Chitty Chitty Bang Bang prepares to fly at the Watermill Theatre

Recently, WhatsOnStage paid a visit to the cast of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as they prepare for the beloved musical’s summer revival at the Watermill Theatre.

We sat down with Christian Edwards (who will star as Caractacus Potts in the production) and Lydia Louise (making her professional debut as Truly Scrumptious) to find out what we could about how the show will be staged – both indoors and outdoors – at the Watermill and, of course, how the famous car is going to fly within the venue’s intimate confines.

You can watch all our “in rehearsals” highlights below:

The cast also includes Mark Curry as Grandpa Potts, Susannah van den Berg as the Childcatcher, Samuel Morgan-Grahame as Baron Bomburst, Mairi Ikegami as Baroness Bomburst and Sam Pay as Boris and Lord Scrumptious. Alexander Zane serves as Goran and onstage musical director, Reuben Greeph as the Toymaker and onstage deputy musical director, and Theo Diedrick as Coggins. The ensemble comprises Tasha Chu (also dance captain), Sameer Dhanjee, Georgie Hales, Javai James, Maya Khatri Chhetri and Josh Rosewood.

The role of Jeremy is shared by Francis Adams, Bodhi Allnutt, Elijah Bailey and Lucas Froud and the role of Jemima is shared by Auora Breslin, Juyoung Chang, Sophie Georgeand and Aila McLeish.

The Children of Vulgaria are played by Chika Atakorah, Felix Brims, Amelia Cartwright, Willow Daniels, Roko Duckling, Ivy Evans, Rafe Evans, Cosmo French, Hugo Haworth, Asha Ibrahim, Imogen Jermey, Sophie Jones, Sam Llewellyn, Florence Martin, Kweji Sameke, Wilf Seymour, Cassia Tipp and Audrey Williams.

Featuring music and lyrics by Richard M Sherman and Robert B Sherman, and adapted for the stage by Jeremy Sams, the musical follows eccentric inventor Caractacus Potts and his children, Jeremy and Jemima, alongside Truly Scrumptious, as they embark on an adventure involving a magical car. It features songs such as “Truly Scrumptious”, “Hushabye Mountain” and the title number, performed by an actor-musician ensemble.

Under the direction of Paul Hart, the creative team includes set and costume designer Katie Lias, musical supervisor and orchestrator Stuart Morley, choreographer Anjali Mehra, puppet designer, maker and director Marc Parrett, lighting designer Jai Morjaria, sound designer Tom Marshall and video designer Daniel Denton.

The associate team comprises Eva Sampson as associate director, Vanessa Vince-Pang as associate choreographer and George Francis as associate musical supervisor, alongside Sam Osborne as associate lighting designer and lighting programmer and Zac Woodman as associate sound designer. Emily Nelson serves as assistant designer and Inés Ruiz as assistant musical director.

Casting is by Cydney Beech. The stage management team is led by company stage manager Cat Pewsey, with Geoffrey Field as stage manager and Alice Barber as deputy stage manager. Assistant stage managers are Fern Bamber (book cover) and Hanna O’Connor (placement). Sound roles are covered by Rob Summers as sound number one and Daisy Taylor as sound number two (placement).

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang runs at the Watermill Theatre from 26 May until 13 September, with a national press night on 4 June.