Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Adapted from Ian Fleming’s novel, with music and lyrics by the Sherman brothers, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is sprinkled with favourite characters from everyone’s childhood. Affable widower-inventor Caractacus Potts (Craig Davidson) is the devoted Dad. Now Davidson has wonderful vocals (this man knows how to sing) and moments with his children Jeremy Potts (Eddison Collyer) and Jemima Potts (Imogen Bakoss) - who are ones to watch in the future - they were hands down fabulous! Grandpa Potts (Laurie Boardman) is certainly a character the audience fell in love with. The final addition to The Potts clan is the divine Truly Scrumptious (Sam Taylor).

Two comical duos who deserve an honourable mention are the dastardly Vulgarian spies Boris (Becky Bennison) and Goran (Sam Legeret) who ham it up at every opportunity much to the delight of the audience, Act English was hilarious. Of course, Baroness Bomburst (Frances Holt) and Baron Bomburst (Stephen Avery), were the other duo who had the audience in stitches. Not a bad feat for Avery, who stepped in opposite Holt with a day in rehearsal. Holt, as a wonderful scene partner, was leading Avery through some scene work but he rose to the challenge and met her, the two adlibbing comfortably and not breaking character. Now I don’t know what a Vulgarian accent is and I had some trouble at times catching all the dialogue but honestly I was too busy laughing to really mind, along with everyone else. I enjoyed the featured roles, although Childcatcher (Todd Holmes) was slightly terrifying. 

A capable cast comprising of a strong adult ensemble, featured dancers and 8 children rounded out the cast. Choreographer Sophie Cornett has done some great work with the cast and routines, especially with her featured dancers. 

The music box scene was a standout, along with well-loved musical numbers including ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’, ‘Teamwork’ and ‘Toot Sweets’.  The crowd could be heard having a sing on occasion throughout the show. Although there were some mighty fine vocals, the ensemble was a treat under Susan Brown’s Musical Direction. The team chose to use backing tracks as opposed to a live orchestra for this show. 

The set was simple, with various set pieces that were moved on and off to allow for the movement of the vehicles on the stage. It was great to see the involvement of all creatives with some handmade set pieces on stage. I was very impressed with the haircutting machine! Projections helped to establish various locations. The only comment I would make was some of the activity happened stage right on a free-standing stage with the Vulgarian Royalty placed there for the most part - although a clever idea to conserve stage space and assist with scene changes, it was obscured for some seats.  

The Camden Civic Centre is a lovely venue, car parking is limited, and it took a while to get in the door, so the show did get underway a bit late but as the audience did enter there was a lovely warm welcome and static displays to admire. 

Camden Musical Society was a lovely drive down memory lane - congratulations to the team on a heart-warming nostalgic show. It was toot-riffic. 

Special mention to 8-year-old Maya Ragusi who trod the boards for the first time. It is always a special night for this reviewer to see someone on stage for the first time.

Nicole Smith