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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Broadway’s Jake Ryan Flynn releases “Good Morning Quarantine”

May 5, 2020

Rather than sit around and mope, Flynn wrote “Good Morning, Quarantine”—setting his own new lyrics to the familiar melody of “Good Morning, Baltimore,” composed by Marc Shaiman (with lyricist Scott Wittman) for the musical Hairspray. And Flynn showed far more care than the typical writer of parodies—he followed the original rhyme scheme exactly, ending each phrase with a perfect rhyme (not the “near rhymes” so often found in such pastiches). He not only got Marc Shaiman’s blessings for his project, he also got tips from Shaiman on songwriting, and an opportunity to help introduce another a song that Shaiman himself had written (on hand-washing during the crisis). [more]

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

May 1, 2017

But the Broadway version of Charlie doesn’t really come alive until we’re introduced to Augustus Gloop (F. Michael Hayne), the fat little German boy who finds the first of the five gold tickets, and whose mother (Kathy Fitzgerald) sings along with him--as wurst links burst forth from his pockets, and the almost always, lively choreography by Joshua Bergasse, suddenly features clogging steps, with dirndls and lederhosen. [more]