Hold your breath.
Make a wish.
Count to three.
Enter into a world of pure imagination.
This is the world that the folks at Cape Fear Regional Theatre create — one that will bring imagination and magic onto the stage with a little boy, his grandpa Joe and the chocolate factory. And of course, it must include the zany, possibly half-insane, chocolate maker with his iconic blonde curls and candy inventions that only exist in kids’ wildest dreams.
In just a couple of weeks, Charlie & The Chocolate Factory will hit the stage at Cape Fear Regional Theatre. This production, like some of the others done by Cape Fear Regional Theatre with many children in the show, will include two casts of child actors — an Oompa and a Loompa cast. This means that the show officially has two Charlie Buckets — Cameron Lewis and Noé Cangas.
The boys jump on a quick video call to discuss their character — a quick step out in the middle of their studies to discuss their passion.
“I used to read the book all the time,” Cangas says smiling.
For Cangas, this role has quickly become one of his favorites. Charlie is a kid, he says, who keeps things light despite having a relatively sad life. Lewis shares this love and take on Charlie.
“I’m so excited. It’s the first Broadway show I ever saw,” Lewis says. “... Charlie is a difficult character. He's very hard to play."
The two boys are traveling more than an hour to rehearsal after school and will alternate nights to play their roles. They both said they find that time is helpful in getting homework done. They also find the time in between scenes during rehearsal. While the kids alternate for the shows, the adult actors in the show will remain the same throughout the entire run of the production. Working with them, Lewis says, is one of the best parts of playing in a production like this.
“It’s so fun doing scenes with them,” he says. “They are professional, and they’ve been doing so much stuff.”
For Lewis, this includes Joshua Morgan, who plays Willy Wonka and who is also a dead ringer for the blonde, curly-haired, zany Wonka that Gene Wilder brought to life on the big screen. When he took the role, Morgan said he started by asking himself, “Who is Wonka?”
“It’s Wonka, right?” he said. “It has its own cultural and creative backing.”
Morgan and Marc De La Concha, the show's director and Education Director at Cape Fear Regional Theatre, had many conversations about the characterization of the iconic character. Morgan said they talked about what defines Wonka.
“We were most attracted by what Gene Wilder did,” he said.
When asked about how the scenes are going and how that character has developed in the rehearsals so far, Morgan, in a true Wonka-like voice and energy, laughs.
“It’s still the beginning!”
De La Concha, a bright personality unto himself, smiles at this and nods. He says there’s so much learning along the way for him and the cast and their new space.
“It’s about bringing the magic into that space,” De La Concha says. “We also have a really good company of actors that make that magic.”
Among those actors is Steve McCoy, who plays the lovable Grandpa Joe. Even outside of his wardrobe and rehearsals, McCoy wears a large smile across his face. He has a bright energy about him.
“I love this guy,” he exclaims. “I know him so well.”
And that he does. He portrayed Grandpa Joe for three years on a traveling production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Like the character he is playing, McCoy seems to always have a positive spin on things.
“The play is about imagination and integrity and honesty and just being a really good person,” he says. “If you are a good person with integrity, something wonderful is going to happen to you.”
McCoy says he loves performing with the child actors in this production. The two Charlie Buckets, he says, bring “an incredible aspect” to their characters. And as far as his character goes, McCoy says, he just has to think and embody his own father.
“He reminds me of my dad now,” McCoy laughs. “The way he speaks — gruff and off the cuff but ends it with a really nice thing.”
Using his imagination for the character doesn’t hurt either, he admits. Although the book is catering to children’s imaginations, the show, McCoy says, is for ages 9 to 99.
“Everyone finds something they love about it,” Ashley Owen, Marketing Director for Cape Fear Regional Theatre, agrees.
The production will include around 24 songs in total including all of those from the Gene Wilder version of the movie as well as others. Each character will have a song to tell the audience who they are before they get to the factory. There are 31 actors in total in the show including each youth cast which has seven kids each.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will run from Jan. 30 to Feb. 23 at Cape Fear Regional Theatre’s temporary space at 1707 Owen Drive. Tickets will range from $19 to $37 to include some “bedtime friendly” shows, a military appreciation night and teacher appreciation night. For more information visit www.cfrt.org.

(Photo: Cameron Lewis, left, and Noé Cangas play Charlie Bucket, the main character in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The kids rotate shows throughout the run of the production. Photo courtesy of Cape Fear Regional Theatre)