The Performing Arts Department will be exhibiting its rendition of the play “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” on Feb. 12, 13 and 14. There will be a 7:30 p.m. performance each day, with an additional 2 p.m. showing on Feb. 14. Tickets cost $10, and students may purchase them at the bookstore and online at Ticketracker.com.

According to Director of Theater Britta Schlicht, the production at CHS will be a unique spinoff of previous versions of the story.

“We’re kind of doing our own thing. The script itself is most closely related to the original book by Roald Dahl. We have more similar lines to the Tim Burton version of ‘Charlie,’ and I guess that version is a little bit darker than the Gene Wilder version from the 1970s,” she said.

Similar to Tim Burton’s style, the play will feature a more ominous tone as well as elements of symbolism.

Schlicht said, “The approach we are taking is a little bit darker than how (the characters) are depicted in the movie. It’s not like a scary version of the show or anything, but they are all sort of representative of one of the seven deadly sins, so that’s kind of the concept behind our production.”

Schlicht said there are students involved in the play and that they tend to resemble their roles.

“We don’t really have main cast members, but it’s a cast of 40 people, and (sophomore) Blaine McBroom is playing Charlie and (senior) Duncan Moran is playing Willy Wonka,” Schlicht said. “It most closely follows the story of those two characters. We have a lot of leads across the board in this show, and (the actors) are pretty similar to their characters.”

Jack Coleman, cast member and senior, plays Mr. Salt, the affluent, albeit distant parent of Veruca Salt, the “spoiled” girl who is attacked by squirrels in the Tim Burton version.

“Mr. Salt is this very rich businessman who is really out of touch with his family, which is kind of a good thing because they’re really out of touch with everyone else,” Coleman said. “(Mr. Salt) just really doesn’t care about anything except money and giving off the appearance that he is superior to everyone else because he is rich.”

Coleman said he is glad he differs from his character. “I hope I’m not as snobbish as Mr. Salt, though it is a lot of fun to be able to play someone like him, with such a conceited manner. I hope I wasn’t typecasted.”

Schlicht said the CHS production will be using a unique set and score in order to create a memorable visual and auditory environment.

“We are going to be doing a lot with spectacle for the set itself, and we also are going to be using original music in our version,” Schlicht said. “We have a couple people composing for us. One is Joe Foltz, who is one of our new choir directors this year, as well as somebody I actually sought out to write some music for us after perusing her YouTube site. Her name is Claudie Mackula, and she is the one that will be writing our score for us. I really liked her style; it had that whimsical, kind of creepy, eerie sound to it.”

Coleman said she agrees and that the whimsy and spectacle of the play will make it appealing.

“(The play’s) using some original music. It will have a very unique auditory aesthetic, and some of it will require different (elements),” Coleman said. “For the scenery, instead of the boat, we’re not using an actual boat; we’re using movement, choreography and formations, so it will just be an interesting thing to watch. We’re doing some very creative things with the visuals.”