Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

How does this production start then?

I remember the original Palladium version went straight into the Grand Prix before the scene in the junkyard. Then the 2006 tour began with an introduction to Jeremy and Jemima, then Caractacus and Grandpa then Coggins narrating the Grand Prix to the children (which I remember seeing they used for the Broadway production on YouTube - which has since been taken down!).

I remember both versions too. I liked the Grand Prix song, but the 2006 tour version got to the point

This version starts with two children playing with toy cars, leaves one behind, so that Caractacus Potts comes along picks up and think "I like cars". Then for the rest of the overture that's going on he stands in the middle of the stage watching people walk by

Yay

The overture even lacks the get go that the original version had. The one you can hear on the CD that has been used in the London and previous touring versions.

There's some brief projections of press cuttings of the Grand Prix before anyone mentions that Chitty was a racing car. Couldn't they have used those a few minutes later?

We then go into Mr Coggin's junkyard, which is restricted to a strip of the lower part of this wall that acts as the curtain. During which we switch between heaps of exposition and longeurs of filler.

The filler being the children pretending to drive in the Grand Prix in the wreck, whilst the ensemble stand at the sides singing the "Never was a car" chorus. All in front of an endless projection loop of bunting flashing by. Not very involving and these moments last for a minute or so. It happens a second time with Caractacus now involved, swinging the wreck round in a circle on it's obvious wheeled truck whilst he sings a bit of Team Work.

We then go back to the exposition. Which is exasperated when we have to jump to Bavaria in the middle of all this to establish Bomburst wants the car that he somehow knows about (gone is the detail that he was at the Grand Prix). Then he has a lengthy phone conversation with the spies, who appear a few minutes later to establish that they've found the car

I should also mention that Chitty's crash is merely brought up in passing. So what impact that had has gone. It's just 'this once famous racing car is now in a junkyard'

The scrap man (also the Childcatcher) has more stage time, which slows down proceedings further. Especially when we have to watch him cycle around the place.

We meet Truly and then You Two is sung (still in the Junkyard). We then watch Caractacus and the children walk back home, so we can establish the watermill through projections

The projections I must say are average. They do this thing where buildings are objects are drawn in at random. I can't decide whether that was an artistic decision or because of the graphics limitations. They are worse when the show has to establish the countryside flying by when Chitty is driving

Anyway once we get into the windmill You Two is then reprised, which makes me wonder why it wasn't sung there in the first place.

The thing is, it takes about 10-20 minutes for us to get to the windmill. In the 2006 version, the musical introduces the main characters, goes to the junkyard, Mr Coggins briefly tells children about Chitty's racing life whilst sitting in the wreck, ensemble sings "never was a car" in the background, crash happens, back to present, Bombarst is mentioned, scrap man wants car, spies are introduced, we meet Truly, she takes children back to windmill where we meet Caractacus.

Badda-bing, badda-boom. Less than 10 minutes. Gets to the point

You could say that this tour is a lesser version of the original, but together with the extra sets and projections it really makes a mountain out of a molehill. 

Not really helped that it is using the unnecessary alterations made in the 2009/10 tour, which reduced the childcatcher's role by taking out his song. Not that I'm complaining with Martin Kemp's performance

As predicted, Carrie Hope Fletcher will be Truly Scrumptious in the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang tour between 4th May and 2nd October.

Oh lord so not only do I have to contend with Lee's crazy old ladies but now we have Carrie's crazy teenagers! Be an interesting audience!

Yeah a lot of people may be ok but it doesn't take many super fans to ruining an experience for everyone else. I've witnessed some truly appalling & vicious behaviour from both sets of fans both inside & outside the theatre and them combined isn't something I relish. Hoping the fact it is a regional show will lessen the amount that all congregate in one place lol

You've been lucky if that's the case. Lots and lots of actors have superfans. Symptoms include over-the-top laughing at jokes (I don't mean a hearty laugh, I mean a clearly put-on laugh), loitering round the stage door, asking for a million photos/autographs, whooping with disregard for the rest of the audience/at inappropriate points... and harassing on Twitter (though that's less relevantto this convo). I'm afraid Lee does have fans like this, but so do a lot of people. It's not always an issue.

Potts is hardly a role to get the pulse racing though so lets pray that whooping/wolf whistling etc are kept to a minimum!

Know what you mean. I went to a Michael Ball concert many years ago and got some returned tickets from the fan club which were in the front section of the theatre.  Before he actually came on, a lady asked me if I was in the fan club because this was THEIR section and Michael liked his fans to stand up and dance more or less all the way through the show. I am a huge MB fan but didn't like being told how I should act by his Ballettes as I believe they are called.

The best news is.......it'll keep her away from the West End. Thank goodness this rather cheap looking tour has finished in my area

I mean, I'm not entirely sure what you're saying here, but it's really not unusual in the entertainment industries for people to be given a job but asked not to talk about it until after an embargo date. So... yes, it would be weird to say you have a job before getting it, but you're assuming she hadn't been given the job back in December.

Yes, I thought it seemed rushed too. 

A new (IMO, poorly made!) trailer has been released...



Didn't realise how small the Chitty car is! I'm surprised it's not a Kenwright production! At least from the side it still looks like the original, just miniature.

Good to see Manford can use the internet for other things.