Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

“Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” is always a popular story with children and adults alike.  However, the challenges of staging the tale - complete with a flying car – presents numerous difficulties to any group.  On this occasion these difficulties were very cleverly solved, and the performance was magical, well planned and executed and very well played. 

The opening scene in black and white costumes was very effective, with very good freezes and singing, with large gear wheels creating a very clever suggestion of the garage and the windmill.   In fact, the scenery throughout the show was fitting and very well handled, with well-planned changes efficiently undertaken. Lighting was very important in this production, as the audience was dazzled a couple of times as the car transformed onstage. While a rather uncomfortable experience, it certainly worked!  The timing and cues for lighting changes were accurate and prompt.  The music was very good, played live by a good-sized band, so able to fit really well with the action and singing.  The sound effects were also very good, with a suitable volume, good timing and well cued. 

The dancing and movement were very well prepared, with some lovely touches of creativity that supported the story rather than interrupting the story. It seemed that everyone was thoroughly enjoying their parts and fully understanding how the whole work fitted together. The costumes for the show were very good, with suitable dresses and hats for Truly Scrumptious, a good suggestion of the army for Grandpa Potts, and suitable white coats for the inventors, with their white wigs and beards. The costumes for the ‘Puppets’ were outstanding. Make up and props were fitting and just added to the reality of the situations being acted out. 

This was a production that flowed really well, with good continuity and smooth scene changes. However, it was the performances by the cast, and particularly the children, that created this excellent piece of theatre:

Caractacus:  energetically portrayed as an eccentric inventor and a loving family man.  An outstanding performance with lively singing and dancing and excellent characterisation.

Truly Scrumptious:  very well sung and an especially good partnership with Caractacus particularly in the music-box sequence as the music-box doll.  Good interaction with the children.  A very enjoyable performance.

Grandpa:  another eccentric character, showing his army background and love of travel.  Excellent interaction with the wonderfully doddery white-coated scientists.  A brilliant performance.

Baron:  well-portrayed as an overindulged child-like character, cuddly and endearing.  A good partnership with the Baroness, particularly in the joyful samba scene.

Baroness:  a well portrayed complex character, often bad-tempered, but always honey-tongued with the Baron.  Her samba dance routine was hilarious, surprisingly offering him tempting treats.  A good performance.

Boris and Goran, the Spies:  their excellent comedic interaction added much to the humour of the show.  They were completely in character throughout, from their sinister searching for Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, through their disguise as upper-class Englishmen, complete with accent and vocabulary, and to their fun-filled samba dancing.  Very talented performances.

Jeremy and Jemima:  an excellent partnership with beautiful singing, particularly in the family scenes and with Truly Scrumptious.  These were lively, energetic and believable performances, always in character, and showing much talent.

The Toy maker:  portrayed as phlegmatic, kindly and down-to-earth, determined to keep the children safe.  A good characterisation.

The Childcatcher:  brought an element of fear to the show, with his evil laugh and bad intentions.   A delightfully scary performance.

    This was an outstanding production that was very well planned, and very well performed. Coingratulations to all involved with this excellent production!

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