It’s Sunday, 30th June, and I’m more excited about a show than I have been in months – and if you are a regular reader, you’ll know I get excited a lot. Today, I am going to see a show that has been one of my favourites since I saw it on my 10th birthday at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. A classic Lloyd Webber musical from the ‘80s, with action, love, loss, trains, and of course the coolest part of all – an entire cast (save for 3 exceptions, in the new show) on roller skates! Yes, it was the opening night of Starlight Express at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre!
Entering the auditorium, I was immediately impressed and excited by the staging and the space. There was a big ramp, leading to tracks going around the audience and in between the different sections. Another ramp led up to a balcony level with a UHD screen wall displaying the show’s title logo. A laser would periodically shoot out from somewhere behind us and trace the name of the show – it was very cool. It all looked very ‘if Tron Legacy made skate parks’, and I was so here for it! In the centre of the main stage for the opening scene was a child’s bed, bedside table, a few toy trains, a lone roller skate, and a mobile of the planets hanging over head.
We were sitting in ‘carriage 3’, right by the main stage, with a track running behind and around us. We were told that we couldn’t get up during the show unless it was an emergency, in which case we should inform the usher – she was seated inside our section, watching us all like a hawk the whole time to ensure we stayed safely in our seats. The audience was abuzz with anticipation, and I was transported back 32 years to feeling like an excited 10 year old.
The theatre went quiet as a little boy of about 10, Christian Buttaci for this performance, came onto the stage and started playing with the trains, acting as the controller on the day of a big race. If any of you, like me, first saw Starlight back in the 80s or early 90s, you will remember that the original show did not feature the storyline of a little boy imagining all the action as he plays with toy trains. This storyline was introduced when the show was revised in 1992. While fans of the classic version did not initially like this change, it certainly made the show more accessible to a younger audience. I know when I bring my children to see it, they will enjoy seeing a child on the stage.
Where were we? Oh yes… The little boy’s mum comes in and puts him to bed, singing him a lullaby about The Starlight Express, a magical train that watches over you. Like most little children, after she’s gone, he’s right back to imagining what the trains are doing. He introduces each one in turn as they come on and present themselves. There’s Greaseball, the diesel engine – a male character in the past and now played by a woman, Al Knott, excelling here in her professional debut. Greaseball is tough and mean, and Knott had a lot of fun with that, being something of a ‘moustache twirling villain’ who wants to win at any cost. The show has a cartoon like quality to it and doesn’t have the darker edge it once had, being more of a family show than the more serious musical of the 80s. There’s Electra, the electric train, tall, sleek, beautiful, played with flair by another professional debut, Tom Pigram. Electra looks down on everyone else, as electricity is the future, and all other trains are inferior. Then there’s Rusty, played by yet another professional debut, Jeevan Braich. He’s a steam train, so kind of out of date and old. He’s got no chance in the race…. or does he? (You’ll never guess).
We meet some other trains who are not principal characters but fill out the race well. Each has their own minor role to play in the narrative. There’s the Japanese bullet train, the French TGV, and a few others. Every train has their own very unique and distinct look, Gabriella Slade’s costume design is all light up panels and bright metallic paints, funky space age materials, and clothes that would not look out of place in an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. All this turns human actors into really cool looking trains, and carriages, in a way that is effective and stunning.
After the trains, the carriages and freight trains are introduced. The most significant to the plot are Dinah, played by Eve Humphrey in yet another professional debut, Pearl played by Kayna Monticello in her professional debut, and Hydra, played by Jaydon Vijn – who in stark contrast to his co-leads has been performing professionally for years. Dinah and Pearl are classic Starlight Express characters whose storyline has not changed much since the 80s. Dinah is the dining car, desperate to find a train to attach herself to, who just really wants to be loved. The major change with her character, is that in the original, hers was very much a ‘she really needs a man to complete her’ story (it was the 80s), whereas now she’s still in love with Greaseball, but GB is a woman. Humphrey still plays her as needy, completely besotted with the bad-boy/bad-girl train, but as already observed, it’s much more cartoony and silly than before, so not such a negative female representation as the old version. The actor certainly had a great time playing up the part. Dinah’s song, ‘Uncoupled’, used to be kind of tragic, but now it’s a lot of hammy comedy and over-the-top despair. I was glad that despite it being more of a kids’ show than before, they didn’t shy away from the slightly sweary last line of that song, where she spells out ‘B-A-S-T-A-R-D’. I remember as a kid being delighted when I worked out what she’d spelled, feeling really clever and enjoying the grown-up joke. It’s a nice gift to the older pre-teens and just a generally funny line.
Pearl is Rusty’s love interest, and the whole way through, Rusty is trying to impress her – this is a good counter-balance to Dinah’s needy female character, especially as the new show sees Pearl being a lot more ‘I don’t need a man’ at the start, when she firmly puts Rusty in the friend zone. Hydra, the Hydrogen carriage (that’s a thing, right?) is a new ally for Rusty among the freight trains. He is a modern upgrade from Dustin, The Big Hopper, who carried sand and grit.
One other major change, in my opinion a positive one, is the shift from the wise old steam train, Poppa, to Momma (Jade Marvin). So many people seem to be outraged by what they see as ‘woke’ changes like this, but in this writer’s opinion, the changes made in London theatre, in that respect, over the past few years, have been very positive indeed. Almost every West End show now features a person of colour in a principal role, and in rewrites like this, where the show’s strongest characters were all men, you have gender swapped characters and non-binary characters (Electra was referred to as ‘they/them’ – incidentally also played by a non-binary actor, which may have influenced this). When I bring my children to see this show (both girls), it will be great for them to see so many women in leading roles, playing strong and driven (by various fuel types) female characters. Momma gets to sing a great fun song about the blues, which was always one of my favourites in the original show. Marvin, not a debut but still much younger than her aging character, has a fantastic voice that she really gets to show off between the blues song and ‘Starlight Express’. Not a shock really when you see that she played Catherine of Aragon in a cruise ship production of Six – a show where the cast all have to have incredible vocal talent.
I haven’t even mentioned the roller skating! The races are awesome! When necessary, metal railings rise up silently around the tracks, providing a safety barrier between the audience and the whizzing trains, then they really get to whizzing! It was super immersive, especially where we were, as the action was happening on all sides, at times. The races go through and around all the auditorium, and are a lot of fun!
There is so much to see and take in. Starlight Express is no longer just a musical on skates, the new show feels like an immersive, musical spectacular. The story is pretty basic, but that’s fine – people don’t watch Starlight for the story, but for the catchy tunes, stunning visuals, and roller skating trains! All of these were brilliant, and my inner 10 year old was grinning, the whole time. When I bring my girls in Sept, I know they’ll love it too. And so will you!
Starlight Express is currently on track at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre and booking until June 2025. Get yourself a ticket to ride, now!
To book tickets visit www.tickets.starlightexpresslondon.com
Words by Nick Barr
Photography Pamela Raith
