Andrew Lloyd Webber's baffling musical “Starlight Express,” in which a train represented by performers on roller skates competes in a championship under the command of a young boy who dreams of it all, was a huge hit on the West End in the '80s and '90s. dragged. Forty years after its premiere in 1984, it returns with a new production, this time performed in a purpose-built auditorium about 10 miles west of the theater district.
Directed by Luke Shepard and running until February 16, 2025, “Starlight Express” is a powerful nostalgia for the recent past. The set design and sound effects are reminiscent of ’90s video games and British TV game shows like “Gladiators.” The shiny, sci-fi costumes are reminiscent of “Power Rangers.” The show is a dazzlingly crafted family entertainment with impressive special effects, but its appeal lies almost entirely in sensory overload rather than plot, music or drama.
Our unlikely hero, the steam engine Rusty (Jeevan Braich), is initially threatened by rival electric and diesel trains Electra (Tom Pigram) and Greaseball (Al Knott). Rusty has a crush on a railroad car named Pearl (Kayna Montecillo), but he's not sure he likes him that way. After several setbacks and worries, he teams up with the hydrogen engine Hydra (Jaydon Vijn) and wins both the race and the girl. Essentially it's “The Karate Kid” with a train.
The talented cast does their best to bring this somewhat unoriginal story to life. Branch plays Rusty with the right mix of self-doubt and brave determination, and the villains are portrayed with cartoonish bravery. But the real star of the show is Tim Hatley's gorgeous set, featuring a racetrack that snakes from the stage to the audience, with the performers occasionally passing right by, complemented by incredibly slick visuals including steam jets, pyrotechnic effects, and laser beams.
Lloyd Webber’s score is a mix of upbeat ’80s pop, highlighted by a number of ballads and rap numbers. These songs sound more derivative than those in his other shows. One melody is strikingly similar to ABBA’s “Lay All Your Love on Me.” Another is surprisingly similar to Gary Numan’s “Cars.” After the original musical was criticized for portraying female traincars in a sexist manner, the musical was revised with the empowering number “I Am I,” which was first introduced in a 2018 German production. It is not defined by attachment to a particular engine, but is also essential to the proper functioning of the transportation system (“You can’t get a fare without us.”)
How can something so stupid seem so dull? The best family entertainment appeals to children's imagination and ingenuity as well as their intelligence. But 'Starlight Railroad' has no discernible connection to any aspect of real human existence.
That need not hamper commercial success. Of course, as the enduring popularity of the Eurovision Song Contest proves, there is a large audience for maximalist kitsch. There is also the question of the target audience. In the interest of journalistic rigour, I took a six-year-old to the show. It is fair to say that he was fascinated and delighted by the special effects. And in this respect at least, the show is a triumph. Although, in follow-up interrogation, it turned out that he was a little confused by the story. But Starlight Express is more theme park than theatre. It is Legoland for the stage.
Lloyd Webber recalls in his Playbill notes that the show was originally inspired by his love of the “Thomas and the Tank Engine” children's books. But the connection between that inspiration and the final product has always been somewhat tenuous and abstract. human Representing Trains have no more irresistible appeal than animated, anthropomorphic machines. It’s one of the great mysteries of modern showbiz that this musical became so popular. It probably had something to do with the roller-skating boom of the ’80s, when wheeled boots captured the spirit of the times in a way that’s hard to imagine now.
Today, Starlight Express sits on a nostalgia circuit where questions of artistic merit are secondary to mood. This week on social media, British theatregoers who saw the show as children in the 80s are excitedly posting about their plans to take their children to see this new production. The gravy train is on. Full steam ahead.
Starlight Express
Plays at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre until 16 February 2025; starlightexpresslondon.com.