As a child growing up, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was one of my all-time favourite movies.  The story line was simple, the two children were easy to relate to, the songs were catchy and got stuck in your head and, of course, there was a magical car.  So, it was a natural choice to decide on this play for our school production this year. The original book was written by Ian Fleming, primarily famous as the author of James Bond. Chitty made its stage debut in London in 2011, and since then, the play has been adapted for use in schools.

It has been an exciting adventure with the Musikili children, doing this play together. Many, many hours of hard work went into the rehearsals, more so this year than ever, because of the delay in the scheduled performance dates in the second term due to Covid. The play came with a number of challenges: first and foremost was how to get Chitty to fly! After some creative thinking and re-arrangement of the “sea” and the car’s wheels, I think we achieved the effect of flying through the air. The second challenge was to choreograph so many different dances, many of them incorporating a large number of children. All in all, there were 16 songs that required choreography, and the children really worked hard at learning their steps and keeping in time. Believe it or not, this does not come easily to quite a number of boys and girls! Well done especially to Michaela Bignell, Jordy Bruyns, Michaela Kakoma, Joice Mandozana, Sarah Tembo and Angelina Wixley who were in more than one dance number and switched between roles. They all did a great job. The third challenge, of course, is one that comes with any school play – how to fit the whole school in and give every boy and girl a part.  Suffice to say, everyone had an opportunity to shine on the stage, whether it was in a main role, or part of a chorus, and together, they made Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. 

There were a number of lead roles, and many in these parts acted with sparkle and sang with gusto. We must single out, though, Tristan Barker and Samantha Middleton, who acted as Caractacus Potts and Truly Scrumptious. These were demanding roles which required both singing and acting, along with many lines that had to be committed to memory. Jeremy and Jemima, the Potts children, played by Christopher Thomas and Mia Miers, together with Grandpa Potts, performed by Rhys Weinrich, did an equally excellent job, delivering convincing performances and earning rousing applause when it came time for the bows. The delightfully cheeky role of the Baroness, played by Chloe Street, was performed with aplomb, and Giovanni Beukes, who was the Baron, complemented her at every turn. Giovanni and Chloe must be congratulated on their performance which earned them the Legg Trophy award for drama at Musikili’s annual prize giving.

Chitty would never have been successful, though, without a team effort. Many worked from the beginning behind the scenes: sewing and sourcing costumes, repairing the lighting, building the scene changes for the sets, creatively crafting the props, teaching the songs and working the music cues. Both parents and staff generously gave of their time and resources to contribute in big and small ways to the success of this production. Special thanks must be offered to the PTA and their extremely generous donation of the new wireless head mics that were used in the play. What a difference they made. We had two marvellous nights, acting, singing, dancing, and enjoying the fruit of all the hard work throughout the term.