Hull New Theatre – until 2nd November 2024
Reviewed by Dawn Bennett
5*****
If, like me, you’ve seen and enjoyed the film of the same name you will know the story and how good it is but nothing could have prepared me on how much I loved the show last night. From the first note from the outstanding orchestra (under musical director Jessica Viner) to the last bow, the fabulous cast had me and the Hull New Theatre audience in the palm of their hands and they well deserved the standing ovation.
The show tells the story of Caractacus Potts (Adam Garcia), a rather eccentric inventor, who lives with his two children Jeremy (Charlie McGuire), Jemima (Isla Ithier) and Grandpa Potts (Liam Fox). The children meet Truly Scrumptious (Ellie Nunn) who is not impressed with Caractacus’s parenting skills. He buys a car to repair for his children and then the magic appears. The Baron (Martin Callaghan) and Baroness (Jenny Gayner) of Vulgaria want the car and will stop at nothing to get it. They send their spies Boris (Adam Stafford) and Goran (Michael Joseph) to get the car and when they can’t get it, they decide to do the next best thing and kidnap the inventor, except they get Grandpa Potts instead! Caractacus, Truly and the children take Chitty and go to Vulgaria to rescue Grandpa and find out that Chitty can fly! They realise when they get there that as the Baroness hates children there are no children anywhere. They have a Childcatcher (played by The Vivienne) who soon finds the Potts children. And then the story unfolds….
Stand out performances for me were Adam Garcia who is every inch the leading man showing his amazing acting, dancing and singing skills. Adam Stafford and Michael Joseph were brilliant as Boris and Goran, they had excellent comic timing and some of the jokes that were a bit risqué and went over the heads of the younger members of the audience but totally hilarious. The Vivienne was gloriously evil as The Childcatcher and they totally embodied the character. Also, a shout out to the Ensemble who put their heart and soul into their performances and were magnificent!
The show was fast paced, funny, the cast were magnificent and this is one production that I would highly recommend. If you can manage to get one of the very few tickets left in Hull or fancy going to see them elsewhere in the tour you certainly won’t be disappointed.