Chitty Chitty Bang Bang winging its way to stage
A wacky tale from the pen of the man who created James Bond is coming to the stage in Palmerston North.
The annual joint production by Palmerston North Girls’ High School and Palmerston North Boys’ High School this year is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which starts next week at the Speirs Centre.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, written by famed spy novelist Ian Fleming, tells the story of an inventor who creates a flying car that takes him and his family to the fictional country Vulgaria, where they run into trouble dealing with Baron Bomburst and his spies.
Long-time director Chris Burton had handed over the reins to Boys’ High head of drama Sophie Coetzee, but she is now unavailable, so Burton is acting as co-director.
Burton said the show had never been performed in Palmerston North before, and because it was written by Fleming, it had a lot of “tongue-in-cheek and delightfully wacky scenes”.
“It will be great family entertainment, but also something to like for the parents. There’s a lot of innuendo, and it has a subtext of satire as well. Typical Ian Fleming writing.
“The spies are almost Michael Myers kind of spies – they are ridiculous.”
Burton said the schools had been preparing since the start of term four last year, and things were going extremely well ahead of the show opening.
Thirty-nine people are in the cast, with more than 30 working backstage.
Jake Maskill, who plays Caractacus Potts, and Madeleine James, who plays Truly Scrumptious, are the leads. They were both outstanding as leads in the production last year, Oklahoma!.
Saem Millward is one of the other leads, playing Grandpa. Caractacus Potts was played by Dick Van Dyke in the 1968 film.
The show runs from March 14 to 23. Tickets are available on the Boys’ High website.