Baton Rouge stages to journey through Laurel Canyon’s music and Willie Wonka’s magical world

Brian Chartrand thinks back to a recording session of his own music that took place in a studio at the crossing of Sunset and Laurel Canyon boulevards on the west side of Los Angeles. 

“And at the time – this was in 2007 — I hadn’t put it all together yet,” Chartrand said.

“It,” as in the sound emanating from Laurel Canyon that had everyone “California Dreamin’.” Much like the skyrocketing of Elvis and the landing of the Beatles, the Laurel Canyon Sound was a pivotal point in music history, where American folk was weaved into rock ‘n’ roll in both celebration and protest.

This was the time between the mid 1960s and mid 1970s, when war was at its raging peak in Vietnam, the sexual revolution and Civil Rights Movement in full play.

Meanwhile, on the home front, The Doors; Joni Mitchell; the Mamas and the Papas; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and The Byrds were churning out such classics as “California Dreamin’,” “Turn, Turn, Turn,” “Love the One You’re With” and, of course, “Light My Fire” in Laurel Canyon.  

But Chartrand didn’t realize the significance of his own Laurel Canyon session until later.

“You know, it would take another five years to have this kind of epiphany about this moment in time in this location,” he said. “But I was right there making music in a place that had been celebrated as a rock ‘n’ roll neighborhood. It really still is a magical place.”

Chartrand will be bringing the sounds of this magical place to the Manship Theatre, when he and his band of six stage “Live From Laurel Canyon — Songs & Stories of American Folk Rock” on Thursday, Oct. 17.

The traveling show starts at 7:30 p.m. on the Manship’s stage in the Shaw Center for the Arts, 100 Lafayette St.

“It’ll be part music and part storytelling, where we tell the stories behind the music of this time,” Chartrand said.

He and the band won’t dress in ’60s and ’70s attire nor will they be trying to replicate the music as it was originally recorded, Chartrand explained.

“What I want to do is the multimedia aspect of the show to put you there as I narrate stories and show you pictures of the bands and these events that affected and influenced the songwriters. I want that to take you there … .”

Rewind to 2012, and Chartrand was working as a solo singer on a cruise ship.

Music from Laurel Canyon was included in his show, so he started doing research on the music, its place and time. The more research he did, the more he became immersed in the era.

Chartrand returned to his Phoenix home, where he still lives, put his band together and hit the road with the “Live From Laurel Canyon Show” in 2013.

“I think that generation, that time just felt an ownership to the times,” Chartrand said. “And I think that’s very powerful, because the generation had its own soundtrack to the social and political things that were happening in this country. I think that that rarely happens.”

‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’

Meanwhile, at Theatre Baton Rouge, audience members will need only their show tickets to join five golden ticket holders on their journey through Willie Wonka’s world of chocolate it opens the musical, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” on Friday.

The curtain rises on the theater’s Young Actors Program production at 7:30 p.m. on the Main Stage.

The all-kid cast of 26 will tell author Roald Dahl’s story of young Charlie Bucket, who hails from an impoverished household and wins one of five coveted worldwide golden tickets to tour the mysterious Willie Wonka’s chocolate factory.

But this is no everyday tour. Charlie and his fellow ticket holders learn valuable life lessons along the way — some that could even alter the way they live.

The production marks director Ren Price’s first experience leading an all-kid cast through a production. It’s also his first musical, and he credits stage manager Madalyn Mullins, choreographer Dominic Joseph and music director Stephanie Littleton for helping him piece this musical puzzle together.

The show premiered in London in 2013 before moving to Broadway in 2017. The story opens with Charlie, played by Olivia Lee, who realizes his dream of visiting the Wonka factory when he scores a golden ticket.

And the experience isn’t disappointing as Wonka’s world of bold colors is filled with chocolate waterfalls, a tribe of Oompa Loompas and squirrels that test all the nuts that go into Wonka’s candy.

Each ticket winner learns a lesson along the way, including Mike Teavee, played by Peregrin Pittman. He’s accompanied on the tour by his mom, Mrs. Teavee, played by Molly Donahue, a 17-year-old senior at Baton Rouge Magnet High School.

Donahue’s depiction of the 1950s-type Mrs. Teavee is a direct contradiction to her tech-driven son. Though she wasn’t particularly a fan of the story, Donahue knew she wanted a chance to play a part — any part — in this production.

Now, playing opposite the energetic Pittman, Donahue says she has empathy for moms everywhere.

As for Mollie Kate Skupien, she was a big fan of the story coming into rehearsals. Skupien, a 16-year-old junior at St. Joseph’s Academy, plays Charlie’s mom, Mrs. Bucket.

In this version, Mrs. Bucket is a single mom trying to raise her son while caring for his four invalid grandparents. And like Donahue, she wanted to land any role just to be a part of the production.

“I’ve loved this story for the longest time,” she said. “Everyone has a story they love, and this one’s mine. I used to make American Girl Doll videos with my American Girl Dolls as ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ characters. And this was one of those shows where I could have been chosen as something like ‘Tree No. 5’ and I would have been thrilled, because I was in it.”

Finally, there’s the factory owner himself, Willie Wonka, played by Grayson Morgan, a 14-year-old eighth grader at University High School.

“There’s really no wrong way to play Willie Wonka,” he said. “The only wrong way is to make him extremely dull, and I think that’s impossible, because he’s anything but dull. This show has been a lot of fun.”

‘Live From Laurel Canyon — Songs & Stories of American Folk Rock’

7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17

Manship Theatre, Shaw Center for the Arts, 100 Lafayette St.

$45-$65

(225) 344-0334 or manshiptheatre.org 

‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’

Friday-Sunday and Friday-Sunday, Oct. 18-20. Sunday matinees start at 2 p.m. All other performances start at 7:30 p.m.

Theatre Baton Rouge’s Main Stage, 7155 Florida Blvd.

$43-$48

(225) 924-6496 or theatrebr.org