Photo courtesy of Paula Nemes. The cast of "Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka" performed by the Marshall Area Stage Company rehearses its upcoming play, set to debut on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Schwan Community Center for the Performing Arts. There will be seven shows total.

MARSHALL — The Marshall Area Stage Company (MASC) is returning to stage for its 25th anniversary summer musical, presenting “Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka” for seven shows beginning on Saturday.

“This is a family and friend’s comedy. There’s a lot of jokes and inside jokes that happen here that families can relate to,” director Ryan Juutilainen said. “It’s nice to take a couple hours out of your day just to relax and laugh.”

The play has a large production of 42 cast members, eight crew members and a live orchestra to bring the musical to life. The performers also come from over 10 area communities.

“It comes together really well. We’re in a good spot now,” Juutilainen said. “We’ve been rehearsing since the end of April … Usually about five days a week.”

The show will follow the Gene Wilder version of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” and will bring the audience through the traditional story of Charlie taking over the factory with the musical aspect.

“Willy Wonka, he’s in a little bit of a dilemma. He’s had this factory for quite some time, and he wants to retire,” Juutilainen said regarding the show’s storyline. “He has all these golden tickets that are in his Wonka (chocolate) bars that people buy, and they get a tour of his factory. He sets up all these schemes inside his factory to find out which one of these golden ticket winners could be a possible next person to run the factory, and of course, that ends up being Charlie Bucket.”

Chris Shuckhart from Marshall will play Willy Wonka and Oliver Citterman from Hendricks is cast as Charlie.

“My favorite thing about putting this whole thing together is the community of all the people involved,” Juutilainen said. “It’s not just memorizing lines or memorizing lyrics. We have a pretty elaborate set, and we spent quite a bit of time putting that set together.”

“You got to be a little bit creative on how you make those effects. One of the effects we do is two of the characters, Grandpa Joe and Charlie, take a drink of this fizzy lifting drink … And they float on air,” Juutilainen added. “So, we created the effect that made them look like they’re floating … A lot of nice set building. It took a lot of community, and a lot of people.”

The first show will debut on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Schwan Community Center for the Performing Arts and Marshall High School.

Other shows will take place on June 22, 28 and 29 at 2 p.m., and June 23, 26 and 27 at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $15 for adults, and $10 for those 18 years old and under, and can be purchased at the door or online at https://tinyurl.com/2s4z43sa.