Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at Bournemouth Pavilion Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Lisa
My family have just had the most amazing evening watching ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ the musical! Most of us know and love the classic film based on Ian Flemming’s book, with iconic songs like ‘Toot Sweets’, ‘Truly Scrumptious’ and of course ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ that get you singing along. When we heard about the opportunity to go and see a live production of it when it came to town we couldn’t resist! I took 2 of my children along, aged 10 and 8, and when we arrived at the Pavilion, we were excited to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang parked in front of the theatre, which had been brought along from Beaulieu motor museum. My kids treasured seeing it and having their photo with it, getting them excited for the show!
The production was faithful to the film, with a couple of new songs added in near the end for the child catcher and a samba dance party for the King’s birthday. They managed to tell the story really well, using quick and effective scene changes that integrated easily, and colourful costumes for the dances. The magical car was the highlight, which rose up and flew at different points! My son thought this was brilliant – as well as some of the other inventions we saw like the breakfast making machine.
Ore Oduba played Caractacus Potts and he was spectacular. His voice was beautiful and he had a great rapport with the children – who were equally brilliant! The two spies were hilarious, my 8 year old couldn’t stop laughing at their jokes he was enjoying it so much, especially when they were trying to be English and using phrases such as ‘spotted dick’! The King and Queen’s song to one another was also a lot of fun, and ‘me old bamboo’ dance was captivating with them using the sticks to dance around and Caractacus Potts trying to join in when he didn’t know the dance but was trying to hide from the man he gave a bad haircut to! Truly Scrumptious also sang beautifully, and her dance and song while she was a pretending to be a doll at the end was very convincing, showing all the mechanical movements exquisitely.
Bournemouth Pavilion is a lovely theatre right by the sea, with a car park just next door if you’re driving, although it is quite pricey. All the buses through the town centre also stop at the end of the road so really easy to get to. The seats were comfortable and we were in the stalls so had a great view. The show lasted for 2 hours and 40 minutes including an interval, where we took the opportunity to head to the buy and buy some ice creams!
We had a fabulous evening and I would definitely recommend the show to others as it was fun for our whole family. From start to finish we were encapsulated by this amazing production, full of energy, fun, and great singing! It is our favourite musical we have seen in a long time, so if I could rate it higher than 5 out of 5, I would!
Rating: 5/5
Tickets cost from £23.25 – £56.75
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is at Bournemouth Pavilion from 19th – 23rd March. For more information or to book tickets, visit www.bournemouthpavilion.co.uk or call the box office on 0300 500 0595.
Bournemouth Pavilion, Westover Rd, Bournemouth, BH1 2BU