Mickey Jo (0:00)

So the headline news is Starlight Express is back in London with an entirely new production that is new direction, a new set, new costumes, new characters, a slightly new plot, new music, new lyrics, and through all of that, an entirely new way for a new generation of audiences to enjoy this show. I know all of this because I was at the show's final dress rehearsal before its first preview performance which is taking place this evening. And I'm going to tell you everything I know. Oh, my God. Hey. Welcome back to my theatre themed YouTube channel. My name is Mickey Jo and I am obsessed with all things theatre, in particular musicals. And you know, I have a soft spot for the musical Starlight Express which we are going to be talking about today. I have been so excited for this to come back to London. If you don't know, this was originally an 80s mega musical composed by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber about singing trains with actors performing on roller skates to portray those trains. No, I'm not joking. The turbulent history of the original production has been well talked about by my good friend Brendan at Wait in the Wings. You can go and watch his video all about the history of Starlight Express. But today I am here to talk to you exclusively about the brand new production about to open at the Troubadour Theatre in Wembley Park, AKA the West End revival. Yes, I'm calling it West End. I know. Wembley is a trek. Believe me, I know. Anyway, before we get into all of the juicy details that I want to share with you today, a little bit of a disclaimer. Now, regular viewers of my videos will know that I love a disclaimer. I love an extraordinary amount of context. And you can keep complaining about the length of my introductory sections in the comments. It's not going to change my mind. What I need to tell you today is, even though if you do know me on YouTube, what you may know me for is reviewing theatre. This is not a review. That is because the show, when I saw it, was not yet open for the press. In fact, it hadn't even started previews. Because what I saw was the final dress rehearsal, an open dress rehearsal that I will say I was not invited to attend by the production or by the creatives or by the press team or by anyone in that capacity. I simply got tickets through a friend of a friend. And the mindset that I went into that performance with was one of enormous intrigue. I wanted to know about all of the changes about this new production, what the theatre going experience was like and what the updated version of the show was like how it compared with the version that I knew having seen the UK tour years ago, having performed Ish in a community theater production also years ago. No, I still haven't seen the Bockham one. Yes, I know that I need to very badly to make it happen. Anyway, all of this to say I wasn't really going into it with a critical mindset. I wasn't viewing it through that lens. I was there as a fan of Starlight Express. Now I will be reviewing the production with a full video review here on my channel once the show has opened. And that is going to be happening later this month. So if you want to make sure you don't miss that content and my verdict on whether or not this is a good production of the show and whether the show is even good in and of itself, you will have to make sure you're subscribed to my theatre themed YouTube channel with the notifications turned on so you don't miss that video. And if you're really eager then my channel members are going to get to see it first and you can become a channel member at the link in the top of the description of this video. Anyway, my point is, as I tell you about all of these changes, I'm going to avoid passing judgment either way on whether I think this is like beneficial or you know, dramaturgically sound or whatever. I'm just gonna tell you factually what is different and what this production is like without commentary. The other thing I will say is technically I saw a pre previews version of the show. Between then and the first preview performance this evening, things may have changed. Any number of things about the production could have changed, and during previews they may also change. So if anything that I'm saying does not reflect the experience that you have or the show that you see by the time that you go and see it, that may be because it's been updated. Everything I'm going to share with you is true as of the time of me saying it. I'm also going to try not to give you any spoilers about the plot. If you know Starlight Express already, I'm going to relate things to the roles that those characters or those plot lines fulfilled in the previous version. So I might say that X does the same thing as Y did and for people who don't know the show, it's not a spoiler. But for those of you who do, you will understand what I'm talking about. So let that be known. Anyway, I think that's enough of a disclaimer don't you? Let me tell you what this new production of Starlight Express is like. So let's start with the design. Now, at the time of me filming this, they have already released a photograph of what they are now calling the Starlight Auditorium at the Troubadour Theatre. And, and the way that I entered the auditorium. There are two entrances that you can use at the Troubadour. One of them is immediately on your left as you go in to the left hand side of the bar area. The other one is down by the toilets as you go to the right of the bar area. I did the toilets adjacent entrance. And so if you go in that way, as you come through, you get this frontal view of the stage. The stage is in the same place than it was for newsies at the Troubadour. But the auditorium feels very different and is very differently configured in terms of the seating for a handful of reasons. The entire floor level has been raised up so that they can do some stuff underneath. The ceiling feels lower because all of the tech is rigged lower so it doesn't feel as tall. I mean it isn't as tall as the newsie set was in that space. It also feels a lot more intimate. It's still a thousand seat capacity I believe, but it definitely feels a lot more intimate. Which, you know, I think can only be a good thing. See, I'm passing commentary already bad. Now the aesthetic of the thing is quite different to productions of Starlight Express that we've seen before. It's very much in line with the marketing materials that they've released so far. It's very futuristic. It's a little bit Tron meets the set for the competition series who Wants to Be a Millionaire or like a lot of those early 2000s BBC competition series like the set that the studio for like over the Rainbow, the Andrew Lloyd Webber casting program to find the Dorothy and the wizard of Oz. Like it looks a lot like that. It's a lot of like glowing blue neon lights. There is a central circular stage area around which there are sort of four Trivial Pursuit pie shaped segments of audience seating which are the closest to the stage. And then there is the largest track that runs all the way behind those audience members in a big old oval. That track links up to two slopes that go up to a higher level at the back of the stage. And there's an entrance behind that that cast members can come from. And there's also a ramp area that goes from that higher section down to the main circular section. I hope this is making sense. I'll try and put a picture here so you can relate that there are two sort of gallery viewing areas for audience members up above those ramp areas, sort of to the side of the stage and sort of a little bit behind that circular section. And then the rest of the seating is all traditional tiered seating going back from the outer level of the track. Now the central stage area has a couple of tricks to it that I'm not going to elaborate on because I don't want to give you spoilers about specific things that the production does, but they're very much like tools that Luke Shepard has utilized before as a director. If you don't know Luke Shepard's work, he has most recently been known for directing shows like the Little Big Things at at Soho Place and also the West End and Broadway musical and Juliet, soon to tour the uk. In terms of the set, there are very few pieces to speak of that actually get brought onto the space. I mean, they're roller skating around, so you know, that's a trip hazard. But we do have these backgrounds on video screens which are used a couple of times. And there's a motif because we begin in a child's bedroom, as Starlight Express traditionally does. This is control who, if you don't know the conceit of the whole thing is that it's a child playing with their trains and the trains come to life and they are envisioning this race between all of the trains and all of the psychosexual politics that come with that, oddly. But there is a solar system mobile above their bed and this is also incorporated in a fun way into the set design. And again, I'm not going to tell you specifically how. I'm going to let you find out for yourselves. Either that or wait until my full review when I'll probably talk about it more openly. But while we're talking about design, the other major thing that we have to address is the costumes. So these are new costume designs from Gabriella Slade, who created the Tony Award winning costumes for Six the Musical. Also the UK tour of the Cher show and the Starlight Express costumes are pretty iconic. So this was a tall order for Gabriella to something completely new that still invokes the essence of all of these characters. If you don't know the show, the characters all have different backgrounds. Some of them are steam trains, some of them are electric trains, some of them are diesel, some of them are freight trains, some of them are coaches and they have different personalities that go along with that. A Photo has already been released of Rusty's costume, which is a lot more orange than traditional versions. You know the one before, the original Rusty costume had orange accents and this is predominantly orange. He also has these cool sort of neck cowl pieces that imitate the thing. Like the grate that goes in the front of a steam train. Like the sort of a. The half hemisphere thing. I clearly don't know enough about trains to be having this conversation, but there are a lot of fun elements that have been brought in to costumes in a more subtle way. Like the original costumes, you had a dining car with a hot dog on their head. Like I would say the way that train features have been incorporated into these costumes is subtler. There are also nods to the purposes of each train, but for the most part we are playing with very bright colour. You have Greaseball, who is bright yellow. Elektra and Elektra's entourage have this different sort of more black, sleek look with this slicked back, short blonde hair. Very like Linda Evangelista. 90s supermodel editorial aesthetic, maybe. And if I was to guess the components of the mood board of this costume design, I would say that, like, it's very six the musical familiar. It's also like Judy Jetson. It's also futuristic Drag race challenge. And this is probably not a reference you're expecting to hear out of my mouth, but like the Reach video game where you could customize your own Master Chief esque protagonist, it's giving that as well. But in general, the aesthetic of the whole thing, much more futuristic than other productions of Starlight Express. Now let me give you an overview for the production. And I kind of teased this idea before, but it's very much for theatre fans. You'll know what I'm talking about here. It's. It's exactly what I was expecting this revival to be. It didn't, you know, bring anything new or unexpected. It delivered on the fronts that I was anticipating that it would and I was excited for it. So you can take that to be a good thing. It's exactly what you would expect a Luke Shepard directed version of Starlight Express to be. It's a little bit more socially conscientious. We have queer themes. I'll tell you more later on. There's a little bit more sentimentality in terms of the positioning of the child actor who plays Control. And for another thing, they are on stage for much of the show. So it's not just the voice of control. We see Control running around controlling the trains for almost the entire thing. Control is very present in this new version of the show. It is also exactly what you would expect a Gabriella Slade costumed version of Starlet Express to look like. Like it met my expectations very much in terms of the creatives involved. And the only other thing I think I want to say about the production at this stage is that it does still feel tonally, incredibly familiar of Starlight Express. This is still the same show. It does not feel like as bold a departure as we have seen from other revivals. This is not the Jamie Lloyd, Sunset Boulevardification of Starlight Express. It is still very familiar. I mean, Arlene Phillips, who has always been attached to, you know, the original productions of the show, is still involved. Dame Arlene Phillips, I should say, sorry, Olivier Award winner Dame Arlene Phillips is still attached to this as a creative consultant. She was there at the final dress rehearsal. And it retains that unmistakable Starlet Express feel, which I think is important. Now, let me share what are perhaps the juicy details you've come here to find out about? New music, new lyrics, new characters, new plot. I'm going to tell you about it in a spoiler free way. Here we go. So let's start with the characters then, because this kind of introduces the other things that I'm going to talk about now. If you know Starlight Express, you will know that we have seen a lot of change of character names across the years. Some of these have been for the characters of the national trains, who are sort of other background participants in the races that take place during the show. But they are not key characters. We don't really find out much about them. And traditionally they represent different trains of the world and they have had a bunch of different names over the years and sort of cultural updates. I remember when I went to see the show, the Japanese Bullet Train was called Nintendo. And I retained that A because I played a lot of Nintendo at the time, but also because I remember thinking, if one of them is the Bullet Train, that's the train that should be winning. And any other result of this show is inconceivable. In a subsequent version, I think Nintendo became manga. That's just one example of how the names of these trains have evolved in this latest version of the show. They don't represent different nationalities whatsoever. We are sidestepping that potential cultural offense. And instead they are just given colors and the colors kind of invoke different ideas. Like you've got the Golden Eagle, which kind of says American. Another one is the green arrow. But they are all given names that refer to colors. I wish I could list all of the names for you. I didn't get a program. They didn't have programs. It was a dress rehearsal and not the first preview. Now, the other characters who have seen a lot of change over the years are the coaches. These are the friends of Pearl who used to sing the song Lot of Locomotion, which became a whole Lot of Locomotion, which became, I think Ich bin Ich in the German production. I'll tell you what it is now in just a moment. But, you know, it's been. Pearl and Dinah are the two. Kind of like Constance. Pearl being our main female protagonist and Dinah being kind of the leader of the trio of the other coaches over the years. We've had Buffy, we've had Duvet. We've had one called Carrie. Quite recently, I think maybe even still now in Bockum, who is the luggage car? Oh, Ashley. How could I forget Ashley? Ashley, the smoking car, who had a whole verse about how she couldn't give up smoking and that, you know, sensibly, that's been cut. So in this new production, the other two coaches are. Belle, who has featured in previous productions before, was a feature of the original production, but in a very different capacity and is different to Duvet, But Belle is also a sleeping car, and Tacita, who is the quiet coach. Now, outside of changes to their names, they kind of fulfill the same role that those characters have done in every other iteration of the show. And there's no material that really refers to specifically those new characters. Now, the show originally featured an older steam train character called Popper. In more recent versions of the show, this has been changed to Mama. In this production, it is Mama McCoy. This is how it currently is in Bockham. And I think this change started in Bockham because of the casting of the London revival. Pearl as Mama over there. This was also reflected in a recent workshop version of the show in London. And seems to just be how Starlight Express is going to be moving forward, forwards. Now. Rusty is still Rusty. Greaseball is still Greaseball. Although Greaseball is referred to with female pronouns in this version of the show. Greaseball is now a female train. Dinah is still a female train, and still, you know, expresses the same sentimentality towards Greaseball. So it does kind of invoke, if not explicitly stating, the idea of WLW Sapphic lesbian trains, which we love to see during Pride Month. And honestly, all year round. Thrilled about that. Delighted, you might say, And I hope that you all are as well. Like the affection between the two of them is really just the Disney version of it, where it's like Dinah really wants to go with Greaseball to the race and is sad when Greaseball chooses somebody else. But it's not like, super explicit as to what those emotions are. In fact, a lot of the romantic and, dare I say, sexual undertones of the lyrics exist only in material that has been cut from this version. Most of it in the introduction of the four coaches. The song that was a lot of Locomotion, that became a whole lot of Locomotion that became Ich bin Ich. If you don't know it was a very suggestive number that became a slightly more empowered girl band number with just a slightly suggestive rap intro and then fully rewrote itself to become a feminist train anthem, which is, you know what the Bokkam version now is. Now, in terms of regenering characters, Elektra is referred to throughout the production with gender neutral pronouns. Elektra is only ever referred to as they and them, and it changes absolutely nothing about their character. If that makes you raise an eyebrow, if you think that feels performative, I think it kind of just positions Elektra as the concept of the arrival of the electric train, as well as being an individual. And it makes a lot of sense from that perspective. Now, we also have two referee characters who are commanded by control. We only ever see them around race times, and they are two stunt scooter performers who go around on scooters. They don't sing or speak, I believe, because they are just cast to be stunt performers, basically. But I am not quite done with character changes. And these ones are the most significant because all of the other changes I've told you about don't really alter the plot, and these ones do completely. So the characters I have yet to tell you about are the freight trains. Now, in previous versions of the show, these included a set of generic trains, as well as specific named characters like the Red Caboose, who later became CB for inexplicable reasons, and Dustin the Big Hopper. The generic freight trains I mentioned, they may have originally been the Rockies that then became the Hip Hoppers. In any case, in this version, all of those characters are gone. And there are three freight trains who all have a name. They are the Porter, Slickoil and Hydra, the Hydrogen Train. This obviously being a technological advancement that was not around at the time of the original production of Starlight Express, I'm assuming, unless I've said something scientifically incredibly foolish, in which case someone will tell me in the comment Section we know I know things about theatre and almost nothing else. I'm not. I am not Mickey Jo Train. So listen, much as I would love to be, Francis Bourgeois has the market down on that one. I wonder if he's going to see Starlight Express. Oh, I bet he'll be at gala night. Anyway, these are the three freight trains who arrive with strong opinions about, you know, how trains ought to be, which everyone has in this show, if you don't know. And I'm going to tell you what they do in the show in the next section, as I tell you about the changes to the material and the plot. Again without spoilers. So staying with those three Freight Train characters, then, Porter, Slickoil and Hydra. It's the latter two, Slickoil and Hydra, which are the most important because they replace the arcs of pre existing characters. Slickoil basically takes on the role that was played by the Red Caboose, who became CB in previous productions, and sings the song High Style, Wide, smart. Wait, wait, hold on. Is it Wide style, High? That doesn't. No, it's definitely. It's got to be Wide Smile. Okay. High Style, Wide Smile. All the other way around. That's. That's the song. It's been cut from the show before. It's back in. And it's sung by Slick Oil. So Slick Oil picks up that Red Caboose material. But the section of freight where the Red Caboose was originally introduced, where they were like, at the back of every piece of track. I'm right behind you. Gone. Cut. Buried over. Mourn it. Move on. Similarly, all of the moments that referred to Dustin the Big Hopper, all of the whole, like, I'm the big hopper. I'm not a box. Yeah, your head is of rocks. They're not rocks. They're bits of gravel. Gravel has the right to travel. To my despair. Gone. Honestly, some of the finest lyrics in the show, like, gravel has the right to travel. Come on, now. But in terms of the way that the races function, Hydra fulfills the same role that Dustin the Big Hopper did, but with a very different approach and with a very different characterization, and it comes to have a different connotation. This also becomes pretty pivotal in the tying up of the whole thing at the end. Now, Hydra actually gets what I think we're calling an entire new song written for this production. There is a recurring hook that Hydra sings. It's kind of their, like, scientific, political mantra about the concept of hydrogen. I could absolutely sing it for you now because it gets repeated a lot and it has been in my head, but I'm not going to spoil it for you. But that is something that we hear a lot. But that's not to say that's the only new music for this production. There is so much that's new, or at least that is new to me. Maybe this has already been introduced in Bokkam, but even the title song, Starlight Express, for example, the verses are different. It is not the whole. When your goodnights have been said and you are lying in bed with the covers pulled up tight, gone. Instead, we have a different verse leading into the same recognizable chorus. Starline Express. Starline Express. That's still there. Thankfully, verse is gone. Now, I mentioned the song that the coaches sing having evolved over time, and I have to say that it is the Bockum version, Ich Bin ich AKA I've Got Me, that is used in this version. We are doing feminist train anthem and not suggestive slutty train song, which, nostalgia aside, I think you'll agree is probably for the best. But it is not the version that you may know, because in I've Got Me, at least the one that was recorded that I've been listening to on Spotify, Pearl has a section towards the end where she's like, I know I'd better make a move. I'm something, something too long that's gone. Instead, there is another different little melody section that happens at some point during the song that I can't necessarily recall because, you know, I was too busy reacting to it and I wasn't audio bootlegging the show. I'm sorry. In fact, I won't apologize for that. I'm sure there is more different music. I'm just struggling to think of the specific moments where it happens. There are new lyrics all over the place. Like a lot of random new lyrics all over the place. Light at the End of the Tunnel has updated lyrics from the version that I knew from a previous version of the song. Who sings what in different songs has been reallocated. Like, Rusty sings a lot more of crazy than I remember. A lot of the lyrics of like Call Me Rusty have been changed. Like, again, it's still familiar. Starlight Express, like, for the most part, it's the same score you'll recognize, just rejuvenated and updated. And anyone who enjoys and follows Andrew Lloyd Webber shows know that this is also nothing new. Like, Andrew loves to tinker with his own work. And there will be so many different updates. Even while a show is running, even as a show is closing, the man still Changes things I will say the ones that I mourn. Rolling stock reprise is good. Gone entirely. Dinah's Disco is gone. She reprises a different melody instead. But Dinah's Disco was kind of weirdly my favorite song in the entire show. I think the bit where she's like, you never whistled at me. Bah, bah, gone. And I'm devastated about it, but I've moved on and so should you. So without spoiling anything about the plot, I think that's everything I want to tell you about the material. If anyone does have any particular specific questions. A I can't guarantee that I will remember every single detail. B, I don't know that it's not going to be changed. But see if you do want to comment down below, then maybe I'll let you know. Or perhaps I just won't. Finally though, let's talk about the general audience experience and what you can expect from an evening at the Troubadour Theatre to go and see Starlight Express. Ironically, plan your travel with plenty of wiggle room because this is nearby to Wembley Arena, Wembley Stadium, where if there's a concert happening, if there's a football match happening, an enormous quantity of people will also be trying to use Wembley park underground station. But that is where you will find the Troubadour theatre. It's like 25 minutes, I think outside of Central London on the Metropolitan Line, maybe a little bit less. And we've talked already about what the Starlight Auditorium looks like and all of the different seating options, but from what I could tell, and I was in that rear bank of seating, maybe like fifth row, pretty close to center, just slightly on the left. It seemed as though the view would be pretty great wherever you were. And they're going to offer different things because one gives you proximity, another gives you a vantage point, the furthest back gives you the broadest overview because everything is happening in front of you, kind of like newsies. If anyone saw newsies, like you could be in that front seating block or one of the side ones and be closer, but you wouldn't get the benefit of certain moments that happened mid audience during the show. So I think if you want to see everything in a very like big overview kind of a way, and you don't care about being close enough to see the facial expressions of the human beings playing trains, then the rear block of seating may be the one for you. And it didn't go like miles back in the same way that the newsies seats seemed to. No one seemed to be that far from the stage, which I think is a good thing. The front row of those seats did get to high five the performers during the megamix at the end. That was fun. Who knows if you'll get to do that at all times. Obviously like touching performers while they're performing on stage is very much up to them because they're also on wheels, for crying out loud. All of which is to say I wouldn't want anyone to, on my recommendation, book certain seats with the expectation that you're going to get a high five. But that's what happened at the dress rehearsal. The ones I'm not sure about in terms of like getting the full storytelling are the ones that are up on the sides at the top. Although they do seem like a really cool place to sit. Maybe they're good seats to go back to if you are returning for a subsequent visit or if you already know the show. Certainly if you're sitting in those very front sections, you are going to get a really exciting experience with a lot of other effects as well as the skating happening in front of you. It's, I mean it's, it's an exciting auditorium to be in because it does combine the thrill of live theater and performance with this sort of like sports, like cage fight kind of energy atmosphere. I say that as someone who has never been to a cage fight in my life. Look at me, I'm wearing a multi colored baseball cap backwards on my head and a Disney Pride spirit jersey. Like I'm a stereotype sitting here in front of you. But that's what it felt like to me. We weren't allowed to photograph anything inside the building, so I did not take photos of the merchandise. It was pretty much what I was expecting. Like you had T shirts, you had child sized T shirts in different like block colors. I think the child one was the cutest. It was like, I think that was the yellow one. And they were selling the kind of things that you would expect. Like there was a tote bag and there were mugs. They do have a handful of signature cocktails and mocktails. We tried one of them, the name of which I can't remember, which is incredibly helpful to you now. I know. I think it was, I think it was the Hydrogen Fizz and it was, you know what? It was too lemony for me. But when I go back I'll try a different one and I will let you know. But I think that's kind of everything I have to say at this stage on the theatre going experience. If anyone has any particular specific questions do feel free to let me know in the comment section down below. And if it's non spoilery and if it's something I feel I can say and feel was applicable to my experience at the dress rehearsal, then I will answer. Or potentially we might get some people from the first preview appearing in the comments section who may be able to give us more answers or different answers. In any case, that is everything I am going to tell you about the brand new production of Starlight Express in London. I am so excited to go back and see a press performance of this show and create a full video review for you here on YouTube. Make sure you're subscribed, make sure you turn on those notifications. If you want to see it before everyone else, then sign up to become a channel member at the link in this description. But in the meantime, I hope you've enjoyed this video comment all of your thoughts and feelings in the comment section down below. If anyone else has been lucky enough to already see this production, if you were at the dress rehearsal or if I'm catching you after the first preview performance or the first few previews, let us know what you thought in the comments. But try and keep it spoiler free. Thank you so much for watching this video. I hope you enjoyed and I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a Stagey Day. For 10 more seconds. I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day. Subscribe.