Blueberries, Squirrels and Chocolate: Children's Troupe Stages Roald Dahl's Classic

It's hard to believe these are child actors.

When Charlie Bucket and Grandpa Joe drink Wonka's Fizzy Soda pop on stage and segue into the song, "I'm Flying," little Dallas Dorman is Charlie and Kyle Rodrigues is Grandpa Joe.

This scene is one of many the uber-talented Middletown Children's Theater will perform tonight through Saturday at the auditorium.

“We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams,” says Willy Wonka, played by Timothy Halvorsen, clad regally in a plush purple long jacket throughout the show.

And so the five-week dream of summer campers ages 12 and under at Keigwin Middle School, who have, every weekday from June 25 to July 28, studying theater and working on every aspect of staging a musical, come to fruition this weekend.

Founded in 2011, the children’s theater offers summer camp to young students from the Middletown area and surrounding towns. Middletown Teen Theater students are helping out with this production as well, including Cameron Stedman, who played Elle in Legally Blonde, and Mike Bradley, a Cromwell High School graduate.

Ali Sinicrope, fresh off directing last week's Middletown Teen Theater's production of Legally Blonde, is directing Willy Wonka Jr. Her husband, Aaron Sinicrope, the musical director, is a pianist, arranger, and conductor and teaches band at Woodrow Wilson Middle School.

The MCT artistic director is Sloane Williams and Rachel Newman returns for her second season of MCT as the new assistant director. She is a language arts teacher at WWMS, and coaches the Drama Club.

Shows are at 7 p.m. Thursday to Saturday and a special 1 p.m. matinee on Saturday. Tickets are $12.

The full cast list can be viewed here.

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