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Caractacus Potts, played by Lee Mead, with Truly Scrumptious, played by Carrue Hope Fletcher and Aaron Gelkoff and Daisy Riddet as Jeremy and Jemima . . . and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Pictures: Alastair Muir Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Birmingham Hippodrome
***** WHAT magical, marvellous, truly
scrumptious entertainment for all the family, jam packed with not just a
feel good but a feel even better factor. A wonderful set, a flying car, an evil child
catcher, a toy obsessed baron and his psychotic wife, dastardly spies
with all the gump of house bricks, heroes and heroines, goodies and
baddies, singing, dancing and a plot that races along in a whirl of
glorious fun and familair songs – so what is not to like? Based on the 1968 film, which was based on Ian
Flemming’s 1964 novel, this is a new production of the tale of the famed
Grand
The only problem is that the ruler of Vulgaria
has his heart set on the car, setting in train a ripping yarn of
adventure and derring do. Lee Mead makes a splendid Caractacus; he’s
personable, likeable and has a fine singing voice, as confirmed by the
four albums to his name already. Press night saw Darcy Snares as Jemima and Elliot
Morris as Jeremy, the two Potts’ children, and what a grand job they
made of the roles, acting like . . . well children, which is not as easy
as it sounds. The talented pair are one of three teams playing the
roles.
Carrie Hope Fletcher has come from Éponine in Les
Misérables in the West End to the role of Truly Scrumptious, bringing
with her not only a fine singing voice but a delightful charm. The West
End’s loss, our gain. And completing the goodies we have Grandpa Potts,
Andy Hockley, who spends his time between India, which seems to resemble
a small upright shed with porcelain fittings, and his family, in a
nicely balanced performance as the old Colonial army veteran. Black hearted and black suited and booted baddy
is Matt Gillett, suitably booed at the end – the sign of an excellent
lord of the dark side. He is the scrap man who wanted to turn Chitty
into a block of iron and, as the action heads to Vulgaria, he transforms
into the child catcher, turning children into . . . at this point it is
best to just shudder. And ruling Vulgaria, Vulgar as they come, are
Phill Jupitas and Claire Sweeney as Baron and Baroness Bomburst,
producing a fine double act with some clever comic touches creating a
sort of amusing dictatorship. He loves toys, birthdays, and toys, and toys . .
. lots of them which is just as well for the Vulgar toymaker as the
Baroness hates children and has banned them from the realm, a ban
enforced by the Child Catcher – cue scary music. She is interested in . . . well as this is a
family show, we’ll just leave it at that, which is also what the Baron
does, incidentally. His overriding passion is Chitty, his ultimate
toy, and he sends his spies to capture both the car and the inventor, a
move which, if nothing else, shows the Baron suffers from either an
unnatural degree of optimism or a serious mental disorder . . . or both. Sweeney, showing a fine fair of legs and lungs in
the Brazilian birthday dance, gives us pure unadulterated ham, avoiding
getting too close to the bone - a lovely comic performance from the pair
of them. But when it comes to double acts Sam Harrison and
Scott Paige take the honours as the bumbling secret(ish) agents Boris
and Goran, masters of bad disguise and fiendishly worse plots. The pair are marvelously funny with some witty
lines and visual humour and bring
There is good support from the likes of Ewen
Cummins as first Bill Coggins who owns the garage and sells the wrecked
Chitty to Caractacus, and then as the Toymaker, helping the children
saved from the catcher and living in the sewers beneath the castle. And the fine ensemble enter into things with
gusto in some fine song and dance numbers from choreographer Stephen
Mear.
Director James Brining, who also directed the
acclaimed The Rise and Fall of Little Voice at Birmingham Rep,
has kept up a splendid pace. He brings a nice rhythm to the production all
helped by a stunning set from Simon Higlett which transforms in moments
from garage to the Potts’ workshop to sweet factory, fairground, beach,
Vulgaria and sewers all enhanced by Simon Wainwright’s imaginative full
stage video projections. Hushabye Mountain might have been simple but it
was a particularly effective scene, beautifully sung by Mead. It is all helped by a 12 piece orchestra under
musical director Andrew Hilton, which is huge by modern touring
standards and it shows in the fine sound they produce. It might be a bit silly, well a lot silly really,
but it is great fun and although it is a children’s story, and you know
the ending, you actually care about the characters in this fine West
Yorkshire Playhouse production. It might have been born in Leeds but the
production values are West End through and through. An evening of
delight. To 18-09-16 Roger Clarke 07-09-16
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Prix
winning racing car saved from the scrap heap after a crash and then
restored by inventor extraordinaire Caractacus Potts and made into a
magical flying car.
a
smile whenever they appear on stage, as spies go they are real Smiley
people.