'Wonka' is high on special effects

From Willy Wonka soaring above the ground in his glass "Wonkavator" to Augustus Gloop shooting up a tube in a chocolate river, the Chaska Valley Family Theatre will bring memorable scenes of Roald Dahl's "Willy Wonka" to life with the help of a special effects company.

"It should be fun. It should be really different for us," said Charlie Title, president of the theater, who plays Grandpa Joe in the musical that opens Thursday night at Chaska High School.

"This is just a little community theater and to try weird things like this is kind of neat," Title said.

The theater has enlisted ZFX, a complete service provider for all flying effects, to create some of the more imaginative moments in the show.

The community theater has trusted ZFX with empowering its actors with flight once before: During their production of "Peter Pan" in 2003.

However, artistic director Kelly Jeremiason said he was inspired to use flying effects in "Willy Wonka" by watching New Prague's production of the show in 2009.

"I was watching all this cool flying and I said, 'I like that part,' " Jeremiason said. "I've always imagined Charlie and Grandpa Joe flying in the fizzy lifting room and how to make that happen."

Each of the flying actors must sing while airborne. And it's "impossible to tap your feet while you're off the ground," Title joked.

ZFX flying director Jason Schumacher is Entertainment Technician Certification Program-certified. Over the years he has rigged the flying systems for "Willy Wonka" almost a dozen times for various theater companies.

"My primary goal, other than safety, of course, is to serve the show -- to make the effects look good, rather than have lots of effects for the sake of effects," Schumacher said.

Schumacher was assigned to work on CVFT's production about four weeks ago. Since then, he has been working with Jeremiason and the set designer Randy Herget to turn their vision into reality. Last weekend, Schumacher rigged the flying systems, choreographed the effects, and taught the operators and performers how to execute them.

"So basically, we're technicians, but we're also choreographers and instructors and all of that," Schumacher said.

"It's really, really colorful. The sets already are looking amazing," said 16-year-old Caleb Richards, who plays Charlie. "And with the flying ... even if people know about it, it's still going to be a surprise. They don't know when it's coming."

"It's going to be very visually engaging," said Thaddeus Gulden, 23, who plays Willy Wonka. "It's going to be a good time."