Once she decided earlier this year on a fall play — “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” — Val Chellin knew she needed to find a strong lead for the main character.
She turned to someone she’d never worked with before, but whose work she had admired for some time.
“Ben Jenum Is Willy Wonka,” said Chellin, who’s in her 30th year of directing plays in Litchfield, and will bring “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” to the intimate stage of the Litchfield Opera House for three shows this weekend. “Ben is just … as the lead, he’s such a good example for the kids in the show.”
Chellin said she knew of Jenum, a Hutchinson resident, from several musicals in which he’d performed, including this past summer’s Litchfield Community Theatre production of “The Sound of Music,” in which Jenum played Rolfe Gruber, the central antagonist.
Her earliest exposure to Jenum, however, was in the LCT’s 2018 production of “Seussical,” in which Jenum played the Mayor of Who-ville. Chellin’s two youngest children — Cassidy and Dominic — also were in the cast of that musical.
“And when I decided to do Willy Wonka, I could see him doing it very well, because of the character that he has in his voice,” Chellin said. “He has a neat voice to carry Willy Wonka also.”
Jenum remembers Chellin approaching him about doing the show this summer, while he was in Litchfield’s Central Park performing a musical preview with other “The Sound of Music” cast members.
“She found me at music in the park and more or less offered me the role on the spot,” Jenum said. “Because I played Rolfe Gruber in ‘The Sound of Music’ this past summer, and she had taken note, liked my characterization and wanted me to be in the show.”
Jenum was interested — it would be his first opportunity in a lead role — but he hesitated because he was uncertain of his future. The 2015 Hutchinson High School graduate, who had been teaching fourth grade in the Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop School District during the 2019-2020 school year, was looking for a different teaching job and wasn’t sure if he would find one in the area.
“But I said, ‘If I’m in the area, absolutely,’” Jenum said.
The uncertainty disappeared when Jenum took a job teaching art to fourth- and fifth-graders at Park Elementary School in Hutchinson.
And Jenum was eager to play Willy Wonka, a role he said he’s been interested in since he saw the movie when he was a kid.
“Well, I mean, there are a number of musicals that interest me, and this was just one of them,” Jenum said. “I’ve never had a lead role. In all my shows so far, I’ve been supporting roles. I’ve been principal roles, but this is my first lead role.
“And Willy Wonka, he’s just so zany,” Jenum added. “He’s goofy and fun. It’s just always been one of the roles that I’ve wanted to do, just because of how out of the box he is, compared to my own personality. I’m not usually that goofy. I mean, I can be, but it’s not my everyday personality. So it’s just kind of something that lets me break out of my shell a little bit and lets me play a really fun character.”
Jenum said he studied movie Willy Wonkas – Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp – to get ideas on the direction to take his own portrayal. And he studied lines, intensely so, for what he said is perhaps the most dialogue-heavy role he’s taken.
“I do a little bit of both (movie actors),” Jenum said. “The boat scene, I tried to throw a little bit of Gene Wilder scary in there when I’m doing that part, but also a little bit of Johnny Depp … and a little bit of me too. So I try to give the best of both worlds people are going to be looking for Gene Wilder, they’ll be looking for Johnny Depp, but they’ll also be looking for Ben Jenum.
The size and scope of the Opera House production is a bit smaller than what Jenum is used to, and the cast of 33 trends much younger than the 24-year-old. Chellin admitted she worried about how Jenum would react to those things, but she’s found him enthusiastic in working with the young actors.
“I’m not, you know, Tim Nelson (who directed “The Sound of Music”), and I didn’t know if he really wanted to come and do it for the Opera House,” Chellin said. “I don’t feel like I’m a big professional whatsoever, so I didn’t know what he would say, and he’s just like, ‘Sure!’”
Jenum admits the Opera House show is different than most he’s been a part of, but he said he’s enjoying it.
“I’ve been in a show with over 80 people, and I’ve been in a show with exactly two people,” Jenum said. “It’s not quite as small as the smallest I’ve ever been in, but definitely one of the smaller ones. But it’s fun. It’s not any less fun because of the size of the cast. Everything has been great. Val has been great. The kids have been great.”
That’s another comment that Chellin was somewhat surprised by. Working as he does with youngsters all day long, she was uncertain Jenum would want to be surrounded by them for a couple more hours four nights a week for the nearly two months of rehearsal for “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”
“I’m sure by the end of the play, he’s gonna be glad he’s done with it,” Chellin said with a laugh. “Usually, people go home and just kind of chill, but he has to come and work with 30 more children.”
Going from classroom to theater rehearsal doesn’t bother Jenum at all. While it’s a sort of extension of his classroom work, it’s also a kind of escape.
“I know I work with 400 kids almost every day, and it sounds weird to say, but this is kind of where I come to not be a teacher,” he said. “You know, it’ s like, I love my job. I love the kids I work with. But I’m not Mr. Jenum here, I’m Ben. And I love working with these kids. They’re fantastic. I can’t imagine myself doing anything other than working with kids. So this kind of a show is a combination of two of my favorite things, theater and working with kids.”
