THE SUN SENTINEL
'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' will captivate kids and adults
November 20, 2008
By Bill Hirschman

The stagecraft that makes the roadster fly in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is pretty close to magical even if you have a good idea how they do it.

But it's not special effects that make this musical bank and loop through the Broward Center. It's the production's utter belief in the story it's telling. There is not a hint of an ironic wink of the eye and the sugar is measured out in spoonfuls rather than by the saccharine truckload. The result is a family musical that will captivate the children and not embarrass or bore the adults.

The kickoff to both the Broadway Across America series and the show's first national tour does not quite catch the entrancing magic this early in the run that its creators hope for, but a crowd willing to be entertained will not be disappointed.

The show is based on Ian Fleming's 1964 thin tale about a widowed inventor and his two children who refurbish a scrapped racing car in pre-war England and discover magical properties that take them on adventures. It birthed the beloved 1968 film, an even-more reworked 2002 London musical and finally the 2005 Broadway edition starring South Florida's Raul Esparza and Marc Kudisch -- with blockbuster production values on a par with Wicked.

Director Ray Roderick and his creative team have scaled back the scope for logistical and economic reasons, but they have significantly rewritten the script and deftly refocused the tone to create a fairy tale to seduce the emotions rather than overwhelm the senses.

But the producers have not cheaped out: A cast of 31 sell the new script, new direction and new choreography; a razzmatazz band plays new orchestrations, and finely-detailed sets and costumes evoke Rube Goldberg and Ruritania. If it's less opulent than the Broadway juggernaut, the inventive lighting and projections make up for it.

The cast solidly inhabits this world convincingly. They aren't three-dimensional characters, but even the intentionally clownish villains don't strike you as cartoons. Steve Wilson brings a fine voice, unswerving earnestness and endearing awkwardness to the father. The evening is not flawless. The second act script feels truncated and rushed, ticking off plot points between production numbers.

This Chitty is not a transformative experience; it is meant as a children's story to take the children in all of us on a brief trip above the clouds. It comes darn close.


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