Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Live is Pretty Sweet

Looking for the perfect musical to introduce your children to the world of theater? Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory could be it.

The iconic film has been turned into a Broadway musical and the national tour is currently performing at the Providence Performing Arts Center.

Last night I got the chance to see this musical and the audience was full of children of all ages. I was actually a little surprised at how young some of the theatergoers were, but everyone left having thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

The musical adds a few more songs than the film you probably know, but "Pure Imagination" is of course still there and is kind of the theme to the whole show.

The audience is asked to use their imagination, since creating an entire chocolate factory on stage is not as easy as it is in the movies.

But the stage designers do a fantastic job, using lighting, screens, and scenery to take you inside the Wonka Chocolate factory.

And though the story is the same, there are some changes made for the Broadway version.

Everything is modernized from the 1971 film, more adult humor one-liners have been added, the geese in the factory are now squirrels and in my opinion, Willy Wonka is made more likable.

And the actor portraying Wonka is fantastic.

It was actually the understudy performing the role when I saw the musical last night, but he did not seem like a runner up to the role. His singing, his mannerisms, everything was on point and he brought you into the Wonka world with ease.

The young boy playing Charlie was also pretty amazing and absolutely adorable. And though I won't tell you what they do, I will say the Oompa Loompas are delightful and hilarious.

All in all, a great show for the whole family.

In fact as I left last night I heard one woman say, "That was a 10 out of 10."