Yesterday we at WhatsOnStage got our skates on and headed to the official opening of Starlight Express at Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre!
Prior to the show, we caught up with the show's composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyricist Richard Stilgoe, creative dramaturg Arlene Phillips, choreographer Ashley Nottingham and a trainload of VIP guests to learn a little more about this brand-new iteration of the 1984 musical - 40 years after its first launch.
Check out all the buzz from opening night in our exclusive video!
Starlight Express is about a child’s train set that comes to life and competes to become the fastest engine in the world.
Leading the current show are 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.
Joining them on stage are 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 playing Control are Shaniyah Abrahams, Cristian Buttaci, Alexander Brooks, Barnaby Halliwell, Mimi Soetan and Arabella Stanton.
Starlight Express premiered at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in 1984, where it played until 2002. It has also been running in Bochum, Germany for over 30 years, and has been seen by more than 20 million people.
Luke Sheppard directs the new production, while the creative team features set designer Tim Hatley, costume designer Gabriella Slade, video designer Andrzej Goulding, lighting designer Howard Hudson, and sound designer Gareth Owen. New orchestrations are by Matthew Brind with Lloyd Webber, with musical supervision by Brind and David Wilson, musical direction by Laura Bangay and casting by Pearson Casting.
Audience members in Wembley Park are able to sit either around and inside the “racing track”, or behind the performance space on a more conventional rake.
Tickets through to 16 February 2025 are on sale now.