Taster of musical parody based on Willy Wonka-inspired experience to debut at Edinburgh Fringe

A taster of a musical parody based on the infamous Willy’s Chocolate Experience in Glasgow is to debut at the Edinburgh Fringe.

The original event made headlines across the globe after being advertised as a “chocolate fantasy” where “dreams become reality” – but instead turned out to be a sparsely decorated warehouse where the children were limited to a couple of sweets and a quarter of a can of limeade.

The £35-a-ticket experience was brought to a halt on its opening day as frustrated parents demanded their money back and called the police.

Now a stage reading of the upcoming Willy’s Candy Spectacular: A Musical Parody, created by US producer Richard Kraft, will have its world premiere at the Pleasance King Dome from 9-26 August.

Tickets are expected to go on sale soon.

Kraft said: “The process of creating a brand-new musical, which usually spans years, is being condensed into just a couple of months, with the team sharing their progress through social media.”

The first three tracks from the show have been released, including actor John Stamos performing the opening number Willy’s Candy Spectacular.

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The song has been billed as a “post-apocalyptic opening number that traces the downfall of civilisation back to the disastrous event in Glasgow“.

Songwriters Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner said: “We love musicals with epic opening numbers.

“And we thought – what could be more epic than John Stamos singing about the end of humanity and linking our species’ demise to an underwhelming immersive experience in Scotland?”

Another song titled Dreamed To Dare features actor and yoga teacher Kirsty Paterson, who became a viral hit after pictures emerged of her as a sad Oompa Loompa at the Glasgow event.

The third song is called Where Dreams Go To Fly which captures “the unbridled optimism of the impresario behind Willy’s Candy Spectacular”, while additional songs are expected to be released every Sunday in the run-up to the staged reading’s world premiere.

The producers of the show have emphasised the musical is a “parody production” and there is no involvement from organisations that own the copyright to Roald Dahl’s book Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and its different adaptations.

It is also “not sponsored, endorsed by or affiliated” with House of Illuminati, the organisation behind the Glasgow event.

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After Willy’s Chocolate Experience was cancelled, the event sparked viral memes and also launched the acting career of Glasgow teenager Felicia Dawkins.

Felicia, who made headlines for her performance as The Unknown, has since gone on to terrify more children at London Dungeon.

Other performers at the event described it as a place “where dreams went to die” and said the scripts had been AI-generated.

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Organiser Billy Coull later told of how his life had been “ruined” by the event.

Speaking in the Channel 5 documentary Wonka: The Scandal That Rocked Britain, Mr Coull said: “My life has been turned [upside down]. My life is ruined.”

He added: “Because of everything that had happened, it ran into my personal life.

“I have lost my friends. I’ve lost the love of my life. I was made out to be the face of all evil. And genuinely, that’s really not the case.”

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