Alex Jennings to take over from Douglas Hodge as Willy Wonka
by Oliver Mitford on Monday 17 February 2014, 1:42 pm in Cast Changes and Announcements
Alex Jennings is set to star as Willy Wonka in the acclaimed West End production of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in May. Douglas Hodge currently plays the role of the magical chocolate factory owner until Jennings takes over on Monday 19 May 2014.
Alex Jennings is the only performer to have won an Olivier Award in the Drama, Musical and Comedy categories, winning Best Actor for Peer Gynt at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1996, Best Actor in a Musical for My Fair Lady at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in 2003, and Best Comedy Performance for Too Clever By Half in 1988. He is an Associate artist at the National Theatre and shares the title with Simon Russell Beale. Jennings’ credits at the National Theatre include Untold Stories, The Habit of Art, Stuff Happens, The Winter's Tale and The Relapse. He is an Associate Actor at the RSC, where his credits include Hamlet, Peer Gynt and A Midsummer Night's Dream. His screen appearances include The Queen, Smiley's People, Hancock and Joan and Cranford. In 2008, Jennings made his operatic debut in Bernstein's Candide.
Directed by multi-award winning director of stage and screen - Sam Mendes, Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has quickly become one of the West End's most popular and successful stage musicals. It has broken box office records at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, where over half a million people have seen the show since it opened in June 2013.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is currently bookings until 30 May 2015.