Return to stage is sweet for ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ performer
Angela Palladini’s first run as Veruca Salt in the national touring company of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” was as surreal as the candy-making operation of the show’s title. Rehearsals started in November 2019, and the show opened on New Year’s Day 2020 in Miami. Then in March, the pandemic shutdown hit.
“Like our entire industry, we did get postponed,” Palladini says.
The musical, based on Roald Dahl’s novel about Willy Wonka’s wonderous factory, got back on the road in September and will be making a stop at the Center for Performing Arts on Jan. 18-23 courtesy of Broadway San Jose.
“It’s been a long time coming, and we’re grateful to be back,” Palladini says of the restarted tour, which is scheduled to end in June as long as another shutdown doesn’t happen before then.
“We’re taking it one day at a time,” she adds. “The pandemic has taught me that you can’t plan for certain things and we really have to relish the moment.”
Palladini is relishing playing spoiled brat Veruca Salt, one of five golden ticketholders touring Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.
“It’s fun getting to play the villain,” she says. “I’m not normally cast in those roles, and it’s helped me grow so much as an actor.”
The musical features songs from the 1971 film “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, including “Pure Imagination,” “The Candy Man” and “I’ve Got a Golden Ticket,” as well as new tunes by lyricist Scott Wittman and composer Marc Shaiman. While Palladini won’t be singing “I Want It Now”—her character’s anthem to greed in the movie — she says she gets to play “some very iconic Veruca moments.”
Palladini recalls watching “Willy Wonka” with her mother as a very young girl and being overwhelmed by some scenes. She says the story still speaks to her as an adult.
“There’s something behind really believing that magic does exist,” she adds. “There’s beauty in everything … even in the darkest of times.”
“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” runs Tuesday-jan. 23 at the Center for the Performing Arts, 255 S. Almaden Blvd., San Jose. Tickets are $38-$103 at broadwaysanjose.com, 800-982-ARTS (2787), or the San Jose Civic Box Office, 150 W. San Carlos St.
Veruca Salt (Angela Palladini) and her dad (Scott Ryan
Fuss) perform a pas de deux in Roald Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” running Tuesday-jan. 23at San Jose’s Center for the Performing Arts. Palladini, who began performing with the show’s national touring company just two months before the pandemic shutdown hit, says she’s “grateful to be back.”
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