“Oompa-loompa-doompa-dee-doo! I’ve got the perfect evening for you!
Oompa-loompa-doopa-dee-dee! If you are wise, Willy Wonka you’ll see!”

There is only one way to get the downbeat of this classically creepy children’s song out of your head now. Go see the show. (Then, of course, it will be replaced with the peppier ‘Candy Man’ and you will crave chocolate; but is this really a bad thing? “The Candy Man can ‘cos he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good!”)

New Braunfels Theatre Company and about 100 of its youngest performers presents Willy Wonka Junior at the Brauntex Performing Arts Theatre March 5-14th.
Yes, ONE-HUNDRED of the areas most talented kids ages 4-14 will be bringing Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in all its delectable glory to life in this amusing musical. The lead rolls are double cast and each show is sure to have a scrumdiliumptious flavor all its own.

Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp have put their spin on the title character Willy Wonka, but Shannon Weirman and Henry Hardwick, both students at Oak Run Middle School, have a few tricks of their own to add. Weirman’s bell-like soprano fills the cavernous Brauntex with wonder and Hardwick is a master of quick wit and sarcasm.

The story goes like this: A world famous candy maker hides five golden tickets in chocolate bars for five lucky children. The likeable and positive Charlie Bucket (Erika Squires and Colton Boos) joins four others for a tour of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. Wonka is quirky, mysterious and has an ulterior motive as he tests each child’s character.

And then there are those Ommpa-Loompa’s dancing around singing about virtues and morals and giving parental advice right and left. Good thing Wonka saved them from the terribly wicked whangdoodles in Loompaland. Adults will be gratefully nostalgic, children might learn a lesson or two, and everyone will be entertained.

Tickets are on sale at the Brauntex box office, The Crossing, Water 2 Wine and the New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce.