Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Great entertainment

One of the engagements which kept me away from this keyboard yesterday was a family night out at the Sunderland Empire where we went to see a performance of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on it’s farewell tour, we though the kids would enjoy it, but didn’t expect to be so enthralled ourselves. What a marvellous show which kept us captivated until 10:00 pm.

The cast included former BBC Blue Peter man, Easington born, Matt Baker playing Caractacus Potts, the inventor. His father was played by Adam Chance who used to be in Crossroads all those years ago, Wayne Sleep, who was brought up in Hartlepool, played the evil Child Catcher, Baron Vulgaria was played by former Emmerdale actor Edward Peel, Nigel Garton and Jaymz Denning were hilarious as the two spies from Vulgaria, the land whose ruler has banished children and vowed to steal Chitty, and Rachel Stanley’s Truly Scrumptious was indeed truly scrumptious. There was also a cameo performance from ‘Baldrick’ Tony Robinson. We shouldn’t forget the superb performances by the child actors either, nor the ten dogs!

However the car was the star, along with the work put in by the backroom boys. I was amazed at how the old film script could be so well adapted to suit the stage but the magic was created by the technical staff who designed and contrived the excellent backdrops, scenery, props, lighting effects and the whizz bang fireworks and pyrotechnics!

So if you want to be entertained by Potts and his family get along there, the show runs until the 7th. June before the car is retired.

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