Starlight Express is a rock musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber (music), Richard Stilgoe (lyrics) and Arlene Phillips (choreographer/creative dramatug). As a child’s train set magically comes to life and the engines race to become the fastest in the world, Rusty the steam train has little hope of winning until he is inspired by the legend of the ‘Starlight Express’. Seen around the world by over 20 million people, STARLIGHT EXPRESS is an electrifying experience for all ages.
It´s not a matter of if, it´s a matter of when... WHEN are you going to film the Sunset Boulevard movie with Glenn Close? We are tired of waiting and asking every day: WHEN?
(SPOILERS UP AHEAD! CLICK READ MORE WITH CAUTION!) I just want to take the time to say something. When I first saw Hydra on stage singing this new song, I honestly thought he was in the role of C.B. due to the whiplash from Freight to this song as well as his lack of concern with Momma. But when act 2 came around, it turned out Slick was in C.B.’s role. This left Hydra in Dustin’s role, revealing to Rusty and the audience that Hydrogen _is_ steam. I looked it up even more to learn that Hydrogen is eco-friendly. This shows that Andrew Lloyd Webber and the crew were aware of times changing so they made the fuel car characters in place of the Freight cars and included Hydra the Hydrogen car in it. Steam trains may not be clean, but that doesn’t mean they should be thrown away. All they need is a new fuel. I just want to thank Andrew Lloyd Webber and Joe Stilgoe for making this song and I want to thank Jaydon Vijn for playing my new favourite Starlight Express character. 💫🚂🛼
Yes! We were completely convinced in the interval that was what they were doing with Hydra! And somehow, maybe we were just having a good enough time, but we didn't realise how bad a look that would be if we were right hahah. I loved what they did with both characters here, I mean it's simple, but it's for kids innit. And, er, apparently it's for me, who didn't see what was coming coming. Also I loved how the second twist near the end was completely drawn from what's *always* been in the show since the start. "A new and better form of power," indeed. (I will say though, you and me had a great time finding this stuff out in the show, I suspect anyone who reads these spoilers will have a less good time already knowing in advance, I'm tempted to ask you to edit the spoilers out and say it in a more veiled way. I guess it won't matter once the album's out, but still) Edit - legend, that'll do it :)
Dont usually leave comments but watched this on thursday with mum who had regretted never seing it as a child, so watching it myself with no idea what it was even about with her was an absolute blast and way more enjoyable than I was expecting even as an adult, I've never really considered musicals as my sort of thing in the past but shows like this along with others really put on such an amazing display of story, performance, and great vibrant set design you would be hard pressed to not enjoy the sheer scale of it all.
The music was not stolen this is an official production of starlight express, just because it’s not your cup of tea doesn’t mean you accuse the production team of theft/plagiarism.
I went to go see it yesterday, it was honestly better than any theatre show i have or ever will see. The costume design, the set and just the overall look and feel of the entire theatre show was amazing
I’m so happy starlight express came back! This was the very first musical I saw when I was a little girl - back in the Apollo Victoria Theatre - and the one that got me hooked into musicals 🌟🚂💖🌟
Me, my family and my aunt went to go see the show on June 8th. We had an amazing time. We got to meet the actress for Pearl, Kayna Montecillo and in the Studio Five restaurant, we got to see Andrew Lloyd Webber himself! As a major Starlight Express fan, I’ve never had such a greater day in my whole life. But how was the show itself? It was brilliant! The twists had me blown away. There was one twist we didn’t need at the start of the show, but I loved it anyways. Andrew knew that the times were changing for Steam Trains and so the show changed with them. I won’t spoil what Andrew meant by “Steam is no longer a power of the past” but you can see the show for yourself and you’ll get the idea. If there was the opportunity, we would see it again. Or see if they put it on DVD like they did with Cats in 1998. I want to thank Andrew Lloyd Webber for creating Starlight Express and for bringing it back to London. I want to thank the team for putting all of the effort into this production. I want to thank Alistair Lloyd Webber for creating ‘I Do’. I want to thank Richard Stilgoe for the creation of all of the other songs. I want to thank Nicolas Lloyd Webber for being the inspiration for this musical wherever he is now. And above all else, I want to thank my drama teacher Mark Harrington for showing me this show and having me in our College production from last year. 🚂🚋🛼❤🎭
What's with all the "club" music influence in almost every single ad??? This show in its 84-87 (pre-broadway) incarnation was UNDESCRIBABLY AMAZING. I know cuz i saw it age 5 in w 1986 when it was LOUD, DARK, KINDA SCARY, INTENSE & true the message it conveyed (at the time) and Rusty essentially embraces in that original version of the narrative: Leave the BS expectations, conjecture & ignorant approval ratings of everyone on the siding! You ultimately choose whether to persevere or to give up! When you let bullies, users, posers, rivals and/or even the "mosr amazingly beautiful" girl (or guy) influence your potential to succeed, you're on a one way track to a disappointing dead end! Thats s lesson i learned way back then and have taken with me for 38 years snd have applied a multitude of times in those decades. So i kinda struggle to understand ehy someone hugh enough up on the totem pole serms to dead set on some quest to continually try to change the show in attempt to impress everybody or whatever is hip at the time. That's the exact opposite message the kid scared shitless coz weird EMD F3 diesel creatures were rscing around him snd might steal him away! I loved that show but it also made me slightly uncomfortable just likr neverending Story snd Tron... Or being dnuck onto Space Mountain at 4.5 years old (ehich i begged my mom to do). But maybe thats ehy it's so awesome. Reward doesn't come without risk. You wanna succeed, prepared to deal eith the uncomfortable. Rusty did! Making everything sound trendy, poppy and upbeat is placating to the fear of non-acceptance. And just as Rusty learns thr only person ee need acceptance from is ourselves!
That’s a really good take, but maybe also consider that you do need an element of appeal to modern audiences to keep the show going. I love the original and in no way am I saying you’re wrong, but modern updates aren’t necessarily a bad thing. Many things have moved on since the 80s so why not keep the show advancing to bring this brilliant experience to a younger generation. Spectacle has always been an integral part of the show, and that looks different now to how it did in the 80s, with more technology and audiences with different life experiences and expectations, and the changes do keep it relevant. Let’s face it, a lot of shows have gone to their grave because they haven’t been updated in line with society. Also, they have faced heavy criticism in some regards by the og starlight fans, and have not given up on the pursuit of bringing in a new generation of theatre goers. Unfortunately the reality of it is to keep a show going they must generate income, and to do that they have got to appeal to a modern audience and keep somewhat on trend to be able to sell tickets. The approval of people is really important in this endeavour. I have yet to go but from what I’ve heard it is still very intense and equally as amazing as it has been before, and if anything the club music vibe gives it more of an edge.
@@luw2076 well here's the thing... I most definitely want to point out that I have a whole lot of respect and gratitude that,: #1 ) you are not immediately trying to tell me that I'm some out of date, intellectually challenged, person perplexed by progressive thought! #2) you are one of a very few people out there who have actually listened (or read) my reactions and stopped to think about what I'm trying to convey, rather than critiquing the most rudimentary assessments of my statements are clearly interpreted as meaning
I agree that sometimes a little contemporary contextualization can be helpful to pieces of artwork that are not exactly spring chickens anymore. However, with our going into specifics (,,that are essentially superfluous because they apply moreso to me than the work we are discussing, I will be quick to disclose that my "expertise,/persistent passion" lies much further into the realm of live performance of progressively perplexing pleasurement of music , rather than that of traditional theatrical performance. Essentially, I will never claim proficiency in attempting to critique many musical endeavors. But as far as stating the recent "dance club, electronic drum. oversaturation of sings that needed little to no improvement over 3:+ decades, is just short of an incredibly weak job of the musical directors /!young production musical directors which don't seem to realize the amount of failure that might manifest upon the tidal wave of musical score at hat is more in touch with a the electronic musical scenes of 20 +years ago
I’m Seeing it next week. Got really mixed feelings about It. I loved the old/original London production and have seen the German version too. Seems such a shame they dropped some characters and the old costumes. I can’t help it but I think I’m going to be disappointed and overly critical.
