Review: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Chitty chitty bang bang, the British childhood favourite, written by James Bond’s author Ian Fleming and known for the film where Dick Van Dyke bypassed the dodgy accent entirely. The stage show has been world wide since 2002 and Chitty, the star of the production, landed last night at Nottingham’s Theatre Royal.

Many have grown up with the film and know the story well, which was reflected in the wide range of people in the audience who were ready to get swept away by the story.

The production for this show works brilliantly from the set pieces to the projections on stage to the lovingly recreated car taking centre stage.

The cast also bring the show to life with high energy numbers (with an absurd amount of syllables to rapidly pronounce). The cast seem to be having a great time performing bringing the elements that the story has into vibrant exciting 3D.

Lee Mead heads the cast as the kind hearted inventor and puts fantastic amounts of energy and vigour into the songs as well as the dialogue. Michelle Collins and Shaun Williamson bring the ‘baddies’ of the piece to life with ridiculous pomposity and hilarity. Big mention to the comedic stylings of Sam Harrison and brilliant Scott Paige as the Vulgarian spy duo. I particularly enjoyed their performances.