London Dates: April 16th 2002 – September 4th 2005 at the London Palladium (the longest running show at this venue, taking in over £70 million)
Broadway Dates; Apr 28, 2005 – Dec 31, 2005 at the Hilton Theatre, New York
Related Equipment:
Documents
Set in Motion: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (July 2025)
[External Website]
From Lighting & Sound International
Directed by: Adrian Noble
Music & Lyrics: Richard M Sherman, Robert B Sherman
Book: Jeremy Sams
Design: Anthony Ward
Musical Staging and Choreography: Gillian Lynne
Lighting: Mark Henderson
Sound: Andrew Bruce
Orchestrations & Dance Arrangements: Chris Walker
Production Musical Director: Robert Scott
Scenic (and vehicular) automation by Stage Technologies (see below)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on-car electrical systems by Howard Eaton.
The car holds the Guinness World Record as the most expensive stage prop, costing £750,000 (in 2002)
From the former Stage Technologies website
Location: Worldwide
Date Commenced: UK: April 2002, Singapore: November 2007, UK Tour: December 2005
Date Completed: UK: September 2005, Singapore: November 2007, UK Tour: ongoing
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was the first show in London’s West End to display the technical capabilities of our 3-dimensional automation plotting software, Pathway. In subsequent years, Pathway evolved into the double-award-winning Visual Creator software.
Creating the effect of a one-tonne, magical, flying car was a unique challenge, with the car mechanism alone taking three months of development and testing in Delstar Engineering’s workshop. The functionality of the Pathway software was extended to allow for additional pitch, yaw and rotate elements, enabling the car to perform 360-degree turns, whilst tilting and panning. Creative lighting hid the mechanical arm from sight to produce a polished and impressive illusion of an intelligent, flying car.
Following the show’s successful three-year run at the London Palladium, the production took to the road in December 2005, embarking on a national tour, meaning that the original design and control system needed to be tailored to the needs of the touring production. Significant design modifications were incorporated to create a transportable set that also adhered to restrictions on the removal of stage flooring in the receiving venues.
Equipment changes according to venue, below are details of that used in the last tour:
- Acrobat control desk
- MaxisMX control system
- 26 BigTow winches
- Pathway 3-dimensional plotting software
- Car arm and floor trap mechanisms
- Showdeck
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Finale