Jan Maxwell to Star in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
This is not the first baroness Maxwell has played; she earned an Outer Critics Circle nomination for her work as Baroness Elsa Schraeder in the Broadway revival of The Sound of Music. She has also appeared on the Great White Way in City of Angels, Dancing at Lughnasa, A Doll's House, The Dinner Party and Sixteen Wounded which earned her Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk nominations. Her off-Broadway credits include Inside Out, The Professional, House, Garden, My Old Lady for which she won a Lortel Award and A Bad Friend.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the musical adaptation of the 1968 movie of the same name, centers on an eccentric inventor, Caractacus Potts, who has a flying car. Though Potts is happy just using the special car for family trips, others have more sinister aims, including the Baron and Baroness of Vulgaria, who are desperately trying to steal the automobile.
Adapted for the stage from Ian Fleming's original text by Jeremy Sams, the musical Chitty features a score by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, who wrote the film's songs. Adrian Noble directs and Gillian Lynne choreographs. The musical, which was a hit in London, will begin previews at Broadway's Ford Center for the Performing Arts on March 29, 2005 in preparation for an April 28, 2005 opening.
No casting has been officially confirmed for the Broadway production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.