Residents of Jasper are being invited to an event so exclusive that only a coveted golden ticket will get you in. Imagine candy that tastes like a three-course meal, snozzberries tasting like snozzberries, bubbles that will send you flying and a world where everything is not what it seems. 

Centre Stage Theatre will be performing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in Jasper on Nov. 7 at the Jasper Activity Centre starting at 1 p.m.

Bonnie Gratz, artistic director for Centre Stage Theatre, said the show will be loved by kids, adults and those that are fans of the original book by Roald Dahl. The production includes puppets created by Xstine Cool (Green Fools) and Peter Balkwill (Old Trouts Puppets), and the set was built by the same company that created the elaborate and famous sets of Broadway hits Wicked and Les Miserables. 

The play was adapted to the stage by an American teacher named Richard R. George, but there were still challenges for Gratz and her team to overcome. 

“Staging this unique production was a very complicated process–a great challenge for myself, the director and for the actors,” she said. 

The actors are from across Alberta including Okotoks Edmonton, Cochrane and Calgary. The cast and crew were in rehearsal for three weeks before they embarked on their tour at the beginning of October. 

The story follows the book closely, and children ages five and up and their families will enjoy the production. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is touring Alberta and B.C. until May, and will finish up at Calgary’s Stage West Theatre in June. 

Gratz said to expect the unexpected at the show, as it follows Charlie and the gang through a child’s dream – Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. 

“[It’s a] cool, creative and magical production, faithful to the original book but with lots of surprises,” she said. “It inspires kids to use their imaginations and to believe anything is possible, no matter what your situation or background in life is.”