NEVER work with children and animals, let alone 42 children and 11 dogs.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has swooped onto the stage of the Theatre Royal.

And despite the massive professional cast, adorable children and pack of cute dogs, there's no denying who is the star.

Producer Michael Rose said: "We've got a brand new car for this production. I've got to say it's remarkably well behaved. It does like to remind us who the star of the show is occasionally though, and gives us the odd nudge."

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang broke every box office record at the London Palladium when it was launched in 2002, and ended up being the venue's longest-running show beating Oliver and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

During its three-and-a-half-year run, the family musical exceeded £70million in box office revenue.

But it needed too. The £6.2million show also had a running cost of £330,000 a week in order to pay for the huge cast of actors, children and dogs, not to mention stage management, technicians and musicians.

So when it came to touring, this was the one they said could never be done.

Put simply it was thought to be too expensive, too complex, too big to put on the road.

"To make it possible it has really high targets audience why. It's such an expensive show," Michael said.

"And I know it is really tough in a recession but we think that the end product is worth it.

"It provides great escapism for people.

"What we are finding is that people are not going on these expensive holidays but what they will do is go and see a musical in which they are able to forget about life for a while."

In the show Chitty is the car which has two basic traits — the desire to fly and the desire to protect children, told through a magical journey.

It is the story of love and adventure, of good and evil and of a family in search of something missing — all brought together by a 'fantasmagorical' car.

With a cast and crew of over 100 (including 10 dogs), sensational sets, a full orchestra and stunning special effects it is certainly an action-packed adventure .

Eccentric inventor Caractacus Potts, and his two children Jemima and Jeremy, alongside Truly Scrumptious and Grandpa Potts, all try to outwit the dastardly Baron and the evil Childcatcher.

Originally nominated for three Olivier Awards, winning Best Musical at the 2002 Variety Awards, nominated for five Tony Awards on Broadway, winning the coveted 2006 Manchester Evening News Theatre Award for Best Family Show.

The show is bursting with magical songs including Truly Scrumptious, Toot Sweets, Hushabye Mountain and the Oscar-nominated title song Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Rachel Stanley, who plays Truly Scrumptious, said: "It is such a fantastic production to be in. The local children are doing so well. The audience really gets into the show and they love the dogs.

"I come on stage on a motorbike with my blonde wig on, but it's those dogs that get the greatest cheer for an entrance."

Edward Peel, who plays Baron Bomburst and Lord Scrumptious, said people who liked the movie version should also find the stage show appealing.

"This version follows the film much more closely than the last production did," he said. "It's based on an American touring version of the musical and does stick closer to the film.

"It's been going absolutely fantastic and we've been having full houses and standing ovations so we are really looking forward to the rest of the run.

"It's quite demanding, not only on the acting but also on the theatre crew side.

"It's a big show all around and takes a lot of putting on and a lot of technical work.

"It goes quite quickly from scene to scene but it takes a lot of preparation to get it to look like that."

For Edward it's his first musical in a long career in the entertainment world.

"I think this has been it, this is my 'eureka' moment," he said.

"I have been in the business 40 years and this is the first time I've done a musical.

"I can't believe it's taken me 40 years. I wish that I had done it earlier.

"I was working with an actor who had been in Mama Mia at the Globe Theatre in London and I asked what it was like and he said 'absolutely fantastic'.

"I asked how he got into it and he told me about a singing teacher he used that has a philosophy that everybody can sing and that musicals are better with characters in, and that you have to sell a song.

"It's no good just having a wonderful sweet voice if you can't convey the message of the song.

"It's so exciting to sing for the first time with a live orchestra. It's unbelievable."