Starlight Express: Theatre Review

Starlight Express is a visually spectacular show – where the whole cast perform in great costumes, and on roller skates. It’s a great show for all ages. Here’s my Starlight Express theatre review.

Overview of Starlight Express

Starlight Express is a famous Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. Originally performed in the 1980s, it has had multiple tours. In 2024, Starlight Express is touring at the Wembley Park theatre – a modern theatre space which is perfect for the visuals of this show. Starlight Express doesn’t have an overly complicated plot, but my Starlight Express theatre review will give a few plot spoilers!

The most important thing to know about the plot of Starlight Express is that the cast aren’t people. They’re trains. And yes, this sounds a bit weird – but it sort of works.

The show starts with a kid playing with toy trains. Their mum comes in and says it’s bedtime, so the kid goes to sleep. But then the kid starts dreaming about their trains – and the rest of the show is the kid’s dream about their trains.

All of the cast on roller skates are different trains. A lot of the show is introducing the different trains. There’s Hydrogen, there’s Diesel. There’s the fancy new Electric train, Electra. And there’s Rusty – the old steam engine. There are also train carriages – including Dinah, the dining car. And Pearl, the observation carriage.

The trains are introduced with their songs, and their characters. Rusty is the main character. He’s an old steam train but he still wants to race with the other trains. The other trains mock him. And Rusty is in love with Pearl – the pretty observation carriage. But she’s tempted by the fancy new Electric train.

The train races begin, with all the engines having one carriage in the race. There are multiple heats of the train race, and there’s drama in the train races. The kid’s mum also appears for a train race as well. But the big questions is: will Rusty win the race, even though he’s an old steam engine? And will he win the girl? The ending is probably a bit predictable – but it’s still nice!

What I liked about Starlight Express

Staging and visuals

My absolute favourite thing about Starlight Express was the visual element of the show. The costumes of all the performers were great. And the roller skating was amazing. It was so impressive how all the performers were constantly on roller skates and whizzing around the race track and the stage.

The staging was amazing – it was set up with a race track around the stage, with a steep uphill and downhill section. The roller skating performers would whizz around, and it was great to watch. The train races were the highlight of the show, where the performers were in pairs (engine and carriage) and they were racing around.

There were also two performers on scooters who did some amazing acrobatic moves. On the sloping part of the stage, they’d do lots of spins and tricks with the scooters. It was great.

The stage also had big screens, which were great in the entrances of the trains and the races. When a new train would enter, it felt like a proper sporting event – a bit like WWE wrestling, with the big entrance of the performer. And in the races, the screens would show a live feed camera of the action, as well as the score of who was winning that race. The screens really gave a sense of being at a proper sporting event – even though it was just people pretending to be trains!

Music

I enjoyed a lot of the music in the show as well. The title show ‘Starlight Express’ was really nice. And I loved the soppy song ‘I do’ between Rusty and Pearl as well. A lot of the other songs were really good, with a lot of the trains having their own style of song. I thought both Rusty and Pearl were great singers, and their songs were my favourite.

I also really liked the song ‘I am the Starlight’, between Rusty and the kid’s mum. It was a great song, that mixed together the tunes from the song ‘Starlight Express’ and ‘Only You’. The song ‘Only You’ isn’t in this show anymore – it’s been replaced by ‘I do’. But I liked the song (I knew the song from years ago), so it was nice to hear some of the tune from ‘Only You’ is still in the show.

What I wasn’t so sure about

I loved the spectacular visuals of Starlight Express. And I enjoyed the story – as long as I didn’t think about it too much. Because it’s a bit weird. It’s weird that they’re trains, and not people.

Trains, not people

It’s not actually super clear in the show that they’re trains, not people. I’d read about the show beforehand, so I was prepared for the change from the kid playing with toy trains to the trains coming to life. But a friend, who didn’t know anything about the show, was very confused for a while. It wasn’t that clear that these roller-skating people who suddenly appeared were the trains from the kid’s dream. So if you don’t know that this show is about people being trains, then you might be a bit confused.

The performers being trains and not people worked ok as long as you didn’t think about it too much. As long as you accept that they’re trains, and that trains fall in love with other trains, then that’s fine. So just don’t think about it too much, and enjoy the visuals of the show!

Weird songs and the kid’s mum is a train

I enjoyed a lot of the songs, but some were a bit weird. There was a really weird ‘Whistle At Me’ song. It was about Pearl liking Rusty’s train whistle. And it was just weird. But I guess that, because they’re trains, maybe girl trains like the whistles of boy trains. But surely Pearl could have liked something more about Rusty, like his personality…not his whistle…

Other songs were weird as well. Like the U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D song, which is a train carriage singing about how they were uncoupled from their engine. And entire songs about just being a train. And there’s not a lot of talking in the show – so sometimes they’ll sing really mundane lyrics that should just be talking, but they’ll sing them really dramatically – like ‘where it Rusty’. This should be a line of dialogue, not a super dramatic line of a song…

There were a lot of songs that were ok to listen to during the show, but I wouldn’t choose to listen to them at home. Some of the songs from the show made my playlist at home, but a lot don’t work as well when listening at home. They’re good songs in the drama of the race, but don’t work that well at home.

It was also a bit weird how the kid’s mum suddenly appeared as a train on roller skates. She was really good, and I enjoyed the part of the show with her in it. But I didn’t quite understand why the kid’s mum was a train in their dream. But again, that’s just a plot point that it’s best not to try to understand too much and just accept.

Starlight Express, the train-God

The whole concept of ‘Starlight Express’ is weird as well. It seems like Starlight Express is some kind of train-God. Rusty prays to Starlight Express at the end of the first half, when he knows he’s going to be racing. So Starlight Express is some kind of mythical God-like figure in the train world. It’s a lovely song, and one of my favourite songs in the show. But again, it’s just best not to think about it too much – just enjoy the song, and not try to work out the logic of a train-God.

They never wake up

It also disturbed me that the kid never woke up from their dream. The end of the show is the megamix of the trains. So the kid never wakes up from their dream. So does that mean we’re constantly in the train world, where people are trains…

Would I recommend Starlight Express

My Starlight Express theatre review is mostly positive, so I would recommend going to see Starlight Express. It’s a visually great show, with roller skating performers and great acrobatic tricks. A lot of the songs are good, and there are some nice soppy moments. But it is a bit weird. It’s weird that they’re trains, not people, and that trains fall in love with other trains and are attracted to train whistles and pray to the train-God. But, if you don’t think about the weirdness too much – it’s a great, fun show!