Andrew Lloyd Webber’s updated Starlight Express is a spectacular show for Christmas or indeed anytime you want an energetic vibe. Loud music, strobe lighting, and lots of action with the performers all on roller skates.
Starlight Express is all about trains, and carriages, and there’s a love story too. Rusty falls in love with Pearl, the first-class carriage, portrayed by a small pretty, long blond-haired lady.
The pure fantasy story has been updated from the original, and rejigged to be politically correct. A young child, dreaming of trains, would have been a boy when I was child, but here is portrayed by a chubby little girl dressed in an unflattering unisex boiler suit.
We first meet the child when she is being put to bed by her mother. Her train set which is in her bedroom then magically comes to life, and the engines race against each other 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’, and hitches himself to something that miraculously makes him faster.
The roller skating is superb with the stalls split into two so that the performers can not only skate across the stage but also down to the audience where there is a pathway to create a circle. There’s no doubt that the performers are enjoying themselves with some skating backwards down the slopes. Barriers come up to protect both the audience and the performers.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Starlight Express has its roots in several abandoned projects, including an animated TV series based on Thomas the Tank Engine in the late 1970s, and a film version of Cinderella. The world premiere had its official opening on 27 March 1984 at the Apollo Victoria Theatre.
The Starlight Auditorium at Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre is a state-of-the-art cultural destination in Wembley Park, London. If you fancy eating before the show, there’s a limited menu at Studio Five Restaurant and a range of eateries on the second floor of the nearby Designer Outlet.
Booking to October 26,2025.
Featured image: The cast of Starlight Express c. Pamela Raith
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