A timeless classic that is fun for the whole family.
The Liverpool Empire played host to BOST’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang this weekend from Thursday 11th to Saturday 13th May. A musical adaptation from the Dahl’s and Hughes 1968 musical fantasy film production, this performance had something to please the whole family. As it was very kid friendly and had a little of everything from all-encompassing teamwork to a love-story, villains, dance numbers and even a flying car!
There were many positives of this production- the first being that it engaged the whole family through its use of catchy musical numbers, group dance numbers and humour. There was humour for both the children and the adults- in that simpsonenque way where the kids won’t know what the joke was about or I there even was a joke until they are much older.
The piece utilised big group dance performances throughout the play and BOST took some liberties adding in a tap dance number that worked well. The play also did something that I haven’t seen in a stage production before- that was the use of real animals. As the cast also included a group of six dogs that came on and off stage at various points in the first half. This was a novelty I and the rest of the audience enjoyed immensely as it provided a welcome surprise in such a well-known story and the cuteness factor of course helped.
Another selling point of this play has to be Chitty Chitty Bang Bang itself in all its flying glory- the car was an exciting part of the show as the flying scene paired with the classic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang tune was a high point of the production. With Truly Scrumptious, Caractacus Potts and his two children Jemima and Jeremy singing whilst the car moved on/above stage.
Other high points of this play include Truly Scrumptious’s solo: lovely lonely man and any scenes including the hilarious spies or Baron and Baroness Bomburst. The spies brought the hidden more mature humour as well as slap stick comedy. Whilst the Bombust’s brought to the stage these funny, not so evil characters that children could enjoy. The child catcher filled the role of the true villain of the story as seen by the boos he got from the crowd.
The one negative I have of this play which brings it down to an overall 3.5 stars is the storyline- a pretty important factor in any play. It was not as seamless as it could be and greater importance was put in the dance numbers than the storyline . Meaning it didn’t quite flow into a great story – there were gaps that one had to fill oneself. Overall I would recommend this play to anyone looking for a nice family night out.