Adventure with ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ from Concord Christian
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Concord Christian School high school theater student Layla Townsend, front, portrays Truly Scrumptious in the musical “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” Back row, from left, finds Megan Spiller, Maddy Davis and Abi Presley practicing a dance routine with Townsend during rehearsal in CCS’s Concord Kid’s Theater Saturday, March 29. - Tammy Cheek
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Among the Concord Christian School’s high school theater students who are cast members of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” are, front row from left, Nell Pattison, Maddy Davis, Joshua Bean, Tasi Porter and Bailey Fortino. Second row, from left, are Ariana Mason, Abi Presley, Emily Anderson and Layla Townsend. Back row, from left, are Emily Poston, Megan Spiller, Austin DeMerchant, Chase Burnette and Bauer Mynatt. - Tammy Cheek
Concord Christian School’s high school theater students are getting ready to take an audience on an adventure with the musical, “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”
The performances, which are open to the public, begin at 6 p.m,, Thursday and Friday, April 10-11, in Concord Kid’s Theater at CCS, 11704 Kingston Pike.
“Anyone can come see the show,” said Allison Hall, seventh- through 12th-grade theater arts teacher, who also teaches broadcasting and photography at CCS. “We’ll open the doors to the audience at 5:30 p.m.”
Tickets are $20 each and can be purchased online on the school’s website, concordchristianschool.org, where there is a link.
“If people buy tickets at the door, as of right now we can only do cash sales,” Hall said.
“It’s going really well,” she added about the production. “I just hope people appreciate the story and fall in love with the characters.”
The musical, based on the 1964 children’s novel, “Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car” by Ian Fleming, revolves around the Potts family.
In rural 1910s, the children, Jeremy and Jemima, discover the wreck of a champion race-car that is to be scrapped. However, they plead with their father to save it. Eventually, they get the car and discover its magic.
“This is the first year that we’ve split the seventh- and eighth-grade and high school musicals,” Hall said. “I think there are a lot of benefits to that because I’ve been able to challenge the high schoolers a lot more now that there are not middle schoolers, who are new to theater, involved.”
As such, “I think it’s been a really rewarding process so far,” she added. “I’m hoping that people enjoy the show.”
A special feature of the production is a familiar prop seen in the movie.
“We have the official ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ car, which people won’t expect, so I’m hoping when that’s brought out onstage, people are just kind of shocked and appreciate all the set pieces we’ve worked hard on,” Hall said.
About choosing the musical, “I grew up watching the movie, ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,’ and when I was trying to think of what musical to do this year; that one just stood out to me because of the fun, whimsical element,” Hall said.
“And we always try to do some Biblical integration, being a Christian school, so it really stood out to me about having faith things working out; working together (with) strong themes I thought would relate to the students that would be good to talk about with them,” she added. “We have 21 cast members, three students who are helping run tech and we’re going to have two or three students in backstage management.
“The musical’s only ninth through 12th grade.”
Students playing the lead characters are Micah Dewald who is portraying Caractacus Potts, the inventor and father, originally played by Dick Van Dyke in the movie; Jonah Dewald, Micah’s brother, playing Caractacus’ son, Jeremy Potts; Abby Daughtery, playing Caractacus’ daughter, Jemima Potts; and Layla Townsend, who will play Truly Scrumptious, the wealthy, beautiful heiress of the Scrumptious Candy Company.
About choosing those four, Hall said, “the audition process is not my favorite part because the kids are so talented, but these four, particularly, just had great stage chemistry, and I think they brought some neat characterization to these roles that fit my vision for the show.”
