Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

It is great to see the rights for some of the ‘big’ West End musicals being given to amateur societies and this year I have seen some fabulous shows that amateur companies have really enjoyed producing but have had to wait some time to perform.

Abbey Players invariably delight their audiences and indeed Chitty is a show that would delight any audience. Obviously a huge amount of time, effort and money had gone into the immaculate set, outstanding costumes and attention to detailed props and this added to the production enormously. The ensemble were very good indeed and their focus on stage was impeccable with some great dancing and singing, although at times the chorus sound was not balanced with the volume of the band.

There were some lovely performances with Sean Lewis playing the role of the inventor father Caractacus Potts and demonstrating a fine voice, Lyn Williams giving great eccentricity to the role of Grandpa Potts and entertaining us all with a wonderful rendition of the Roses of Success with his fellow ‘inventors’. The children, Jeremy and Jemima were beautifully played by Wil Morgans and Amelia Hoppe and Mark Warren gave a nice performance as both Mr Coggins and The Toymaker. The spies, Boris and Goran, were given great comedy by Simon Lloyd-Jones and Michael Hunter and the fabulous team of Simon John and Cath Van Wyk as Baron and Baroness Bomburst left the audience in stiches as they performed Chu-Chi Face and the Bombie Samba brilliantly.

The performances of the evening for me were given by Michael Aubin as The Childcatcher, who was outstanding in his characterisation and it is such a shame he did not appear on stage for longer, it would have been a delight if more could have been made of his scenes. Special mention must also go to Sarah Clatworthy for truly memorable and truly believable performance as Truly Scrumptious. Her voice was sublime and her stage presence beautiful, thank you for such a fine performance!

Many thanks to the entire company and I look forward to the next production.

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