- Title: UK: STARS ARRIVE FOR STAGE PREMIERE OF "CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG".
- Date: 11th April 2002
- Summary: LONDON PALLADIUM, LONDON, UK, (11 APRIL, 2002) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MICHAEL BALL SAYING "I don't know. You would have thought it would lend itself automatically but then the bottom line is that if you don't have a car that looks fantastic and flies you haven't got a show. And it's probably not until now that technology existed to get that onto the stage."
- Embargoed: 26th April 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVA65TY5LZ8I8VT450NP2U5QKLAA
- Story Text: Pierce Brosnan had to give way to another Ian Fleming hero in London on Tuesday night - a flying car by the name of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Attending the world premiere of the stage musical were the Sherman brothers who composed the original score to the 1968 film and a number of the actors who starred in it.
The Bond teams from past and present - including three-time director Lewis Gilbert, Pierce Brosnan who is currently filming "Die Another Day", and his sparring partner Halle Berry - were at the London Palladium on Tuesday night for the premiere of the stage musical of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
That's because the producer of the first 17 James Bond films Albert 'Cubby' Broccoli and the man who came up with the 007 character, Ian Fleming, were also the names behind the 1968 hit film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
The stars of the night were brothers Richard and Robert Sherman, composers/lyricists of not just Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Bedknobs and Broomsticks and countless other award-winning movie musicals.
They've written seven new songs for the stage show.
Advance bookings have already covered the 6.2 million invested into the stage adaptation of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
There's a buzz in the air, a feeling that here's the hit needed to lift the West End out of its doldrums. A huge musical, the biggest ever staged, an event, a spectacle revolving around a car that flies.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang first flew in 1968. Ian Fleming was the man who thought up the story of a flying car that becomes the hero of the tale. Dick Van Dyke led the movie cast in his memorable portrayal of Caractacus Potts.
Not many people could follow that performance.
There's a chance that Michael Ball can. It was this challenge that called him back to the stage after a five year absence.
"It was the fact of headlining in a show based on a film that I, as a kid, worshipped, I just loved the film. The Sherman brothers wrote my childhood. They wrote Chitty, they wrote Mary Poppins, they wrote Jungle Book, they wrote the Aristocats, all those fantastic music. So to do that, to headline in this show, on the stage of the London Palladium - the most famous theatre possibly in the world."
For another young lady, headlining on the stage of the London Palladium is even more incredible. Emma Williams is just eighteen years old, barely out of drama school. Now she's Truly Scrumptious and the West End's most famous leading lady.
"Everything happened so quickly I haven't really had chance to think about it and still not managing to. If you start to think about everything - 18 years old, West End debut, leading lady, at the Palladium, world premiere of a musical. And then you go oh my goodness, that's huge, that's massive. Most people do this one by one, I thought, oh, I'll put them all together! Where do I go from here?"
With a stellar cast that includes Brian Blessed - who starred in the original production of Cats - and choreographed by Gillian Lynne - whose credits also include Cats and The Phantom of the Opera - this is a team who know how musical theatre works. Director of the show is the Royal Shakespeare Company's artistic director, Adrian Noble.
At a time when some of the West End's biggest musicals including Cats, Starlight Express, Witches of Eastwick and The Beautiful Game - are being forced to close, this show cannot afford to fail.
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