Chitty tour 2009- Page 3

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 1/3/09 at 3:18pm

I suppose Philly for my birthday will have to be it.. You never can tell if there is a CT date that has posted or anything like that, you know?

[TheCharleston]

Posted: 1/3/09 at 3:22pm

you know it's a slow day when you're trying to get insider info on tour dates from a child actor's Dad... oye.

[RunswithScissors]

Posted: 1/3/09 at 7:35pm

How are the lead actors and/or the understudies?

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/4/09 at 10:01am

you know it's a slow day when you're trying to get insider info on tour dates from a child actor's Dad... oye.

Gee, I know what you mean! The only thing more pathetic would be to create a sock and act like a bitch about something you pretend not to care about and think is so uncool just to keep up the pretense that you are a snarky bitch so people will think you're intelligent and cool. Hahaha! And then misspell "oy". HAHAHAHA!! That would be REALLY stupid!

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 4:25pm

Chitty canceled the Chicago engagement.

Posted: 1/21/09 at 4:36pm

And it's a shame too- I was REALLY curious how they were going to fit this show into the Chicago Theater. Have any more stops been canceled? If you can't sell tickets in Chicago...how are tickets selling in the smaller markets?

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 5:03pm

Well, the show has been poorly marketed in Chicago. Since it's not part of Broadway in Chicago, it hasn't been included in any of their mailings or advertisements. Basically, if you haven't walked by the Chicago Theatre, you probably wouldn't even know about it. Have there been any commercials?

It's probably doing much better in the cities where it was included as part of Broadway Across America. Maybe I'll try and catch it in Indianapolis and make a weekend out of it. I've never been to Indianapolis.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 7:52pm

Maybe it was canceled in Chicago because Chicago has an amazing array of excellent theatre. With so much good to choose from, why would audiences go to this pile of Chit?
Updated On: 1/21/09 at 07:52 PM

[BobRandomGuyMan]

Posted: 1/22/09 at 12:06am

I have to say that it's trouble that it's been cancelled in Chicago. That's a pretty foolproof audience base for a big Broadway family show. Even though it kinda sucks, I'll blame the economy for this one.

[misto625]

Posted: 1/22/09 at 1:30am

Reminds me of when Whistle Down the Wind had to cancel tour dates last year and ended up closing in Norfolk. That said, Chitty is not part of the BAA series here in Boston and is a special engagement at the Wang, but I have seen a few TV and newspaper ads for the show.

My perspective on the show may be different from some others here. I loved the show on Broadway very much because I found it to be a show that had a real heart without any irony or winking at the audience. It was a show that was really about families, not just parents and children, but grandparents as well. I never saw the movie and it seems I have no real reason to either from what I am reading here.

I have in fact seen this tour of Chitty, during it's first stop in Ft. Lauderdale. I found the tour to be missing some of the magic and the charm of the Broadway production. I didn't see any reason for the script to be trimmed or adapted for this production, and I missed some of the moments I loved from the Broadway production, like seeing the children actually reunited with families at the end of the show, not just released from the Childcather, but reunited with parents and grandparents, who are the Inventors. The smaller cast size made this moment unattainable.

Like someone said, if you don't compare it to the Broadway production, it holds up much better, but most of the changes do not seem to make the storytelling any better, and the new choreography for Toot Sweets is pretty embarassing compared to Gillian Lynne's original. Why was the Childcatcher's song cut and his make-up scaled down. I love the show but the Broadway cast was so much better that I can't really recommend this production to fans of the show because it will inevitably dissappoint, except for Chitty flying, which is still quite magical.

[jennamajig]

Posted: 1/22/09 at 9:13am

Reminds me of when Whistle Down the Wind had to cancel tour dates last year and ended up closing in Norfolk. That said, Chitty is not part of the BAA series here in Boston and is a special engagement at the Wang, but I have seen a few TV and newspaper ads for the show.

Ah, I saw Whistle Down the Wind in Boston after it reduced its ticket prices to $28 for all seats. It was in the Wang and I had 4th row orch center seats I bought that day. The orchestra was empty! I felt like there were less then 250 people there. Of course, the show was probably the worst show I had ever seen, so I wasn't surprised it sold so poorly.

On-topic: I, too, have seen the Chitty ads in Boston. I would have never known it was coming at first if a friend hadn't e-mailed me since it is indeed not part of the BAA series (nothing at the Wang is really).

For those of you in the Boston area, my friend sent me this:

Discount code CHITTYGLO for $39 Opening night tickets at broadwayoffers.com (Opening night, I believe is Feb 4)

I haven't seen the show (on Broadway or elsewhere), so I may take advantage.

[Dancin Thru Life]

Posted: 1/22/09 at 10:00am

From the Toronto Review:

"If the Sherman brothers ever wrote a musical version of A Christmas Carol, no doubt Bob Cratchit would croon, “Oh Mr Scrooge / he's such a scroogey-scroogey scrooge.”

This is funny! But you gotta love the Shermans! HAHA!

[Madcap Maisie]

Posted: 1/22/09 at 10:16am

Love Chitty!

Updated On: 6/12/20 at 10:16 AM

[misto625]

Posted: 1/22/09 at 10:43am

I also saw Whistle Down the Wind in Boston for $28. I'm glad that the tickets prices were reduced to my budget!! I believe I bought tickets for opening night the day of the show but I can't remember. I was in the 4th row Orchestra as well. I would call the show misguided, but certainly not the worst show I have ever seen on Broadway/tour. It has some similarities to Chitty with the children in the cast, but I think Chitty is the better show.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/22/09 at 1:36pm

Maybe it was canceled in Chicago because Chicago has an amazing array of excellent theatre.

Chicago has an amazing array of theatre, most of which is not located in the theatre district where the Chicago Theatre is located. And sometimes, a few of those theatres will have some excellent productions. But the national tour of Chitty at the Chicago Theatre is really not in direct competition with most of the productions in Chicago. I mean, it's not likely that the families who purchased tickets will decide to take the little ones to Macbeth, Desire Under the Elms or The Seafarer.

I'm surprised the Chitty producers didn't stick it out and take advantage of Wicked's closing right around the corner. The only other musical in the theatre district scheduled during Chitty's run is Jersey Boys, which is an entirely different demographic.

[uncageg]

Posted: 1/22/09 at 2:59pm

It is an added attraction to our season here in Denver. It will play the Buell for 4 days in July from the 23rd to the 26th.

[jennamajig]

Posted: 1/22/09 at 3:59pm

I also saw Whistle Down the Wind in Boston for $28. I'm glad that the tickets prices were reduced to my budget!! I believe I bought tickets for opening night the day of the show but I can't remember. I was in the 4th row Orchestra as well. I would call the show misguided, but certainly not the worst show I have ever seen on Broadway/tour. It has some similarities to Chitty with the children in the cast, but I think Chitty is the better show.

I wanted to enjoy it as I had heard the cast recording and thought it had potential, but on stage, Whistle Down the Wind seemed comical. Misguided was definitely a good word for it. Though the main actor (whose name I am blanking on) was very talented and I later saw him in a production of Joseph that was wonderful.

Interesting, I found out about the reduced $28 tickets when I tried to find the show on Bostix. It wasn't there and I was confused because I doubted it was selling out...then I went to ticketmaster and found out when I read the ticket price, lol.

I did think the kids were talented - however, aside from the leads, I think the ensemble kids were locally hired just for Boston. I know little about Chitty...what is the size of the child cast?

[misto625]

Posted: 1/22/09 at 4:13pm

I found the tickets on the Wang website I believe. I've never heard the Whistle cast recording actually....I agree that Eric Kunze as "The Man" did a great job, and he's done a lot of Webber shows it seems, which I think is pretty cool.

"Whistle" had 4-5 ensemble kids who toured with the show I believe and then 8-9 locals. At least three of the kids toured. "Chitty" has 4 kids who travel with the production, 2 of each gender, and then hire 10-12 local kids in each city. Aside from Jeremy and Jemima, the kids are really not onstage very long at all, mostly in Act II.

[dg22894]

Posted: 1/22/09 at 6:03pm

I want it to come to Michigan. I want to see it.

[TenThousandThings]

Posted: 1/23/09 at 12:31am

Unfortunately, I think "Chitty" and the tour of "Mary Poppins," scheduled to open in March in Chicago, were in competition for the same audience base . . . and really, who can compete with the marketing resources that Disney has?

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 1/23/09 at 2:43am

Mary Poppins doesn't start till mid March. Chitty was going to be here in mid Feb.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/23/09 at 10:35am

I wanted to enjoy it as I had heard the cast recording and thought it had potential, but on stage, Whistle Down the Wind seemed comical. Misguided was definitely a good word for it.

Wasn't the national tour based on Bill Kenwright's revival? I saw the original production and remember reading that the Kenwright revival was quite different and had been scaled down quite a bit. I liked the original production. It was indeed flawed, but it had some really nice moments and the design was spectacular.

[jennamajig]

Posted: 1/23/09 at 12:20pm

Wasn't the national tour based on Bill Kenwright's revival? I saw the original production and remember reading that the Kenwright revival was quite different and had been scaled down quite a bit. I liked the original production. It was indeed flawed, but it had some really nice moments and the design was spectacular.

I'm not sure what it was based on, but I do remember reading about the history of the show after I saw it. I received the cast recording as a Christmas gift ages ago (when I was just starting as an undergrad, I think) and enjoyed the premise and some of the music. There were some really great moment potential in it.

That being said, I had hoped it would make its way to the US after the London production and it failed in DC. I forgot about it until I saw commercials for the tour in Boston last year and was intrigued to finally see it on stage. I was disappointed, sadly, seeing that some things had changed from what I remembered on the London cast recording. Eric Kunze (thanks, misto625, for refreshing my memory) gave it his all and his voice was wonderful to listen to. He had quite a powerful solo in Act I. But for me, the show never hit that emotional high again. As I mentioned before, the plot started to feel comical and a lot of the emotion was lost. I also think ALW tried to experiment with too many different music styles.

Anyway, I am waaayyy off topic. Back to Chitty. Interesting that they use local kids as well, but I can imagine touring is not an easy road for the kids, especially since union rules can require double casting (I'd be curious, in fact, to know about how a tour of Annie works - does it need to be double cast?).

[SakeDad]

Posted: 1/23/09 at 1:40pm

The WDTW tour was directed by Bill Kenwright and used the original UK touring set. It carried 8 kids (6-16) and picked up 12 locals to make a total of 20 kids.

[misto625]

Posted: 1/23/09 at 2:24pm

Well you would certainly be the person to know information like that!! Wow I didn't remember there being 20 kids onstage...

Chitty tour is indeed double cast for Jeremy and Jemima (the Broadway production wasn't) and those four children are the only ones who don't tour. At each performance, the set of children not playing Jeremy/Jemima play the two orphans with the vocal solos in "Teamwork."

The Annie tours don't have to be double cast for whatever reason. I imagine it would be much harder to train two sets of orphans, and more expensive, so the tours and Broadway productions have always used only one set and AEA doesn't seem to complain about it.