Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Into York

Of all Ian Fleming’s baddies: the obnoxious Dr No, evil Drax or malevolent Goldfinger, the most sinister is the Child Catcher, portrayed along with the wicked Baron and Baroness Bomburst in his marvellous tale of a flying car – Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

The film of Fleming’s novel captured the revolting and menacing Child Catcher with his hook nose, brilliantly played by Robert Helpmann and I am still traumatised 50 years on, it's a character you can't forget.

Meeting up with Nik Briggs, Principal at the acclaimed York Stage School, one of the city's biggest producing theatre companies, comprising both local and professional performers and production staff, I ask him how he is going to capture all the nuances of such a wonderful tale, such as getting his Child Catcher to pop up here and there, let alone get a flying car into York’s Grand Opera House.

“Arguably, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is one of our most technically demanding shows to date. Obviously, the star of the show herself is Chitty, so we will be making her fly across the Grand Opera House stage. The audiences have a real treat in store as there's a lot of theatrical magic involved in making a car fly.

Briggs tells me the theatre is more than capable of meeting the technical staging demands, as he has proved many times before, producing musicals such as Shrek, Elf and Hairspray.

“We've got a great relationship with the technical team and we know the venue inside out and how to make it work to create the biggest effects possible.”

Besides the technical demands, choosing the cast can be quite daunting, but Briggs points out that he is always well subscribed with people wanting to work with York Stage School productions.

“We are always really lucky and for a production with lots of big characters: Caractacus Potts and Truly Scrumptious, who are the main love interests, the baddies led by the Barron and the Baroness and of course, the Child Catcher, plus other brilliant parts such as the lovely endearing Grandpa Potts and the spies, Andrew there's so many roles in this show. We mustn’t forget there is also a fabulous ensemble that get to dance in numbers such as Toot Sweets and Me 'Ol Bam-Boo.

“It wasn’t a difficult production to cast from our professional and amateur communities and we have ended up with a stellar lineup.”

Rehearsals are well underway for the Easter production, everyone is busy learning the choreography from Damian Poole, with his impressive list of West End credits, and musical numbers conducted by Adam Tomlinson the musical director.

However, it is a musical with technical complexities that can only be tested once on the stage, so the cast have to use a lot of imagination in run-throughs, coming up with clever ways to use the rehearsal room.

“Our actors have to envisage what's going to be happening around them because there are a lot of the effects they have no control over, it's the technicians that will be running that side. Things like flying sheds and cars, the Child Catcher popping up in places and getting really close to the audience just make it that edge of the seat excitement. It’s those elements that the actors will have to wait until they get to the theatre to experience. But everything is well-planned.”

It all sounds exciting and there is a live 12 piece band playing the full West End orchestrations of the superb Sherman Brothers’ score.

Briggs’ favourite song is Hushabye Mountain which Caractacus Potts sings to his children. “It’s a beautiful ballad. There are so many great songs though and you see people light up when they think about all the classic songs. It’s such a beautiful catalogue of musical theatre classics that people think oh, I remember this one."

Briggs was on the ball when the rights first came available just before late summer last year. He quickly secured the permissions to the delight of social media followers.

“It is, after all, a story everyone loves. We all know it from our childhoods. I do like the baddies in Chitty Chitty and like you Andrew, I was terrified of the Child Catcher. Seeing him on stage here in rehearsals I watched one of the young girls playing Jemima, whilst the other Jemima was sat watching the scene, I could not take my eyes off this young actress who is only seven years old, she sat there with a big smile on her face, but you could just see that she was slightly terrified thinking I have just met this gentleman and he's a lovely man but something’s not right with that voice and big nose.”

On opening night Briggs will be dashing around ready to breathe again once he has handed over to the stage management team and the curtain goes up, only then will he settle down and enjoy the performance.

The West End production broke all box office records and for now I leave Briggs to rehearse with the loveable but whacky inventor, Potts, along with his two children, not forgetting the gorgeous Truly Scrumptious, all ready to outwit the bombastic Baron Bomburst, who has decreed that all children be banished from his kingdom. As for the Child Catcher, there’s a new generation that will be pleased to see if he gets his comeuppance.

But one thing is for sure, the audience will enjoy the Easter delights that is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with its beautiful tunes, all real classics and a production that has a mixture of madness, mayhem and magic, beautiful costumes, lavish sets and brilliant technical aspects to wow, in what can only be described as a brilliant night out for all the family.

I can’t wait.