Oompa Loompas will march into the colorful, candy-filled Burbank auditorium Nov. 26 for the Santa Rosa Junior College theatre arts department’s production of Willy Wonka.

“I think it’s going to be a feast for the senses,” Director Laura Downing-Lee said. Downing-Lee literally meant the word feast, as the cast will give candy to the audience. Talking about the candy and the costumes and imagining the audience’s reaction to the play, Downing-Lee giggled mischievously. “It’s just fun to watch as an adult,” she said. “There’s something both timely and timeless about it.”

SRJC’s adaptation follows Roald Dahl’s novel “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” pretty closely and uses the music from the original film starring Gene Wilder but has a different script from both, Downing-Lee said. The audience should not expect any influence from Tim Burton’s movie. Since this production is for both students and families, the theatre arts department does not want its production to be too dark or scary for young children.

The play emphasizes the character of Willy Wonka and portrays him differently than in the two movies. Zane Walters, who played Eugene in Grease, will play Willy Wonka. Although Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp both portray Willy Wonka as a tall elegant character, the book describes him as being short and elderly. According to Downing-Lee, Walters is on the smaller side and full of energy. The one thing Wilder, Depp and Walters have in common is that they are constantly moving throughout the story. The main difference is that in the play Willy Wonka reveals he is retiring and in search of a replacement before the tour of the factory begins.

“When you have a story like this that’s been interpreted in two movie versions that are so famous, people come with expectations that they will look the same,” Downing-Lee said. “But from an artist’s perspective, where’s the fun in that?”

Adults play most of the cast including seven out of eight Oompa Loompas and all of the children visiting the chocolate factory. Charlie is 5 feet 11 inches tall. “That’s part of the fun of the audience; you have to suspend disbelief,” Downing-Lee said.

Speaking of the audience, Downing-Lee said, “Wait until they see the Oompa Loompas.” The costume designer, Maryanne Scorzzari, created over-the-top and outrageous costumes for the Oompa Loompas, Downing-Lee said.  Scorzzari started working on the costumes more than a year ago, revamping old costumes and creating brand new ones altogether. “You can’t just go to the store and go ‘excuse me, do you have a blueberry costume?'” Downing-Lee said.

The entire theatre arts department worked on this production all year. Designers met with Downing-Lee last spring, set building began around the time that Scorzzari started working on costumes and the cast started rehearsing five nights per week in August. After a year’s preparation Downing-Lee is excited to show an audience the theatre arts team’s interpretation of the world of Willy Wonka. “It’s like opening a candy box and trying each candy and going, ‘Ooh! New flavor,'” she said. 

Interacting with props will be eight chorus members who act as living parts of the factory’s machinery, Downing-Lee said. The chorus members will act as walls, doors and levers throughout the play and will even create the chocolate river.

“Willy Wonka uses his imagination to create amazing candy. A group of people have come together to bring to life this world, and I hope this engages the audience’s imagination to bring it to the next level,” Downing-Lee said. “We’re trying to capture the spirit, the essence of the world that Roald Dahl created.

In addition to invoking a world of imagination, the story of Willy Wonka has a greater underlying story to it that is relevant to the world today, Downing-Lee said. In the story, everybody in Charlie’s town is out of work and poor because Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, the main employer of the town, closed down. He closed the factory because industrial spies were stealing his inventions. Charlie, who ends up taking over the factory, represents honesty. He visited the factory for the sheer enjoyment of being there and had no hidden agenda. The story of Willy Wonka is time enduring because it is built on a truthful foundation, Downing-Lee said. 

“It’s a fantasy world. It kind of looks like ours, but it’s a fantasy,” Downing Lee said.

Performances will be held in the Burbank Auditorium. This is a full length, two act play running two hours.

• Nov. 26 at 8 p.m.
• Nov. 27 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
• Nov. 28 at 12 p.m. and 4 p.m.
• Dec. 2 at 8 p.m.
• Dec. 3 at 8 p.m.
• Dec. 4 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
• Dec. 5 at 12 p.m. and 4 p.m.

There will be one performance accompanied by an American Sign Language interpreter at 8 p.m. Dec. 3. The performances will run about two hours including a 15-minute intermission. Willy Wonka is recommended for children age 7 or older.