Review: CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG Flies Into the Belmont

Everyone of a certain age knows the 1968 movie, CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, or at least its Richard Sherman and Robert Sherman lyrics, and has probably raised their children and/or grandchildren on it. Fewer realize it wasn't a Disney production - the Disney songsmiths' identifiable style and the presence of MARY POPPINS' Dick Van Dyke faking British once more, as well as its being about a magical machine (Disney's THE LOVE BUG came out the same year) can lull one into thinking it's a Disney piece. But no - the original book was by James Bond novelist Ian Fleming, and the movie was produced by that legendary cinematic interpreter of all things Fleming, Albert "Cubby" Broccoli.

How it took until 2002 for it to be turned into a stage musical on the West End is anyone's guess, but it took that long until Jeremy Sams produced a book for The Sherman Brothers' music to go on stage. It didn't hit the States until 2006. With virtually anything filmed being made into a stage musical these days, its being overlooked as a source until then is almost inconceivable. This is music and story as familiar as any of the Disney musicals, and certainly no more plausible than any of them.

It's on stage at the Belmont Theatre as its pre-Christmas offering, and in its colorful sets and costumes, its family-friendly plot (the several slightly-racy jokes won't be caught by the little ones in the audience), and its magical atmosphere as well as a good, old-fashioned happy ending, it's a great choice even without an overt Christmas theme.

First things first: the car. Skip the rest of it, there's supposed to be a flying car. Is there a flying car in this production? Through the magic of stagecraft, yes. The set design by director Rene Staub, who's good at such things, provides projections and illuminated star backdrops, and some fog effects, that help the winged racer in its trip from England to Vulgaria, as well as in floating in the high tide. The car itself is a beautiful piece of work by the Belmont's carpenter Joel Persing, with some neat hydraulics built in. It's a very effective prop car, one that invites the audience to take a ride in it.

BRyan Gilbert tackles Van Dyke's role of Caractacus Potts, unheralded genius inventor, with a great deal of enthusiasm - and why not? He's got a flying car, after all, and Madeline Kunkowski as a truly scrumptious Truly Scrumptious. If his accent isn't as English as Van Dyke's, he also wasn't recently the world's best loved Cockney chimney sweep. Kunkowski could start a fad for big hats with scarves again, and she's lovely in "Doll on a Music Box" in Act Two. (Side note: this writer hasn't seen or listened to CCBB in years, and has spent just that long trying to place that song when it crops up in her head as an occasional earworm.)

Bill Jones is all things Grandpa Potts should be: crusty, lovable, and redefining eccentricity - he makes Caractacus look almost average. While no one can replace Lionel Jeffries in the part, Jones does a nice turn of British vaudeville in the production, just as Mark Hargreaves and Kendra Keiser do with the Baron and Baroness Bomburst. Jeff Gilbert, however, may walk away with the show as the evil, fiendish, nasty, horrible, and generally no-good Childcatcher. It's a small part, but Gilbert (no relation to the lead) has a big presence - one noted in its success by the young crowd's "boos" from the audience. Nothing spells success in stage musical villainy like a few good boos. The part only enhances the continual idea that the show, as opposed to the movie, has British music hall roots.

Seth Erdley and Payton Lutz are a fine Jeremy and Jemima, Potts' children, through whom the audience really experiences the show. Erdley is younger, though a good actor (and was charming in SCHOOL OF ROCK), but Lutz has been around the Belmont and in a number of other productions for a bit now, and her acting chops are definitely showing. Moving from a major part in SCHOOL OF ROCK to this, the very next show at the Belmont, she's shown no signs of tiring at her craft.

Drew Derreth and Jay Aburn are the would-be James Bond villains of the show, Boris and Goran, the incompetent Vulgarian spies. Yet more music hall comedy, and some great work with their physical comedy and dancing on "Act English," make one wish there were a bit more of them in the show. It's true that they're there merely as bungling foils for Potts - but they're such cuddly, adorable bungling fools.

The show is full of songs that you know, even if you forgot that you know them: "Hushabye Mountain," "Doll on a Music Box," and the title song among them. Not surprisingly, there's a considerable amount of singing in the audience during each moment of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", every time it's sung on stage. Mothers and grandmothers could be heard entering the theatre apologizing to others for their likelihood of singing along when the music started.

Of course as with any show, there are a few flaws. English is the performers' primary language but not their accent, let alone varying for regional accents. On the night this writer was present, the fog machine was enthusiastic enough to bring the entire audience to the seaside. A few other minor items failed to deter the audience from having a fine old time, or the cast from enjoying themselves as much as the audience did.

At the Belmont in York (formerly York Little Theatre) through the 27th. Up next, GIRLS' WEEKEND, in their Studio Theatre. Visit www.thebelmont.org.

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