Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: A YOH Theater Spectacular

“Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” was among my favorite childhood movies, and when I found out that we would be performing the musical version this year for the Yoh Theatre, I knew it would be spectacular: abduction, love, spies, funny accents, a child catcher, a flying car, and finally a happy ending.

Around 50 students ranging from third graders to high school seniors showed up to help bring this spectacle to life. Students were on stage acting and dancing, but also involved in painting the set, setting lighting, and helping out with costumes and props.

Throughout the course of the production, we worked with several adults involved in specific aspects of theater including: Conrad Bender, a lighting specialist who taught us more about how to use our lighting board; Bethany Formica, a dancer who worked with us on general movement; our own Andy Carpenter, who did our choreography for the show; Christina Carlucci, a singer and actress who did a workshop on musical theatre singing at ArtisTree; and of course our own director Marcia Bender who directed the show and taught us the music.

By the time performance week rolled around, all of our various workshops paid off. We hit the stage singing, morris dancing, and cracking jokes, all under lighting run and partially designed by our own student tech crew.

In the end, this show was both a spectacle for our audiences and a fun and incredibly informative experience for the cast and crew as students of theatre. “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” gave us the opportunity not only to be part of a huge musical adventure, but also to step outside of our usual roles and become more knowledgeable about the art of theatre as whole.