From left: Calah Lane and Timothée Chalamet in Wonka. Photo courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures. Taraji P. Henson as Shug Avery in The Color Purple. Photo by Ser Baffo, courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.

News

Two New Movie Musicals Hitting Theaters This Month

Courtney Escoyne for Dance Magazine

December 13, 2023

Wonka

Timothée Chalamet leads an all-star cast in this musical comedy prequel inspired by the whimsical chocolatier at the center of Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Music by frequent Christopher Wheeldon collaborator Joby Talbot and choreography by Tony-winning dancemaker Christopher Gattelli, with associate Lou Castro and assistant Brenda Newhouse, animate the musical numbers as Chalamet’s Willy Wonka seeks to establish himself as an upstart young chocolate-maker. In theaters December 15.

The Color Purple

Following a critically acclaimed Broadway revival in 2015, which took home the Tony for Best Revival, the musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel gets the Hollywood treatment. Commercial dance icon Fatima Robinson provides choreography for a heavy-hitting cast that includes Taraji P. Henson, Halle Bailey, Ciara, and more. In theaters December 25.