Chitty the Musical

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Poster for Original Broadway Production
Music	Richard M. Sherman Robert B. Sherman
Lyrics	Robert B. Sherman Richard M. Sherman
Book	Jeremy Sams
Basis	Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 1968 film
Productions	2002 West End 2005 Broadway 2005 National UK Tour 2007 Singapore 2008/09 National US Tour 2009 National UK Tour 2012/13 Australian National Tour 2014 Munich 2015/16 National UK Tour

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a stage musical based on the 1968 film produced by Albert R. Broccoli. The music and lyrics were written by Richard and Robert Sherman with book by Jeremy Sams.

The musical premiered in the West End at the London Palladium on April 16, 2002 with six new songs by the Sherman Brothers who wrote the original Academy Award-nominated title and song score as well. The West End production, directed Adrian Noble (at the time the artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company) with musical staging and choreography by Gillian Lynne, closed in September 2005. It was the longest running show ever at the London Palladium, taking in over £70 million in its three and a half year run. The Palladium's famous revolving stage (as seen on Sunday Night at the London Palladium) was entirely taken out to accommodate the technology and storage space for the flying Chitty car, which itself holds the Guinness World Record as the most expensive stage prop, costing £750,000.

The Broadway production opened on April 28, 2005 at the Lyric Theatre (then the Hilton Theatre), garnering good reviews only for the lavish sets. Ben Brantley in the New York Times noted that the show "naggingly recalls the cold, futurist milieus of movies like 'Modern Times' and 'Metropolis,' in which machines rule the universe" and featured songs that sounded "not unlike what you might hear in sing-along hour in a pre-K class". The production was again directed by Adrian Noble with choreography by Gillian Lynne and starred Raúl Esparza (Caractacus Potts), Erin Dilly (Truly Scrumptious), Philip Bosco (Grandpa Potts), Marc Kudisch (Baron Bomburst), Jan Maxwell (Baroness Bomburst) and Henry Hodges (Jeremy Potts). The Broadway production closed on December 31, 2005 after 34 previews and 285 regular performances. According to producer Nicholas Paleologos, "A substantial portion of the $15 million (initial investment) will not be recouped on Broadway."