WILLIAMSBURG— The Williamsburg Players next installment of the 2024 season will see “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” take the stage and WYDaily sat down with director Jacqueline Kilduff to learn more about the show.
Based on the 1968 film version of Ian Fleming’s beloved children’s book, the stage musical of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a family-friendly blockbuster that audiences find “truly scrumptious.”
Eccentric inventor Caractacus Potts sets about restoring an old race car from scrap with the help of his children. They soon discover the car has magical properties, including the ability to take flight. Trouble occurs when the evil Baron Bomburst desires the magic car for himself. The family joins forces with Truly Scrumptious and their batty Grandpa Potts to outwit the dastardly baron and baroness and their villainous henchman, the child catcher.
Kilduff was drawn to directing the show after seeing the junior version of the show a few years ago.
“One of the kids that was in my Matilda production was in the junior version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and I came to see him. It reminded me of how much I loved the music and the magic of that movie and I didn’t even realize that it had been made into a stage play. I came home that night from the show and immediately started looking to see if the adult version was out there,” Kilduff said.
The show uses all the songs from the original movie, plus some added pieces. Those who attend the show will hear classics from the movie like “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, “Truly Scrumptious”, “Hushabye Mountain”, and “Toot Sweets”.
The show features various local children, many of whom have never seen the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang film.
“I feel like generationally, it’s been around since the 60s. This is also a way for us to introduce the show to a whole new generation,” Kilduff said.
When people come to see the show, Kilduff hopes that folks walk away inspired to work together.
“The central song that was written for the stage play is a song called “Teamwork” and it’s the ideology that teamwork makes the dream work. If you invest in your creativity, and you problem solve and you are willing to keep going and keep working, you can solve any problem,” Kilduff said.
“Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” will open Nov. 1 and run through Nov. 17. Tickets are on sale for all performances at the Williamsburg Players box office and online.
For more information on the Williamsburg Players, visit williamsburgplayers.org.
