Once again, Ola Salo has let his career take a new path, and as usual, his focus is a mix of challenges and joy. He is uninterested in the business side of things – instead, he steps with great
A taste of a chocolate factory on the opera's main stage.

It's a job that will mean that I'll be in the middle of a colorful spectacle where I'm part of a fantastically funny and quirky character in wonderful clothes.

Ola Salo is a rock icon who loves new challenges. We know him from the band The Ark, his own
pub shows, melody festivals, solo albums, tours and not least through his fantastic roles in musicals such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Kristina från Duvemåla and Spelman på taket. This autumn and winter we will see the artist and multi-artist Ola Salo in one of his biggest musical roles to date when he performs at the Gothenburg Opera
portrays the role of the mysterious, eccentric, colorful candy manufacturer Willy Wonka in the musical
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

– I am extremely excited to portray such an iconic character. It is truly a dream role for me, says Ola Salo when INRIKES meets up for a chat via Zoom. He is wearing a checkered shirt, sitting in front of a white curtain and looking happy and relaxed. Being the first to portray Willy Wonka on a Swedish stage is a great adventure.

– I am looking forward to being in this show. It is a job that will mean that I will be in the middle of a colorful spectacle where I am part of a fantastically funny and quirky character in wonderful clothes. So I will have a very fun job. Before the premiere on September 21, there have been many long months of practice to learn the songs and dance.

“The hardest thing for me was learning to tap dance,” Ola says with a smile. Tap shoes are new to me. Ola laughs and continues:

– It's terribly difficult and I made sure to practice in places with unyielding floors and thick walls. I like to dance freely in spontaneous free dances, but as soon as it's choreographed dancing I get very lost. Another thing he had to practice a lot on were all the lyrics.

– There are some songs that are real tongue twisters and they go at turbo speed. It requires you to really ingrain it into your spinal cord so that you don't have to stand on stage and try to remember the lyrics, because that would be impossible.

What do you think of Willy Wonka's costumes?
– One of the advantages of this role is that you get to dress like a glamorous, Victorian dandy.

It is admirable that in your career you have always looked ahead and dared to do new things, constantly seeking new
challenges. How do your loyal fans react when you do new things like playing Willy Wonka?
– Those who have followed my career probably think it's fun that it's varied, because no one really knows what I'm going to do next as an artist. When people feel that I choose my projects based on what I really want to do and feel great passion for, then I think the fans understand that and feel happy for me. When this news came out, there was a resounding response from many of those who have followed me over the years. They said:
‘'Ola Salo as Willy Wonka, so brilliant!' I try to take on new challenges, so that the artistry constantly takes new forms. For me, the challenges are the most interesting. I am always more interested in what I can't do than what I can do. 'What could I do next?', that is always an interesting question for me.

Are you never afraid when you throw yourself into new projects?
– I may lack a little self-awareness and self-criticism when I try something new. It's a bit impractical because it can sometimes make me get in over my head. I'm not that quality assured, but I enjoy it because I allow myself to experiment. I'll never really become an expert at anything, but I think I keep my artistry interesting by constantly taking it to the field.

I may lack a little self-awareness and self-criticism when I try something new. It's a bit impractical because it can sometimes make me get in over my head.

Are you an entrepreneur who runs other businesses besides music and artistry?
– No. I'm terrible at business and above all I'm very uninterested. I'm of the opinion
that if you work with quality and originality, you can also make money from it. If I do things that I find fun, people seem to think it's good, and if I have a genuine curiosity in what I create, I come up with original things. If a particular project doesn't turn out to be good business, at least I had fun at work.

How do you view the music industry today compared to when you started releasing music with The Ark in the 90s?
– I have realized that I was lucky to be active during a period that suited me very well. During the late 90s and 00s, a crack opened up in the wall between alternative and commercial pop and rock music. There was room for alternative bands. It was grunge and Britpop that paved the way for that. It would have been much harder for The Ark to break through today, so I can laugh happily that I got to be part of that journey. Today it is much harder for bands to break through.

Besides tap dancing, do you have other talents that you have discovered or developed in recent years?
– Yes, I've started playing harmonica a lot in recent years. There's a guy in Nashville
named Charlie McCoy who is one of the greatest harmonica legends in country music
world. I have had the honor of meeting Charlie on a couple of occasions. First, when I was on the TV show Jill's Veranda and they invited him to meet us. It was a fantastic meeting because my harmonica playing is very inspired by him. It was exciting to meet him in several different ways, mostly because he was not quite the person I had expected. Our meeting offered a lot of information
and lessons that I couldn't have found in the internet cloud. It gave me food for thought when I realized that there is so much information in this world that can't be Googled but only exists in the heads of individual people. You really should meet people who know something that you yourself would like to know. I was so inspired after our first meeting that I went back to Nashville a year later
and spent a day with Charlie McCoy. It was a lot of fun. I like to be curious and take the opportunity to meet people I admire when I have the opportunity. It's inspiring and awakening
my desire for new challenges.

CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
The musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is based on Roald Dahl's legendary children's book, published in 1964. Charlie is a poor, kind-hearted, candy-loving boy who wins a ticket to Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory, and it's the start of a fantastic and terrifying adventure.
Gene Wilder (1971), Johnny Depp (2005) and Timothée Chalamet (2023) have all played Willy Wonka on film. The musical version has been in London's West End and on Broadway in New York, now it's time for the premiere in Gothenburg

OLA SALO
Age: 47.
Bor In Malmö and in the Skåne countryside.
Family Wife Anneli and daughters Judith and Miriam.
Background in brief: Ola got his big break as a singer and frontman in the iconic group The Ark in the late 90s. He has played both Jesus and Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar, for which he newly translated the libretto. He has made his own pub shows, solo albums, toured in a variety of contexts, and has spoken on Swedish radio in the summer and winter.
Currently As Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, at the Gothenburg Opera. The performance runs until April 12, 2025.