The trains are back in the station. Starlight Express raced into action for the first time four decades ago, with fast-paced roller skating and ear-splitting music.
Now, it’s back in a new production with the auditorium set up in sections punctuated by race tracks. There’s more regard for health and safety this time around with rails and audience briefings.
Starlight Express in this version is set within a young child’s dream as he visualises his beloved toy trains taking on each other in a literal “power” struggle.
Greaseball (diesel, played by Al Knott), Rusty (steam, Jeevan Braich), and Electra (electric, Tom Pigram) are the main engines. They all have a chance to show off their skating skills, strut their stuff, and make their mark vocally.
Then there are the coaches, done up like cheerleaders. Pearl (Kayna Montecillo) is fickle and looking for the perfect match. Dinah (Eve Humphrey) is Greaseball’s carriage but gets little out of the relationship.
And the frieght trucks are the lumbering beasts who transport the goods around the rails. Slick (Emily Martinez) is in it for fun and a quick buck; Hydra (Jaydon Vijn) is the future “not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when, for hydrogen”.
With three months training on the skates, the cast (also including Momma steam, played by Jade Marvin) display a lot of tricks and agility throughout this show.
Cristian Buttaci was the child Control at our performance, and he absolutely shone with so much confidence and charm. This role is shared between six children.
Luke Sheppard is the director of this technical powerhouse, marshalling a team of set (Tim Hatley), sound (Gareth Owen), lighting (Howard Hudson) and video (Andrzej Goulding) designers.
No one can accuse Starlight Express of being intellectual or character-driven. It’s a noisy, brash, breathtaking spectacle which hits you from the moment you enter the theatre building with a consistent (and somewhat overpowering) theme.
The songs (with lyrics by Richard Stilgoe) are a mixed bag. A few survive from the original version (Rolling Stock, Pumping Iron, One Rock and Roll Too Many, Freight, Light At The End Of The Tunnel, Momma’s Blues, U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D., AC/DC).
Others have been tinkered with (Call Me Rusty, Whistle At Me), and there are a few new kids on the block, including I Do by Alastair Webber & Nick Coler.
From rock to country and blues, there’s enough variety for all, but I still feel the originals are stronger. Perhaps through familiarity in my childhood with the cast recording.
Gabriella Slade’s costumes are retro and industrial with a hint of drag. Ashley Nottingham’s choreography adds the fun of the fairground and the grace of the gymnast to the movement.
The seating arrangement has premium ‘carriages’ at the front of the stage. Unraked, these get you close-up but require a fair bit of looking around you during the races and people shorter than 5ft 7in may find their legs don’t reach the floor when seated.
Behind these are ‘platform’ seating, then the ‘locomotive’ area, which has the best overall view of proceedings, well-raked, but at a distance. Strategically placed screens fill in any gaps you may miss.
This Starlight Express is far more enjoyable than the touring version, which used 3-D video for its races, but it isn’t really an immersive production. It’s something to wow you, and put a smile on your face.
I’d say it succeeds. There’s plenty of stage magic and ‘starlight’ here.
Starlight Express continues at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre with tickets here.
****
Image credit: Pamela Raith