Chitty Chitty Bang Bang | Birmingham Hippodrome.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (UK Tour)
Birmingham Hippodrome, Birmingham

★★★★★

If there's one musical I was hoping to tick off my list this year then it was the highly anticipated return of Ian Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It assures to amaze their audience's throughout the UK Tour and it definitely brought the house down on it's opening night at Birmingham Hippodrome.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is without a doubt an iconic musical packed with a memorable score, great storyline and a terrifying character in the shape of The Childcatcher (he's still as scary as I remember when first watching the film all those years ago). The UK tour is just as colour and animated as I had remembered when I saw it in west end all those years ago. The performance will have you amazed by the slick choreography, alignment with the original storyline and a flying car of course!

Carrie Hope Fletcher showed every bit of strength and confidence as the leading lady in her role as Truly Scrumptious. Having maintained an unforgettable performance as Eponine in Les Miserables at the Queen's Theatre in the West End it was great to see her undertake a role with ease and I'm so excited for what she may undertake next. Plus she's one of my ultimate favourite Youtubers.

Lee Mead who I know more as Lofty in BBC's Casualty had a bit of a task on his hand undertaking Dick Van Dyke's role as Caractacus Potts. Having managed to create an incredible professional career within stage and on screen, Lee completely emerged himself within Van Dyke's charisma and loving character with strong vocals for good measure.

Spies Goran and Boris played by Scott Paige and Sam Harrison were an absolute hit with the audience in a comedy duo that complimented the performance well. Their duet, Act English was a really enjoyable song with incredible vocals to match. I'd love to see these pair undertake more roles within this style in the future.

Video Designer Simon Wainwright brought the imagination and storytelling element needed to bring the story of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to life to great levels. I couldn't believe how creative and imaginative the whole stage became with the help of Simon's creativity.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang isn't complete without it's young Jeremy and Jemima Potts to complete the cast. Our Jeremy and Jemima for the performance, Elliot Morris and Darcy Snares showed great professionalism and ease within their professional debuts in a UK tour.

One of the highlights for the entire performance for me (besides the flying car which made me emotional at first) was the choreography. Born in the midlands, and taught at the same dance school I began dancing at Stephen Mear continues to create choreography which is full of flare, energy and style.

His choreography completed suited the whole atmosphere and energy levels Chitty Chitty Bang Bang needed and his tap choreography in Mr Ol' Bamboo was my absolute favourite. He had nailed down the steps needed to complete this piece and his style was so vivid for me to see.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is definitely not a performance to be missed and will be playing at Birmingham Hippodrome until 18th September. 

Disclaimer: I was invited to the press evening performance of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on it's UK Tour when it performed at the Birmingham Hippodrome in return for this post to be published. The photos are sourced from the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang wesbite . All views are on my own.