When life gives you meth lab memes, make a musical? It’s been less than a month since Glasgow’s Willy Wonka “immersive†experience went viral for being so underwhelming that children were left in tears and some parents called the police. Now, the fiasco involving rationed jelly beans and AI-generated scripts for actors is being adapted into WillyFest - A Musical Parody. “If Ed Wood and P.T. Barnum got into ‘environmental experiences’ fueled by a million dreams and zero dollars, it might turn out like this,†Richard Kraft, who is producing via Kraft-Engel Productions, said in a statement to the BBC. “While most see nothing but wreckage in a disaster of this magnitude, we all think it screams out: Musical!!†Kraft added that the musical is in talks with investors to make sure there is a “proper budget to execute this well,†noting that the team doesn’t want to “fall into putting on the very thing we are satirizing.†So when can we expect to see the show exit the realm of pure imagination and become reality? Below, here’s everything we know about this upcoming production.
Who is involved?
WillyFest’s creative team inclues Riki Lindhome, who said in a press release that she believes the musical “could be Waiting For Guffman but with scam artists.†Also on board are High School Musical: The Musical: The Series songwriters Tova Litvin and Doug Rockwell, Broadway songwriters Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner, and Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical songwriter Daniel Mertzlufft. “While it is quite common for there to be writers’ rooms in television, taking that approach with theatrical songwriters is fairly unique and likely to produce amazingly satirical and unexpected results,†producer Richard Kraft (ABC’s The Little Mermaid Live, the Willy Wonka “live-to-film†concert at the Hollywood Bowl) said.
“From Broadway to street corner pop-ups, audiences have become obsessed with immersive experiences that enable them to be a part of the story,†Zachary and Weiner added in a joint statement. “But it takes a special kind of magic to devastate children and adults alike — and it feels like the only way to find meaning in this chocolate-less catastrophe … is to sing about it.â€
What’s the plot?
Kraft told the BBC on March 15 that the team is coming up with main characters, antagonists and song moments. To Kraft, the Glasgow fiasco is “about desperate dreamers who actually have fragments of a great idea, just executed beyond their budget and abilities.†Beyond that, specific plot details remain sparse, but we’d expect to see characters based on the actors who played the sad Oompa Loompa or the masked villain known as The Unknown, as well as the House of Illuminati organizers who decided to decorate a warehouse with cheap props and AI-generated images.
When is it coming out?
WillyFest is planned to premiere in late 2024.
Will there be a song about the meth lab memes?
One can only hope.