Andrew Lloyd Webber Reveals He Wants to Bring STARLIGHT EXPRESS 'Somewhere Up in the North'

Andrew Lloyd Webber has revealed that he hopes to bring his new production of Starlight Express north of London in the future. In an interview with The Stage, Webber said that, following the show's current run at London's Troubadour Wembley Park, he hopes to bring it "somewhere up in the north". This would be the first time that a full-scale production of the show was performed outside of London.

"Starlight Express shows something that I have been going on about for years, which is you really want a black box with flexible seating for quite a lot of productions today and I am glad it’s not in the West End, actually," Webber said. "We don’t know how long we will be able to stay here [at Troubadour Wembley Park], as they are going to redevelop it. I am sure we will be here for a couple of years but if they do redevelop it then I would want to move it to somewhere up in the north – I would like to do that."

He also went on to share what he loves about the show, which is that people who are new to theater are coming and enjoying it.

"What I was always very pleased about originally, was we had so many people coming to it who had never been near a theatre in their lives," Webber said. "You hope people will come to this, see it and then say: ‘Well, what else goes on in live theatre?’ and that is what I am really thrilled about."

Read the original story on The Stage.

About Starlight Express

As BroadwayWorld previously announced, STARLIGHT EXPRESS, which opened this weekend at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, has extended booking through to June 2025.

Read the reviews of STARLIGHT EXPRESS here!

The London return of STARLIGHT EXPRESS introduces Jeevan Braich as Rusty, Kayna Montecillo as Pearl, Jade Marvin as Momma McCoy, Al Knott as Greaseball, Eve Humphrey as Dinah and Tom Pigram as Electra.

The STARLIGHT EXPRESS cast also includes Jamie Addison, Jessie Angell, Ollie Augustin, Charles Butcher, Renz Cardenas, Catherine Cornwall, Jamie Cruttenden, Kelly Downing, Isaac Edwards, Asher Forth, Sam Gallacher, Lucy Glover, Pablo Gómez Jones, Scott Hayward, Lilianna Hendy, Dante Hutchinson, Lewis Kidd, Hannah Kiss, Oscar Kong, Emily Martinez, Deearna Mclean, Marianthe Panas, David Peter-Brown, Harrison Peterkin, RED, Bethany Rose-Lythgoe, Charlie Russell, Gary Sheridan, Jessica Vaux, Jaydon Vijn, Lara Vina Uzcatia, Sharon Wattis and Ashlyn Weekes. 

The young actors are Shaniyah Abrahams, Cristian Buttaci, Alexander Brooks, Barnaby Halliwell, Mimi Soetan and Arabella Stanton.

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'.

STARLIGHT EXPRESS has music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Richard Stilgoe, is directed by Luke Sheppard, with set designer Tim Hatley, costume designer Gabriella Slade, lighting designer Howard Hudson, sound designer Gareth Owen, video designer Andrzej Goulding, new orchestrations by Matthew Brind with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Musical Supervision by Matthew Brind& David Wilson,  Musical Direction by Laura Bangay and Casting by Pearson Casting.

With new choreography by Ashley Nottingham, STARLIGHT EXPRESS also sees the return of Arlene Phillips as creative dramaturg.

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