To Sunderland, on Saturday evening, to see the national tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
When it premiered in the West End nearly four years ago, Chitty was the biggest musical ever produced. Apparently. I’m not sure quite how they define that – whether it be cast, effects, whatever… Certainly, I don’t doubt that this musical was jolly expensive to put on. Lucky, then, that the chappies doing it had all the money from the Bond films… yes, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was originally written by Ian Fleming (I knew that) and made into a film by “Cubby” Broccolli (I didn’t know that). Broccolli’s daughter, the current producer of the Bond franchise, masterminded this show. Of course, any trivia buff worth his salt knows that Roald Dahl adapted the novel for the screen – and there is certainly an awful lot of his dark humour that shines through both to the film and on the stage.
This tour (Sunderland is its first stop – it premiered on 9 December 2005 there) may not be quite as huge as the West End production. It doesn’t have Michael Ball, Jason Donovan, Alvin Stardust, Brian Blessed, Richard O’Brien… But it does have a huge presence. It most certainly makes itself known.
From the opening bars of the Overture, the audience was enthralled. Who doesn’t know the title song with its catchy, bouncy melodies, and who could resist clapping along to it as the house lights dim?
The sets appear to have been brought intact from the Palladium – huge, gloriously colourful backdrops, wonderfully Heath Robinson-esque inventions – serving not to recreate the look of the film on stage, but to spark one’s imagination. Adrian Noble’s direction makes full use of the stage, with some big set-piece dances (although, it must be said, some work considerably better than others).
The music is… well, everyone knows the music. The Sherman Brothers wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang while at the height of their powers – this was the era of The Jungle Book and Mary Poppins – and, unlike Mary Poppins, they were enticed back to provide additional pieces for the stage production. The new songs do work very well – certainly better than “Temper, Temper”, for example, in Mary Poppins – some of them you would almost swear were in the film.
The cast is definitely very competent but, I would argue, nothing particularly special. The adult leads seemed to play them very much as a starched Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews (heh, mixing my musicals here…), with the prim and proper accents sounding a little strained from time to time. The supporting adults – Baron and Baroness Bombast, Grandpa Potts, Boris and Goran – are all played for their comic value. Which worked. Boris and Goran have a fabulous little number in the middle of the first act – “Think Vulgar!” – in which they contemplate what makes them Vulgar and not English. They then reappear from time to time to tie the plot together and provide more laughs as hapless spies.
Robin Askwith doesn’t have much room to play with the Childcatcher role. It was created in the West End by Richard O’Brien, and is buried under latex, leather and make-up. It’s probably the equivalent of Pharoah in Joseph – everyone knows what to expect and what they want to see, and that’s what he must give. That said, he is perfectly adequately evil…!
Nothing huge acting-wise is demanded of the children. They don’t have any big solo numbers à la Whistle Down The Wind or Annie, but they do get to spend a lot of time looking wide-eyed and cute. That is not to say, though, that they don’t do a good job… they do exactly what is demanded of them, and do it very, very well. Actually, they get to fly, too – floating out of bed and off stage. Bit of a surprise, that – but jolly good!
But who cares about the real people? The star of the show is, undoubtedly, the car. I suppose it says something about the state of theatre when a prop gets a louder round of applause than any of the actors – but that’s kinda the point. You’re coming to see a flying car so when, at the end of the first act, she finally does fly, it had better be good. And it is. Very, very good. The car transforms – think Optimus Prime preparing for battle – wheels fold up, wings unfold… and then the car really does fly around the stage. Sitting where we were right at the top of the theatre, we couldn’t see underneath terribly well, so I can’t say how the effect works if you’re sitting in the stalls, but it does look stunning. The car had already turned into a hovercraft – cushion inflating from underneath it and moving around the stage – and this was even better. I confess to being a leeetle bit disappointed that there was no flying over the stalls, as in the West End / Broadway productions… but this was damn good anyway.
Certain other people have suggested that the show has too much of a panto flavour to it, appealing to little kids who can boo the bad guys and “aah” at the cuddly dogs (yes, there are real, life dogs on stage)… which is exactly the point. This is not Mary Poppins, with its very dark moments. It’s a light frolic through a few warped imaginations (I mean, what’s wrong with Ian Fleming? Truly Scrumptious? That’s even worse than Pussy Galore, for crying out loud.) that is probably many kids’ first experience of musical theatre (I doubt many will have been terribly impressed by Miss Saigon…).
Technically, this show is fantastic. Musically, wonderful – you will find yourself getting stuck in the lyrics. Under the surface – maybe not so much. But does it matter? No. This is Fun with a capital F, and that’s all it needs to be to be the huge hit that it is. See it!
Wow – a 1000-word theatre review. I’m impressed with myself. Makes up for the lack of posting recently, I suppose. I’ll do better from now on, promise!
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