Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on stage is a great, family-friendly musical. It’s based on the famous film, and it works great on stage as well. Here’s my Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on stage theatre review.
Overview of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on stage
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on stage follows the same story as the classic film. If you’ve seen the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, then my Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on stage theatre review won’t give any plot spoilers. The plot is almost exactly the same in the stage musical as it is in the film. So if you’re a fan of the film, you’ll likely enjoy the stage musical as well.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on stage follows the story of Caractacus Potts and his two children, Jeremy and Jemima. Caractacus Potts is an inventor, working on all sorts on inventions with his father – Grandpa to the children. When Jeremy and Jemima skip school one day, they are found by Truly Scrumptious – a beautiful woman who becomes a friend of the family.
The children have an old racing car that they play with. Two men want to buy the car, but the children promise that their father will pay 30 shillings to enable them to keep the car. Caractacus Potts keeps working on his inventions to try to raise the money. He invents ‘toot sweets’, which is tries to sell to Truly Scrumptious’s father. He also invents a haircut machine, which he tries to sell at a fair. Despite the machine not working and him having to run away from a disgruntled customer (and join in the ‘Old Bamboo’ song), Mr Potts manages to sell the machine and get the money to buy the children the car. He renovates the car into a beautiful, shiny new car.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Caractacus Potts, Truly Scrumptious, Jeremy and Jemima all go out for the day to the beach in the car for a picnic. They call the car ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ because of the noise it makes.
When out on the picnic, Mr Potts starts inventing a story for the children. He tells them that the Bulgarians, on a boat out to sea want the car. To escape, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang can suddenly float in water. The Bulgarians kidnap Grandpa, thinking that he invented the car, and take him to Bulgaria. So then Chitty Chitty Bang Bang flies to Bulgaria to rescue Grandpa.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in Bulgaria
When they arrive in Bulgaria, they learn that children are not allowed in Bulgaria. Mr Potts tries to go to the castle to rescue Grandpa, and Truly goes to find some food for the children while they hide. However, Jeremy and Jemima are lured out by the childcatcher, and they’re captured and taken to the castle.
Caractacus and Truly come up with a plan to rescue the children. They gain entry to the castle by pretending to be wind-up toy dolls, as a present for the King’s birthday. Once inside, and with the help of other captured children in the castle, they manage to overthrow the King and Queen of Bulgaria. Caractacus Potts, Truly Scrumptious, Jeremy and Jemima leave in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, flying home.
What I liked about Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on stage
I really enjoyed Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on stage. It’s a fun, family friendly musical with good-natured humour throughout.
The impressive car on stage
The real highlight of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on stage is the car, and the special effects of the car flying. I saw this production in Bristol in 2025 and I was really impressed with the car and the special effects. The car was beautiful – it was so shiny on stage under the lights. It was a proper, full-size car – it didn’t look like a model at all.
I was impressed when the car floats. They made the car raise up slightly, and inflatables around it were inflated as the car moved about. It looks really impressive. But the car flying was even more impressive. The wings came out, just like in the film. And the car really flew. It went right up to the top of the stage, and then slowly spun around up high. I was so impressed with the effects. And it felt especially impressive, given that this was a touring production of the show, so it was only on in each venue for 5 days. It was amazing what they’d managed to achieve on stage in such a short time.
The special effects of the car flying reminded me of the musical Back to the Future in London. It really was that good.
The rest of the set was good too. Mr Potts’s home was good, with an impressive car windmill. And the set changed with the scenes, so it was always clear where each scene was send. The beginning scene at the Grand Prix was good, and the sweet factory. I also liked the set for the Bulgarian Castle, and also the fayre. Each set was elaborate and colourful and really added to the performance.
The songs, plot and performances
I liked that Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on stage didn’t make many changes from the famous film. I enjoyed the film, and I imagine most people in the audience would have also seen the film and enjoyed it. So it was nice to see the show remain true to the film. I recently saw a stage production of Mary Poppins, which made a lot of changes to the film, which I wasn’t so keen on. I really liked that Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was similar to the film. It had all of the same songs (plus a couple of extras). But all of the songs we know and love from the film are in the stage musical.
I thought the performances of all of the characters were good. Caractacus Potts was excellent. From a seat towards the back of the balcony in a large theatre, I could almost believe it was Dick Van Dyke on stage. His energy was great. And his singing voice was great as well, especially in the softer song ‘Hushabye Mountain’. He did a great performance in ‘The Old Bamboo’ song as well. That song and dance was a real highlight of the show for me. The singing and the acrobatic dancing were amazing. The wind-up toys song ‘Doll in a music box’ was great as well, with both Mr Potts and Truly Scrumptious giving a great performance.
All of the cast sang the title song ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ well, and I think everyone left the theatre with that song in their head. The children who played Jeremy and Jemima were brilliant as well. They had a lot of lines, a lot of songs, and a lot of time on stage. And they performed perfectly.
What I wasn’t so sure about
Overall, I really enjoyed Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. There were just a few aspects of the show that I wasn’t so sure about.
Childish humour, especially the Bulgarian duo
Some of the humour in the show was quite childish. I know that’s to be expected in a family-friendly show. But I sometimes felt like there was a bit too much childish, pantomine-like humour. This was mostly from the Bulgarian men duo – the two men who first try to buy Chitty Chitty Bang Bang from Mr Potts. Their performance was very pantomine-like, with a lot of jokes about ‘Spotted Dick’ and them falling over a lot. Younger children might enjoy it. But there was a bit age range in the audience, including a lot of older people who probably saw the film when it was first out. So this type of humour didn’t appeal to all of the audience.
At first, I was concerned that this show would be too child-ish for adults to enjoy. I was concerned that it was going to be pantomine-like. But as the show progressed I got a lot more into it. And the impressive sets, especially the flying car, really saved the show for me. But there were still aspects throughout that felt a bit too childish to really enjoy.
The Child-Catcher and the random Brazil Samba dance
I wasn’t very impressed with the Child-Catcher in this performance of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. In the film, the Child-Catcher is really memorable, and really creepy. The Child-Catcher in this show just didn’t have the same presence. It might not be a bad thing that they weren’t as creepy – the Child-Catcher in the film is fairly terrifying for younger children! But the actor playing the Child-Catcher on stage just didn’t quite hit the mark for me. Her voice was very shrill, and it felt like she was playing the character as a comedy witch. The show also added a song for the Child-Catcher that wasn’t in the original film. I think the song was so the Child-Catcher could have more stage time, but I wasn’t impressed with the song or the performance. None of it was especially bad, it just wasn’t as memorable as the character in the film, and didn’t inspire the same emotions in the audience.
The stage musical also added another song in the second half. They added a song for the Queen of Bulgaria and their staff. It was a Brazil-themed Samba type of dance. And it was weird. And didn’t feel like it fitted the plot at all. I think the whole purpose of the additional song was to cover a costume change of the main characters. Caractacus and Truly had just done a scene with the hidden children in the Bulgaria Castle, with a nice song (and this one was new – it wasn’t in the film, but it was a nice song about them all working together). Caractacus and Truly then needed time to change costumes and get into make up for the wind-up dolls dance. So I think the Samba song was added to cover this costume and make up change. But the song just felt weird. I’m sure they could have found a better song and dance to cover the costume change.
Would I recommend Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on stage
Overall, I enjoyed Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on stage. My Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on stage theatre review is positive. So I would recommend this musical. I think anyone who enjoyed Chitty Chitty Bang Bang the film will like the stage musical. It’s good-natured, light-hearted fun. There are a few silly and childish moments, but there’s still plenty in the show that adults will enjoy as well. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang the stage musical includes all of the songs that people love from the film, with great performances from the main cast. And the special effects of the flying car are really impressive and a real, memorable highlight from the show. It’s a nice evening out.
Hope you enjoyed my Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on stage theatre review! Check out my other theatre reviews for more shows in the West End, across the UK and the world.
