at night
It is not something we usually do
But actually it added to the excitement and the magic
And they were both so beautifully behaved
It takes us a little over an hour on the train
To get to London
The whole way we were talking about the story and the show
Esther and William had so many questions
How will they do the Ooompa Loompas?
Will they be puppets?
How will they make the chocolate river?
And the great glass elevator?
I asked the children which characters they most wanted to see
For each of them it was Grandpa Joe
They wanted to hear him shout ‘Yipee!’
(Which he didn’t actually in the show)
I was looking forward to seeing Grandma Georgina
A character I would love the chance to play
I prompted Esther and William to retell me the story
We talked through all the key characters and events
The man in front of us kept looking at us and smiling
As he left the train he told us that he hoped we enjoyed the show
And how Charlie as one of his favourite books
When he was a boy
I think he had enjoyed Esther and William’s excited story telling
And clear love of a story that he loved as well
As our train pulled into London
We went past a giant poster of The BFG
To which Esther and William exclaimed
He is real and he really does have big ears!
I do adore my children
We walked from Charing Cross
To Drury Lane
Spotting theatres on our way
Esther and William were desperate to see
The home of The Lion King
When we arrived at the Theatre Royal
Home of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory
We were so excited
We got our tickets
Bought a drink
And chose Esther and William’s first ever candyfloss
It was a special occasion!
Every person we spoke to
Was kind and friendly
I know it is their job to be that way
But it really added to the enjoyment of our evening
As soon as the doors opened
We bought a programme and found our seats
We looked through the pictures together
And talked about how the show might be different from the book
I am so glad that I warned them
Because of course the story had been adapted for the stage
William spent much of the show pointing out the differences
I hope he did not annoy the people around him
I don’t think so
I loved watching Esther and William watch the show
They were totally entranced from beginning to end
And so was I
From curtain up
To final curtain call
We all adored it all
And we want to go back again
As the show closed
Esther and William were so eager to tell me what they had loved so much
We all fell a little in love with Charlie
And were all curious about the magical, mysterious Willy Wonka
And we all wanted to cuddle confuddled Grandpa Joe
I loved every moment of this night
Our night of pure imagination
And I cannot wait for our next theatre adventure
If you have not yet seen Charlie and The Chocolate Factory
Do not dawdle
The production is in it’s final year
If you want to see the show you must book your tickets
Before it is too late
No time to dally when wonders await!
We were given free tickets to Charlie and The Chocolate Factory in return for an honest review. Full show review coming soon.