Chitty’s obviously a show for kids, as is shown by the audience being about 80% composed of under-15-year-olds. It’s also a huge technical spectacle, special effects, grand sets, which often overwhelms the performers, which is a shame. It was sometimes hard to make out the lyrics, the musical drowned out every other sound, or perhaps the actors/actresses’ microphones were turned down too much.

I loved it and the songs are very catchy – the flying car was way cool, too. My favourite, the child catcher *coughs* was booed out by the audience every time I came on stage, although I thought he was doing a great job ;D. At the stage door, he drove off on his motorbike, probably afraid of being accosted by the kids.

Brian Blessed as the Duke was brilliant, finally seeing him on stage was just *wow*; he was hilarious, clearly had a great time – especially cute was his waving around his teddy bear.

Michael Ball (Potts) has a wonderful voice, although I wasn’t particularly fond of his interpretation of his character. “Hushaby Mountain” was gorgeous and his singing a treat.

Seeing many ex-CATS in the cast was a bonus: Emma Kerslake is a lovely ballerina on tiptoe during the fairground scene; Julie Barnes a marvellous dancer, and Lindsey Wise, sweet as always. I also got to see CATS-vid Victoria Phyllidia, she’s also a very graceful dancer.

My greatest joy was seeing Peter Bishop (favourite Gus/Bustopher – CATS). He won the first race (England vs. Vulgaria) in the “Opening”, then danced away with great spirit and elegance and a charming smile for “Me Ol’ Bamboo”, which is also one of my favourite songs.

Finally, Peter was one of the inventors in “The Roses of Success” – unfortunately we couldn’t catch him at the stage door, he slipped past us while Michael Ball was posing and giving autographs.

Leading lady (Truly Scrumptuous) was very good and I also loved Grandpa Potts and the Baroness. The Vulgarians had mock-German accents, which I thought was kind of cute ;D. My favourites were the ensemble dance scenes though. According to Tommii (CATS-vid Coricopat), Chitty was physically the easiest show he’d done, although the costumes were quite hot, but, to quote, “After CATS it’s all a walk in the park”.

Pre-Show and Stagedoor:

F. and I went to the stage door around 18.15 to leave messages for Frank Thompson (CATS-vid Admetus) and Tommii Sliiden. As it turned out, Tommii was signing a piece of cloth just then and when he was handed the envelope he asked us about it. F. said that it was from the girl who was doing his website and he was very sweet.

He began talking (very pleasant, soft voice) and, on finding out I live near Vienna, talked about being there with Sarah Brightman, in winter and going to the Christmas market in front of the town hall and climbing the tower of St. Stephen’s Cathedral.

When he was told that picture contribution to the website would be grand, he went off at once and came back with a map of photos which he proudly showed to us. Lots of shots of him as Skimbleshanks, Mungojerrie, Coricopat and a swing kitten that looked like Carbucketty. He had fantastic make-up. He also showed us pics of him as a singing coconut – cute – and as an ice creature (scary make-up), as well as two images from the CATS video shoot (Coricopat’s face close-up and the cast hissing at the Jellicle Ball).

Then Tommii took us along and gave us an impromptu backstage tour! The space behind the stage is pretty cramped – he shares a mini room with ten other guys and there are about sixty guys to one shower. For the costume changes – they all seem to take place in a small hallway where people barely have room to stand around. Tommii said there was no room for bashfulness. He also showed us the details on the Spanish dancers’ costumes – each has a distinct pattern of paillettes you never get to see unless you’re really close up.

There are about forty people in the cast and quite a few kids. We were told how expensive some of the equipment can be – the tiny microphones are about GBP 400 each, the transmitter pack costs about GBP 1,000 and some other necessary device (forgot what it was) GBP 3,000. Tommii also showed us where the microphones are plugged in – they are labelled with the performers’ names and a number, Tommii’s was 26 I think.

We were taken past a few dancers practicing (ex-CATS spotted ;D) as well as an impressive amount of machinery, the old Chitty car and also the brand new one, sparkling and ready to be pushed out on stage. Tommii also showed us the huge map of the world used. Vulgaria’s a slightly compressed Austria (without Vienna) and Tommii said the Swedish names were correctly spelled in their Swedish version. He also showed us (on the map) where he trained and where his sister lives at the beach (we’d seen a cool photo of him kneeling in the sand near her house with dark hair).

It was absolutely thrilling to be taken round backstage, it’s something you never get to see otherwise. At the end of the tour, Tommii pointed to a piece of paper advertising massages and told us he was doing those. He said they were Swedish massages which no one in Sweden seemed to know, Thai, and something else. He told us he hoped it wouldn’t rain as he was at the theatre on his bike.

We saw him at the stage door after the show and he stopped and posed for a picture. Absolutely thrilling. I also saw Lindsey Wise (Jemima, CATS) again and got her autograph – she looked a bit like a fairy with gold glitter on her face and her blond hair ;D.