Chitty & Rod’s Tonight’s the Night Launch ToursDate: 20 October 2005
Two recent West End musicals – screen-to-stager Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Rod Stewart compilation show Tonight's the Night - will launch regional tours in the coming months.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which finished its three-and-a-half year run at the London Palladium last month, takes flight on 9 December 2005 in Sunderland before continuing, with lengthy stints in each town, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Bristol and Southampton, where the UK schedule concludes on 15 September 2007. It will then set off on a European tour.
The musical version of the popular 1968 film (by James Bond creator Ian Fleming and staring Dick Van Dyke) tells the story of eccentric inventor Caractacus Potts and his children Jemima and Jeremy as they go on fantasmagorical adventures in their beloved four-fendered friend. Alongside Truly Scrumptious and batty Grandpa Potts, they try to outwit the dastardly Baron and the evil Child Catcher on the way. The Sherman Brothers’ original score includes “Truly Scrumptious”, “Hushabye Mountain” and the Oscar-nominated title song.
During its London run, Chitty was nominated for three Olivier Awards including Best Musical, and won the Whatsonstage.com Award for Best Designer (Anthony Ward) the Variety Club Award for Best Musical. The show opened earlier this year on Broadway, where it was nominated for five Tony Awards.
In addition to the famous flying car, which holds the Guinness World Record for being the most expensive prop in the history of British theatre, Chitty features a 70-strong company (including ten dogs). Adapted for the stage by Jeremy Sams, the production is directed by Adrian Noble, with choreography by Gillian Lynne and lighting by Mark Henderson.
In the touring production, Tim Flavin (Dames at Sea, My One and Only, Crazy for You) will star as Caractacus, the part played by Dick Van Dyke on screen and originated by Michael Ball on stage in the West End.
Tonight's the Night kicks off its UK tour on 6 February 2006 in Manchester and continues, until 24 June, to Milton Keynes, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Leicester, Nottingham, Bristol, Woking, Stoke on Trent, Plymouth, Southampton, Wolverhampton, Ipswich, Birmingham, Sunderland, Oxford, Wimbledon and Liverpool with further dates to be announced.
Ben Elton’s musical, fashioned around the greatest hits of British rocker Rod Stewart, premiered in November 2003 at the West End’s Victoria Palace, where it ran for nearly a year. In the Faustian tale, performed by a cast of 36, shy Stu makes a deal with the devil to be more like his idol Rod so that he can get the girl of his dreams.
One of the UK's biggest rock stars in the late 1960s and 1970s, Stewart's many hits over the years have included "Maggie May", "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy", "You Wear It Well", "Hot Legs", "The Killing of Georgie", "First Cut Is the Deepest", "You're in My Heart", "Sailing" and the show's title song, "Tonight's the Night".
- by Caroline Ansdell
Related Content
