Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Chitty, Chitty, Bang Bang… a musical presented by AMAS (Adlington Music and Arts Society) at Adlington Community Centre, Railway Road, Adlington on Friday 3rd May, 2024.

‘Chitty’ was penned by Ian Fleming in 1964.  It was adapted and released in 1968 as a film with music and lyrics by the famous ‘Sherman Brothers’ … Robert B and Richard M… gaining immediate success.  In 2002 ‘Chitty’ started its journey as a stage musical and ran at the London Palladium until 2005. Broadway took over in 2005 and tours of UK, Australia and Singapore have followed.

There’s a song in this production… ‘Teamwork’ with lyrics that suggest ‘Teamwork can make the Dream Work’ and that ‘mantra’ certainly sums up the attitude adopted by AMAS for this production!  If I may, I’d like to move slightly away from my usual format and go straight to ‘highlighting’ the ‘Tech and Staging Teams’ … the unsung heroes for most of our productions.  ‘Chitty’ is a huge show, an ambitious undertaking for any society and I am sure that after the initial excitement of securing the rights, you all took a deep breath and thought ‘okay let’s go for it’ and go for it you certainly did!  AMAS are blessed with so many talented / dedicated people; people with amazing skills in all areas of theatre and to present ‘Chitty’ successfully… those skills will have been tested for sure! Those ‘talents/skills’ run equally both ‘on and off stage’ and we’ll talk about the onstage talent later… but let’s focus first on the ‘off stage’ teams. When you have ‘three cars’, a ‘motorbike’, a huge tricycle, a pedestal with a revolving turntable, plus many other pieces of stage furniture to handle/store with the limited ‘wing space’ and a smallish stage that Adlington Community Centre offers … then a ‘solid stage crew’ is required and that we had led by Stephen Pilkington (Stage Manager). We had Cliff Hill, Russ Jones, Brian Horrocks, Paul Stanley, Howard Bates and Frank Gartside as Stephen’s back stage team.  Those strengths/skills were also in abundance in the ‘Tech Area’…. the lighting, sound, projection and the videos were fabulous and enhanced this production ever so much… responsible Natalie and Joanna Sweet, Stuart Naylor, Richard and Milly Cornes, Kirsty Lofthouse and Jamie Flavell.  I really have to mention the scene where our car ‘Gen 11’ appears… firstly its inflatables and then its wings and then its hydraulics… the technical side of this was ‘perfect’, the video enhancement sublime… the ship interludes with the ship sailing behind the car/the flying scenarios were just amazing and done with precision and perfection. I overheard a comment, a couple of days after I’d seen this show, from someone who’d obviously seen the production on the same evening as I… quote: ‘there were a couple of slow scene changes’… REALLY, she must have watched a different production than me… slick, creative, imaginative, ambitious, successful are the words that come from my lips!  Be ever so proud folks… you worked your ‘socks off’ creating something amazing along the way!

The Cast… ‘Teamwork can make the Dreamwork’ was apt again… and it was ‘teamwork’ that shone throughout this production.  Honestly, in my opinion ‘the whole was far greater than any individual’ and it was ‘the whole’ that made this production the success it was!  I really do believe to start suggesting, as I usually do… ‘show stealers’ and ‘favourites’, would be wrong… so if I may, I’ll identify all the cast with their characters, were appropriate, and then give a few shouts outs… James Cave played ‘Caractacus Potts’, Emily Bailey - ‘Truly Scrumptious’; Izaac James and Penelope Upton played ‘Jeremy and Jemima Potts’ respectively, Philip May played ‘The Baron’ and Jane McQueen ‘The Baroness’. John Cornthwaite played the ‘Child Catcher’; Paul Humphreys played ‘Grandpa Potts’; Mike Wickham played ‘Lord Scrumptious’; Andy Lane ‘The Toymaker’. Natalie Cleary and Ellis McCarthy played ‘Boris’ and ‘Goran’ respectively. Steve Barker and Jennie Miller took on the roles of ‘Mr Coggins’ and ‘Miss Philips’ respectively. The Ensemble included Steve McClean, Ben Brooks, Keira Markey, Josh Nicholls, Zach Hill, Liz Walsh, Sarah Pilkington, Sarah Jane Lee, Kirsten Whittle, Matt Newns-Smith, Heather Hodgson, Becca Graham, Niamh Hardman, Jennie Miller, Hannah Sutton, Sally Richardson, Chantelle Crowther. Children’s Ensemble included… Ethan Towner, Jessica Tomlin, Ashley McClean, Lyra Sutcliffe, Toby Barton, Olivia Jones and Phoebe Dunning.   I’ve said ‘NO’ to a ‘showstealer’ and to ‘favourites’… simply because I didn’t want to take anything away from ‘The Whole’ … BUT it would be remiss of me not to give a couple of ‘shout outs’ to two couples who you could just tell were having the time of their lives that evening - firstly Philip May and Jane McQueen (The Baron and The Baroness) who just ‘oozed class’.  You could see/tell the enjoyment they were having which prompted us to have these huge smiles on our faces whenever they appeared, simply hilarious from start to finish ... spot on comic timing, great characterisations, wonderful mannerisms and facial expressions, worked ever so well together… their duet ‘Chu-Chi Face’ was a ‘highlight’ for me… be very, very proud you two!  Second couple… Izaac James and Penelope Upton the two youngsters who played ‘Jeremy and Jemima Potts’ and fulfilled those roles with great aplomb!  Confident, assured, always in character. I’ve seen Isaac before playing ‘Peter Pan’ for which he was nominated’ for a NODA Award and I think I’ve seen Penelope before in pantomime … look out for these two in the future!  Be ever so proud everyone…

The Orchestra … from the ‘overture’ and beyond … Tom Bowes (Musical Director) and his impressive orchestra set just the right tone!  The orchestra, which included Jennie Pearce (Keys 1), Rob Rainford (Keys 2), Rob Hewitt (Bass), Rob Balderstone (Drums), Mel Waddington (Reed 1), Ruth Parry (Reed 2), Mike Lyons (Trumpet) and Ethan Whittaker (Trombone) … although I did think the band was a little loud to start with, the right balance was achieved relatively quickly and we were then treated to some wonderful musical interludes and wonderful support for the singers. Be proud folks … amazing musical support!

Costumes/Props… were of a high quality and enhanced the production ever so much… costumes were under the watchful eye of Helen Dickinson and the Prop Team included Diane Simmons, Emma May Hickson, Alison Fox and Sharon Morris! well done one and all!

Chaperones … whenever and wherever we have young people on stage in a show there is a need for people to give up their time thus ensuring our young people have a safe environment to work in, it is paramount … the people providing that at Adlington were Ruth Cookson, Gemma Dunning, Lily and Liz Blundell ... be proud ladies!

Director/Choreographer …  it’s hard enough directing a show and choreographing one as well, especially when the show is as complex as Chitty certainly is!  So, what are we looking for from direction, for me it’s all about detail, detail, detail… not just for the principals but for the chorus members as well, are they fully engaged, do they have a purpose; finally did the Director know what he wanted from the production and did he achieve it!  Choreo … is all about imagination, creativity, relativity, have the all the dancer’s capabilities been considered, have they been challenged… I felt that Steve Chesters had achieved all that and more!  Everyone on that stage looked engaged, involved and enthusiastic throughout and there’s very little else you can ask.  Moving thirty-eight people around such a small stage with everything else that was going on must have been a challenge in itself… but it worked!  The choreo was creative and did play to the strength of each cast member… some complex routines were clearly devised for those with greater ability and it all paid off, it all worked… did he know what he wanted and how to achieve it … I think so… congrats Steve great job sir!

Thank you so much for inviting Susan and I… we truly did enjoy the production so much from start to finish and thanks to Helen Dickinson, for meeting us and looking after us throughout, appreciated! The sight of that ‘HOUSE FULL’ sign in the foyer as we entered was such a great sight to see… and I do believe it was used more than once throughout the run… congrats AMAS…. already looking forward to seeing you and your youngsters in June staging ‘Finding Nemo Jr’ and for ‘Rock of Ages’ in 2025!

Stay safe, keep well…
‘Stronger Together’

Jim Briscoe
NODA NW
District 6 Rep
 

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