Sam Mendes Directs Willy Wonka Musical for 2011???

After the Bridge Project, Sam Mendes has said the next theatre production he’ll direct will be the new musical version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which his company Neal Street Productions has been developing for a West End premiere in mid-2011. According to Deadline.com, Mendes’ schedule has freed up due to filming postponements with James Bond at MGM and, following a reading in New York last week, Mendes has now committed himself to the Roald Dahl stage adaptation. There have already been two films of Dahl’s 1964 children’s book, starring Gene Wilder in 1971 and Johnny Depp in 2005. The musical has a book by Scottish playwright David Greig and music and lyrics by Hairspray’s Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. Hairspray’s original West End Edna, Michael Ball has previously been mooted for the title role of the eccentric chocolatier.