Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

It was good to return to Farlingaye to see their latest production featuring another enormous cast of nearly eighty students, plus a sixteen piece orchestra and with many of the crew tasks also being manned by the students. Director, Pippa, energized the students with her enthusiasm, which was clearly reflected in the cast who had worked tirelessly and who were clearly delighted to participate in such a magical show.

Zak Wilson gave a strong and impressive portrayal of Caractacus Potts displaying maturity and confidence.  Lottie Lucking and Eddie Chapman gave delightful and captivating performances as Caractacus’ children, Jemima and Jeremy Potts. James DeMierre was visually and vocally very confident as the eccentric Grandpa Potts. Sophie May Anderson impressed everyone with her standout performance as Truly Scrumptious, showcasing her talent with an amazingly beautiful voice. Together they established a strong family bond which was characterised with an affinity and warmth.

Clem Anderson and Freya Balding played the Baron and Baroness Bomburst, whose quirky relationship is highlighted in their comedic song "Chu-Chi Face."  Not easy roles but they captured the ‘silliness’ of their characters perfectly.  Their two Vulgarian spies, Boris and Goran, played by Daniel Harrison and Benjamin Hughes both excelled in their comedy roles. They demonstrated impressive versatility with their accents, seamlessly switching from a Germanic style to upper-crust English which added to the humor. I must add that Daniel did an amazing job stepping into the role of Boris with just four weeks to learn the role, which he did flawlessly.

MD Gemma admits that the music for this show was a real challenge, a professional score which was technically very difficult, with many changes in tempo, rhythm and chord. These young musicians  performing with the full range of woodwind, strings and percussion instruments really did it justice, tackling the intricate music with so much confidence. An excellent performance from them all.  From a singing point of view, this show is packed with a plethora of much loved favorites and the whole cast were excellent in their performance of these songs.  As mentioned it was a tricky score with complicated harmonies and part singing and they were all brilliant with unrelenting enthusiasm.

Choreographer Sarah had put together some innovative arrangements and much thought had gone into different genres for the dance routines for both the dancers and ensemble in general which were all performed with a lively energy. One stand-out performance was “Me Ol’ Bamboo” which at one point Caractacus led, showing off his versatility and athleticism and then also included the girls with a kick-line.  One must appreciate and applaud the talent of all of this young cast in not only flawlessly remembering their lines, singing complicated numbers, energetically performing the dances and often whilst seamlessly changing the set and props.

The backdrop to this was produced with a scenic projection which was so essential and effectively enabled the car to appear to move, fly and amazingly float. Something that could not have been achieved with a traditional set. The school had been joined by a new Art Teacher, Lianne Girling, who had been heavily involved in producing many of the wonderful props, including the life sized music box. All the numerous costumes for this large cast looked wonderful. Appreciation also goes to all those behind scenes, lighting, sound and to all the students who were part of the production team.

As a final footnote to the production. Dick Van Dyke who played Caractacus Potts in the 1968 film was recently celebrating his 100th birthday and the cast were privileged to record a special birthday message to him which was included as part of his birthday celebrations. It made this production very special for them.  Well done to Pippa, Sarah, Gemma and all the wonderful cast and crew in this “Truly Scrumptious” show.           

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