Sunday 7th August 2016. Back at the Millenium Centre in Cardiff Bay for two more performances of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. After watching two shows yesterday can’t wait for today’s instalments of this wonderful show. With a small cast change as Nia Jermin comes in as Baroness Bomburst. I must admit she was very good in the role and proves that understudies from the Ensemble are worth their weight in gold.

I’ve been wondering why I keep crying at most of the shows I see, I think I can now explain it a little better after watching this show. The music is brilliant and starts off at a great pace, but then all of sudden there is a quiet reflective scene, where everything slows down and this amazing song hits at your heartstrings. The song that starts that off is ‘Hushabye mountain’ sang by Lee Mead in act one. Another is ‘Lovely Lonely Man’ from Carrie Hope Fletcher.  And finally ‘The Doll on a Music box’ sung by Carrie and Lee, both from act two. These three songs are exquisitely sung and just make me drift away to another realm, tearing at my emotions, causing the tears to flow. I think every musical I’ve seen has these mascara moments built in, and for me it really makes the show come to life, as so many different emotions run through your head, for a few hours of release from the humdrum working day.

Moving on to the other songs in the show, which most of the world and his dog know, the most famous being the title track itself, followed closely by Truly Scrumptious. The songs here work a lot better on stage than the film version, mainly due to crowd interaction with the onstage cast. ‘You Two’ and ‘Toot Sweets’ are well worked numbers  with Potts and his two children coming together for the former, and introducing Truly to the mix for the latter.

Everyone remembers ‘Me ol Bamboo’ sung at the fun fair with some Morris dancers thrown in for good measure. And not forgetting ‘Posh’ with Grandpa, Jeremy and Jemima.  We all know these tunes and it’s nice to get them out of the cupboard and have a good old fashioned sing along with them (not out loud of course). And that’s only act one.

Act two has’The Roses of Success’ another popular song with Grandpa and his 6 inventors jollying along the proceedings. Then after ‘lovely lonely man’ we have the unforgettable ‘Chu – Chi face’ by the Baron and Baroness, who later perform ‘The Bombie Samba’ to great applause.  Another of my favourite scenes is ‘Teamwork’ where Potts and Truly meet the lost children and together set about a rescue of Grandpa, Jeremy and Jemima. A great song performed by Lee, Carrie and the child Ensemble (who again are just so good). I must say that both performances today were brilliant as always and I can’t wait to come back next week for more of the same. With so many timeless, classic songs ringing out in this huge and fantastic theatre, no wonder I truly love this show. Any musical that can reduce me to tears every visit must be really good.