Chitty Postponement

Tonight the curtain was set to open on our season of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the Frankston Arts Centre.

This show was ready for an audience! The choreography was tight, the cast and the orchestra had melded together beautifully, there were but a few stitches left to be sewn, barely a lick of paint required to finish the scenery, the technical elements were all starting to come together, and above all, our cast of almost 50 were ready to share the enjoyment of a timeless classic with our audiences.

Sadly, Chitty will not be taking flight tonight… Our cast, crew, team and committee are suitably devastated, with today being a very hard day for all of us—particularly for a lot of our younger members who were meant to make their debut onstage tonight.

“Postponement” is a word we have all heard far too much of in recent weeks, but it is the current reality for our production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. After discussions with the team, cast, venue and consideration of all the logistics in determining a new date, we as a company would like to announce our intention to stage this production in our regular time slot in April 2021. This was not a decision made lightly, but will provide us with the best possible outcome for our show, and we currently await approval from the rights holders… One thing is for certain. When we’re back, our Chitty will be bigger than ever and no doubt hotly anticipated!

As you can imagine, pulling the pin and being so close to showtime leaves us with a lot of costs we simply will not recuperate this time around. Whilst this blow is not fatal, the company will now face considerable financial hardship. We have fundraising efforts planned to be announced at a later date, however we have had many requests from ticket holders to donate the cost of their ticket to the company. All tickets purchased through the Frankston Arts Centre will be automatically refunded. We understand the current climate is unnerving for everyone, but for those who are wishing to donate the cost of their ticket to the company, please private message the page for details on how to do so.

Our community will get through the COVID-19 pandemic, but we have to make absolutely every effort to follow all the relevant guidelines on social distancing, staying at home wherever possible and making sure we’re all doing what we can to look out for each other… In the words of Caractacus Potts, “Teamwork, can make a dream work, if we all pitch in and try.”

Right now, we have two dreams:

Firstly, that we all band together to flatten the curve and halt the spread of this virus.

And secondly, for our Chitty to take flight in 2021!

“For all together, a team can weather any storm they may go through.”