One of the all-time musical films has found it’s way to the Palace Theatre for one week only! ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ opened the curtains on what can only be described as the perfect show for all the family.
I never really had an opinion of the film growing up – but nobody can forget the energy of Dick Van Dyke and the smiles the film created, but this stage show embodied every single element and was nothing but pure joy to watch.
The set and lighting of this show were excellent – so bright and colourful that you find yourself smiling before the show has even started. The cleverly worked set with the use of multiple platforms and scrapyard bits being used to create new settings and scenes was just fantastic!
Before moving on to the performances, I must acknowledge the band, who really brought this show to a special piece. The underscores and songs themselves gave me goosebumps and that is down to them as well as the actors so another big bravo there.
Now the performers – WOW.
Ore Oduba (Caractacus Potts) was simply sensational – the heart warming family man and inventor just melted his way into everyone’s hearts from the very start and every moment he spent on the stage just brought bigger and bigger smiles wherever you looked. This was accompanied by fantastic musical numbers, the big highlight, of course, being ‘Hushabye Mountain’. I can’t wait to see Ore in more.
Photo Credit: Paul Coltas
Ellie Nunn (Truly Scrumptious) was wonderful. The cheery, loving character was shining throughout the whole show and her connection with Oduba was beautiful. She looked the part, Sounded the part, and in fact – She WAS the part. Excellent stuff.
I will group Lara Simon and Charlie Banks (Jemima and Jeremy Potts) with Liam Fox (Grandpa Potts) together – they were superb individually, but the connection of the little ones who had just as much love for Grandpa as they did for Dad was so evident and just so lovely to see. Young Simon and Banks are absolute stars in the making and I can’t wait to see where they go. Liam also did a great job with his accent and his comedy timing was exceptional.
THE VULGARIANS – Some of the best casting and performances I’ve ever seen. I’ll start with comedy duo, Adam Stafford and Michael Joseph (Boris and Goran). Ridiculous, Hilarious, Animated and outright perfect. It’s been a while since I laughed that much and these two are worth the price of every ticket. This is then matched by Martin Callaghan and Jenny Gayner (Baron and Baroness) who just had the audience in the palm of their hand. Little pieces of audience participation were just the cherry on top of what was a ridiculously funny performance.
Photo Credit: Paul Coltas
Charlie Brook (The Childcatcher) was a lovely round-off for this cast. The evilness oozed out of her and her mannerisms were down to a tee. An evil ‘Childcatcher’ is what we wanted and it’s exactly what we got! It’s important to acknowledge this show lost The Vivienne early this year in this role and was remembered by cast in the finale, Brooks stepped into this role and did it justice in memoriam of James Lee Williams – congratulations and I’m sure this show will always remember The Vivienne.
Finally, The Ensemble were brilliant and kept this show alive in it’s entire duration. Great singing, fab dancing and everything you could ever want from a classic show. Both the elder ensemble and children should be so proud of the work they are doing up there because it is perfection.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is only in Manchester a short time and you only have until Sunday 16th and it is a 10/10 show not to be missed. If you want to get tickets, you can do so at:
https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/chitty-chitty-bang-bang/palace-theatre-manchester/
