Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - Sunderland Empire

May 4 2008 by Lesley Oldfield, Sunday Sun

I’LL confess straight away that I adore this show . . . its loveable characters, dramatic sets, colourful costumes, humour, dance routines and ingenious star, Chitty herself.

However, what I love most are the songs, none of them surplus to the plot and by turns touching, hilarious and barnstorming.

County Durham lad Matt Baker, formerly of Blue Peter, takes the main role as whacky inventor and widower Caractacus Potts . . . and manages it beautifully.

Wayne Sleep, who grew up in Hartlepool, reprises his West End turn as the nightmarish child catcher. And if you remember Adam Chance in Crossroads you’ll recognise Tony Adams as grandpa. But my favourite characters are the Baron and Baroness of Vulgaria, pictured, and their affectionate, ridiculous, love song.

The children who rescue Chitty — nine-year-old Eliott Allinson of Richmond, North Yorkshire, and Rebecca Chapman, 11, of Sunderland, on the night I attended — act, sing and dance like old pros at a time when, no doubt, they should be in bed — LESLEY OLDFIELD