An Edinburgh Willy Wonka production starring viral Oompa Loompa Kirsty Paterson and original Veruca Salt Julie Dawn Cole is back on track - after almost half the cast were hit by covid.
And now the two global stars have met for the first time after four of the cast were left bed bound at the start of the production run at the Fringe.
Willy’s Candy Spectacular: A Musical Parody had its premiere at Edinburgh Fringe after US producer Richard Kraft decided to make a musical about the story of Glasgow born Kirsty and the mammoth failure of Glasgow’s Willy Wonka experience.
Actor Julie, who was just 13 when she starred in the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, flew in to join Kirsty as narrator of the fun show at the Pleasance King Dome.
However disaster struck when Covid meant the production, which even has scratch and sniff cards, had to rely on stand ins
after Kirsty and some of the other actors were unable to perform as a result of catching Covid.
Julie, now 65, and a grandmother who came out of retirement to join in the fun at the Fringe show explained: “The first one who went down with Covid was Cassie, then Shelley then Kirsty then one of our directors.
The show relies on singers and without it, if you’ve got Covid you can’t do this show.”
Kirsty added: “Two of our main singers got it and I got it. It was going around but we are all recovered now thank goodness.”
Julie who has taken Kirsty under her wing since initially Zoom calling her from the States said: “I’m teaching her everything I know. I’ve had a very lucky career and to anyone - if a door opens go through it -and hope it’s not a toilet.”
And Kirsty added: “I didn’t think my life would end up like this five months ago so I’m just rolling with it. I get to narrate with Julie Dawn Cole which is amazing. She’s showing me the ropes. I genuinely couldn’t have done this without Julie. She was so great before we met, zooming from Los Angeles.”
Kirsty also said she couldn’t believe she has a variety of actors playing her on stage.
She laughed: “When Richard asked me to do this I thought I’d get a line or two but when I found it was all based on me with characters called Kirsty Paterson one and Kirsty Paterson two, I thought it was amazing. We are praying it does go to bigger places but we don’t know what is going to happen. It’s been a rollercoaster and I feel like I’m having an out of body experience. There’s so much more to this show. They could make a film out of this too.”
Julie added: “Richard is a persuasive man. I thought ‘This will be easy. I’ll be reading off cue cards and going to see other shows at the Fringe but I do a bit more than that. I’ve had an absolute ball doing it. It’s been one of the best things I’ve done with my life since Willy Wonka, seeing everybody smile and being part of this and the joy, the music is wonderful, the buzz. Who knows what happens next? There’s no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going.”
