Review Roundup: Did The Latest Revival of STARLIGHT EXPRESS Impress The Critics?

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express has now opened in the specially designed Starlight Auditorium at Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre.

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’.

With music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Richard Stilgoe, the creative team is helmed by acclaimed director Luke Sheppard, set designer Tim Hatley, video designer Andrzej Goulding, costume designer Gabriella Slade, lighting designer Howard Hudson, sound designer Gareth Owen with new orchestrations and musical supervision by Matthew Brind.

Featuring thrilling new choreography by Ashley Nottingham, the show also sees the return of Arlene Phillips as creative dramaturg.

So what did the critics think?

Photo Credit: Pamela Raith

Aliya Al-Hassan, BroadwayWorld: The production is an incredible creative feat. Tim Hatley's set design, Howard Hudson's lighting and Andrzej Goulding's video design meld perfectly to maintain a fantastical visual spectacle. A planetary system descends from the ceiling, a beautiful star-scape envelops the auditorium in the second half and, of course, the racetracks and ramps weave around the auditorium to enable the cast to immerse the whole audience with their skating as they glide by.

Houman Barekat, New York Times: How can something so bonkers come across as so drab? The best family entertainment appeals not only to children’s imaginative whimsy but also to their intellect. But “Starlight Express” has no recognizable point of connection with any aspect of real human existence. That needn’t stand in the way of commercial success. There is, of course, a large audience for maximalist kitsch, as the enduring popularity of the Eurovision Song Contest attests. There is also the question of the target audience. In the interests of journalistic rigor, I took a 6-year-old with me to the show. It’s fair to say he was transfixed and delighted by the special effects — and on these terms at least, the show can be said to be a triumph — although subsequent interrogations revealed he was a little muddled about the story. But “Starlight Express” is more theme park than theater. It’s Legoland for the stage.

Clive Davis, The Times: Will this staging dazzle all those youngsters who have virtual reality headsets in their bedrooms? To be honest, I’d expected the track design to be a little more audacious. The actors do pass through the middle of the audience, but after the first couple of circuits it begins to look quite sedate. Mad Max this ain’t. For all the flashing lights, the Troubadour itself, a fair trek from the centre of London, is also a baldly utilitarian venue. But my advice is to ignore the Ikea vibes, and let the songs transport you.

Marianka Swain, London Theatre: Gabriella Slade’s fabulous retro-futurist costumes nod to both armoured Marvel superheroes and the Six queens, with cool details like smoke unfurling from the steam characters’ backpacks – although they must be heavy, making the cast’s silky skating all the more impressive. We’re talking SAS levels of fitness here. Ashley Nottingham, working with creative dramaturg and original choreographer Arlene Phillips, gives us everything from hip-shaking swing and a kick line to funky streetdance. The race marshals, riding scooters, do incredible upside-down flips off the ramp.

Arifa Akbar, The Guardian: Richard Stilgoe’s lyrics are ridiculous yet enjoyable (“freight is great”, sings one train, “I’m the hero of net zero,” sings another, the latter proof that the show has been updated to reflect our world) and the songs are superb, carrying the chug or hiss of trains and crossing genres from glam-rock to blues to hip-hop, country and musical ballad. They are masterfully sung all round, alongside the athletic feats of the cast.

Andrzej Lukowski, TimeOut: And frankly it’s a lot of fun. In truly spectacular costumes from Gabriella Slade, the cast is kind of dressed like Warhammer 40K Space Marines given a Drag Race makeover. Nobody looks even slightly like a train. But it is a tremendous thrill to have these prodigies whistle past you at high velocity. Obviously it’s a silly idea for a show.. But a lot of very skilled things are silly if you think about them too much. Skating around an amphitheatre while singing, acting and wearing what looks like about half a tonne of costume is frankly incredible (shout out to skate coordinator Luke Zammit). And I haven’t even got on to how sensational everybody’s hair looks (respect to wig designer Campbell Young).

Tim Bano, The Independent: Every time Starlight Express pulls up to a new theatre it undergoes substantial revisions – it’s the Train of Theseus, barely anything remains of the original – and that’s true here: Control is actually played by a child, rather than a disembodied voice as in previous productions. Gone are the trains with dumb names corresponding to their countries (Espresso for Italy, Manga for Japan), lots of genders have been swapped. But the big thing is that it looks a bit weird in 2024 to be hymning steam trains and booing the electric baddie, so in comes a new character – the Hydrogen train – to be our hero’s helper.

David Benedict, Variety: Every iteration of the show has subtracted and added numbers to Lloyd Webber’s score. That makes sense since the show was never conceived as seriously thought-through musical drama but more as a succession of songs to create a fun-fest event about trains racing against one another to appeal to theater newcomers. This was event-theater before anyone coined the term.

Patrick Marmion, Daily Mail: Besides, the costumes are works of such glam-rock excess – including spontaneously inflating angel wings – that at times, it borders on a drag queen parade. The only problem is that the whole titanic creation teeters on a flimsy, saccharine love story between an obsolete young steam train, Rusty, and a prettily upholstered carriage, Pearl.

Stephen Bates, The Reviews Hub: The show serves as a reminder that, before being lured into musical theatre, Lloyd Webber’s roots lay in 1970s concept albums. Around 20 entirely separate songs, sometimes in very different styles, are strung together without any linking dialogue, leaving Richard Stilgoe’s delightfully tongue-in-cheek lyrics to do the storytelling work. In a vain attempt to attach some logic to the nonsense that unfolds, the narrative is encased within the dream of a small child.

Franco Milazzo, Theatre & Tonic: Gabriella Slade (Six) has taken the Eighties vibe very seriously when it comes to defining the look of the characters. Many of the costumes come with fabulous shoulder pads that Krystle Carrington would have given her left kidney for, while the coloured hair, mullets and bright make-up are quintessential romo. The detailed outfits for the engines are a high point, the stylings one of the few things helping us tell them apart. Hydra is given a cool green outfit to go with his eco-credentials while the Electric crew are dressed up as camp ice pixies.

Greg Stewart, Theatre Weekly: Starlight Express is infamous for its roller-skating cast, and while the skates return, the cast zips through the audience at what feels like a slower pace than before. The Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre has been transformed into a playground for this show. Tim Hatley’s spectacular set design, featuring intricate tracks and immersive elements, honours the original while incorporating modern updates. LED screens and projection mapping enhance the vibrant world of racing trains.

Terry Eastham, LondonTheatre1: There used to be a time in theatre when actors were considered good if they were able to sing, dance, and act (the triple threat), but with Starlight, the actors have to be a quadruple threat as they do all this but on skates. And boy, do they deliver.

Jenny Ell, West End Best Friend: We don’t think it would be too controversial to say that this isn’t one of Lloyd Webber’s most accomplished works, and this is a classic example of showcasing style over substance. The style here though is undeniably impressive. Huge kudos must be given to the imagination and pure skill of Tim Hatley (set designer), Gabriella Slade (costume designer), Howard Hudson (lighting designer) and Andrzej Goulding (video designer/animator) most notably. It is a visual feast for the senses and a real collaborative piece, steered brilliantly by director Luke Sheppard.

Average Rating: 72.1%