Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (musical)

Productions

The musical premiered in the West End at the London Palladium on April 16, 2002 with six new songs by the Sherman Brothers who wrote the original Academy Award-nominated title and song score as well. The West End production, directed by Adrian Noble with musical staging and choreography by Gillian Lynne, closed in September 2005. It was the longest running show ever at the London Palladium, taking in over £70 million in its three and a half year run. The Palladium's famous revolving stage (as seen on Sunday Night at the London Palladium) was entirely taken out to accommodate the technology and storage space for the flying Chitty car, which itself holds the Guinness World Record as the most expensive stage prop, costing £750,000.

The Broadway production opened on April 28, 2005 at the Lyric Theatre (then the Hilton Theatre), garnering good reviews only for the lavish sets. Ben Brantley in the New York Times noted that the show "naggingly recalls the cold, futurist milieus of movies like 'Modern Times' and 'Metropolis,' in which machines rule the universe" and featured songs that sounded "not unlike what you might hear in sing-along hour in a pre-K class". The production was again directed by Adrian Noble with choreography by Gillian Lynne and starred Raúl Esparza (Caractacus Potts), Erin Dilly (Truly Scrumptious), Philip Bosco (Grandpa Potts), Marc Kudisch (Baron Bomburst), Jan Maxwell (Baroness Bomburst) and Henry Hodges (Jeremy Potts). The Broadway production closed on December 31, 2005 after 34 previews and 285 regular performances. According to producer Nicholas Paleologos, "A substantial portion of the $15 million (initial investment) will not be recouped on Broadway."

A US National tour began in November 2008 at the Broward Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, with a revised script by Ray Roderick, who is the tour director. These revisions have since become part of the licensed script. The original US touring prop car is now under exclusive ownership by Tony Garofalo of New York City, released by Big League Productions and currently being used for private display use as well as fundraising events. This prop vehicle is a full sized version and fully equipped with many hydraulically activated stage tricks, such as surround stage mounted lighting, retractable wings, and spinning 45 degree tilt tires.

Since closing in London, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang toured around the UK, stopping in Sunderland (9 December 2005- 4 March 2006), Manchester (20 March 2006- 10 June 2006), Birmingham (23 June 2006- 2 September 2006), Liverpool (18 September 2006- 18 November 2006), Edinburgh (1 December 2006- 24 February 2007), Bristol (9 March 2007- 9 June 2007) and Southampton (25 June- 15 September 2007), Bradford (11 February 2008 - 5 April 2008), Sunderland (17 April 2008 - 7 June 2008), Cardiff (3 July 2008 - 30 August 2008). The UK Tour visited Asia for the first time when it opened on 2 November 2007 in Singapore's Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay. Encouraging ticket sales resulted in an extension of the show to 9 December, adding 24 more shows to a run which was originally planned to end on 18 November 2007.

In 2009, the original production toured the UK until 2010 on a smaller scale, directed by original director Adrian Noble and choreographed by David Morgan. This tour used the script revisions used for the US tour by Ray Roderick.

A brand new production by Music and Lyrics Productions is currently touring the UK, directed by West Yorkshire Playhouse artistic director, James Brining and choreographed by Stephen Mear, following a run at the Playhouse over Christmas 2015/16. It is scheduled to tour until 4 February 2017 at the Bristol Hippodrome.

The Australian national production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang opened on November 17, 2012 at the Capitol Theatre, Sydney, Australia.

The German premiere of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang took place on April 30, 2014 at the State Theatre on Gaertnerplatz in Munich/Germany, translated by Frank Thannhaeuser, directed by Josef E. Koepplinger and choreographed by Ricarda Regina Ludigkeit.

Songs

Notes: Since the 2008 US tour, the following songs have been omitted: "Come to the Funfair", "Kiddy-Widdy-Winkies", "Us Two/Chitty Prayer". "Kiddy-Widdy-Winkies" was replaced with a version of "Lovely Lonely Man" from the original film, sung by Truly Scrumptious. The overall script is also changed to more closely match the film, notably, missing the childcatcher tricking the family by dressing as the Toymaker and Grandpa. In the 2012 Australian production,"Kiddie-Widdy-Winkies" was put back in the line-up of songs, but has since not been put back into the 2015 UK tour.