On Saturday, the iconic Hollywood Bowl became Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory for a live-to-film staging of Ronald Dahl’s classic children’s novel. The one-off featured a screening of Gene Wilder’s 1971 adaptation accompanied by a cavalcade of live performers singing music from the film, including Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard as Charlie, John Stamos as the titular chocolatier, and “Weird Al” Yankovic as the Oompa Loompas (natch). Richard Kind (Inside Out, A Serious Man), Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad), and Elle King also took part in the performiance, singing the parts of Grandpa Joe, the Candy Man, and Veruca Salt, respectively.
The cast was backed by a full orchestra featuring the band DeVotchKa, while Annabella Lwin of Bow Wow Wow also showed up to sing the kitschy classic “I Want Candy”.
Watch fan-shot video footage below.
John Stamos — “Pure Imagination”:
“Weird Al” Yankovic — “Oompa Loompa Song”:
Finn Wolfhard and Richard Kind — “Golden Ticket”:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbGa4N2AICn/
Elle King — “I Want It Now”:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbItOyYH5IU/?tagged=hollywoodbowl
Giancarlo Esposito — “The Candy Man”:
“I Want Candy”:
