1971 Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory actors to appear in upcoming parody at Edinburgh Fringe festival

Two of the original actors from the classic 1971 film Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory will appear at the Edinburgh Fringe in a musical parody based on the disastrous Willy's Chocolate Experience.

Julie Dawn Cole, who played Veruca Salt, and Paris Themmen, who played Mike Teevee, will co-narrate the stage reading of Willy's Candy Spectacular: A Musical Parody.

Willy's Chocolate Experience was the source of controversy earlier this year, when the Glasgow attraction – promoting itself as a “chocolate fantasy” and a place where “dreams become reality” – ended up being a disappointing affair.

The unlicensed event was advertised with AI generated images, and ended up being located in a sparsely decorated warehouse on the outskirts of the city. Children were also limited to two jellybeans and a quarter cup of lemonade. The ‘experience’ came to an end halfway through its first day in February, after furious parents demanded refunds and alerted the police.

Absolutely sobbing over the Glasgow willy wonka experience. He wrote the script with AI and it put an evil chocolate maker in the walls called the unknown 💀 and the entire experience located in some sketchy warehouse after using AI images to promote it I can't breathe 😭 pic.twitter.com/m1w71G5T4Z

— ❥Sandy! ⋆🦌 (@NotSandyi) February 29, 2024

Cast members in the upcoming parody include Pitch Perfect’s Shelley Regner and Shrek The Musical actor Eric Petersen, as well as Nicole Greenwood, Wilkie Ferguson Cassandra Parker, Monica Evans and Chris Villain.

Directed by Andy Fickman, the show will run at the Pleasance King Dome in the Scottish capital from 9-26 August.