Robert Sella and Chip Zien Join Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Cast

Broadway.com has learned that Robert Sella and Chip Zien are set to play Vulgarian henchman Boris and Goran, respectively, in the upcoming Broadway production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. They join stars Raúl Esparza, Erin Dilly, Philip Bosco, Marc Kudisch and Jan Maxwell in the musical.

"Everyone I know who saw it in London thinks it is so much fun," Sella, who is expecting a child with actress Enid Graham in January, told Broadway.com. "I'm hoping I'm going to be able to set up a little nursery in my dressing room. It's exciting."

Sella is currently starring in the Manhattan Theatre Club production of Five By Tenn. He has appeared on Broadway in Side Man for which he received a Clarence Derwent Award and Drama League citation, Cabaret and My Fair Lady. In addition to Five By Tenn, his off-Broadway credits include Kit Marlowe, Home of the Brave and The Water Children. Sella's other notable stage credits include playing Prior Walter in the national tour of Angels in America.

Zien created the role of the Baker in Into the Woods and Mendel in Falsettos. He also appeared on Broadway in Ride the Winds, All Over Town, The Suicide, Grand Hotel and The Boys from Syracuse revival. His off-Broadway credits include In Trousers, March of the Falsettos, An Imaginary Life, Isn't It Romantic for which he received a Drama Desk nomination, Split, Moonchildren, Hot L Baltimore, Kaddish and A New Brain for which he received a Drama Desk nomination. Among his other notable credits, Zien voiced the title character for Howard the Duck, has been a series regular on numerous programs including Almost Perfect and Now and Again and served as the announcer for The Caroline Rhea Show.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the musical adaptation of the 1968 movie of the same name, centers on an eccentric inventor, Caractacus Potts Esparza, 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 Kudisch and Maxwell, their evil henchmen Sella and Zien and their dastardly Child Catcher, who are all desperately trying to steal the automobile. As we previously reported, Meat Loaf is in negotiations to play the Child Catacher.

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 will begin previews at Broadway's Ford Center for the Performing Arts on March 29, 2005 in preparation for an April 28, 2005 opening.