Starlight Express

Starlight Express

Musical dates
Title:	Starlight Express
Original title:	Starlight Express
Original language:	English
Music:	Andrew Lloyd Webber
Book:	Richard Stilgoe
Premiere:	March 27, 1984
Place of premiere:	London , Apollo Victoria Theater
Playing time:	2 hours
Place and time of the action:	present
Roles / people
Rusty Pearl Papa ^ mummy Greaseball Electra (Red) Caboose Dinah Carrie Buffy ^ Ashley ^ Belle Dustin Flat top Purse Volta Joules Killer watt Wrench Croup ^ Hashamoto ^ Manga espresso Ruhr gold Brexit Bobo ^ Coco Turnov Hip Hopper I ^ Hip Hopper II ^ Hip Hopper III ^** Rocky I Rocky II Rocky III Trax I. Trax II ^* Rolle was deleted from the Bochum Show on June 1, 2017 ^** Role was changed on June 1, 2018 in the Bochum Show

Starlight Express in the Starlight Express Theater in Bochum (April 2018).

Starlight Express in the Starlight Express Theater in Bochum (March 2018).

Starlight Express is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Richard Stilgoe . It is based on the Railway Series by Wilbert Vere Awdry and the story The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper . All actors, except for two stunt people, appear on roller skates , the stunt people go on inline skates. The premiere took place on March 27, 1984 at 8 p.m. at the Apollo Victoria Theater in London, the Broadway premiere was on March 15, 1987 at the Gershwin Theater in New York . In Germany the play has been running in the specially built Starlight Express Theater in Bochum since June 12, 1988 . There it holds the record for the longest playing time of a musical in one place.

content

In the musical, locomotives and wagons are each represented by an actor on roller skates or inline skates. The play tells the dream of a child in which the world championship of trains will be held. During the play, two qualification races will be held, in which the two first-placed trains qualify for the finals. Since there is a derailment at the final, another final will take place. In between there are quarreling scenes between the mighty locomotives and the wagons, as the locomotives discriminate against the wagons. The relationship between the Dinah wagon and the Greaseball locomotive is also discussed. Greaseball turns away from her before the finale, but realizes after losing it that he needs her and apologizes to her. The Rusty locomotive plays the main role. But since it is already a very old steam locomotive, it is cleaned up by the other locomotives and it loses its courage and optimism. Her mother tries to encourage her but only makes it after she wins the second qualifying race. But Rusty is still skeptical until she meets the Starlight Express and it gives her courage and hope. In the finale, after she was betrayed by the Caboose brake car, she competes with the heavy coal car Dustin. During the race, Greaseball disconnects the Pearl car. Rusty saves Pearl, who also encourages her. Shortly before the finish line, the Electra and Greaseball locomotives cause an accident. This enables Rusty to win the final and achieve the world title. With that he finally wins Pearl's heart and they swear eternal love.

The roles

Rusty is an obsolete rusty steam locomotive. She wants to take part in the world championship, but her courage is lost when the Pearl wagon turns away from her. At the beginning she doesn't seem self-confident, but during the story she learns to believe in herself (with the help of the Starlight Express ).
Greaseball , a diesel locomotive, is the defending champion and one of the favorites. She makes fun of Rusty's initial optimism and is very confident of victory herself (“Nobody can stop me tonight!”). However, she does not always play fair: in the first race she starts with a jump start , in all races she unfairly hampers the competitors.
Electra , the electric locomotive , is the absolute favorite for the winning post. It is here for the first time and is completely modern. In the first qualifying race, Electra is supported by Pearl.
Papa / Mama , the old steam locomotive, is, unlike Rusty, very enthusiastic about himself and about steam trains in general. When Rusty does not want to contest the second race without Pearl, he / she does it for him. After he achieved first place, his strength - already low due to his age - is at the end. He encourages Rusty by telling her about the mysterious identity of the Starlight Express . Papa / Mama sings the part of the Starlight Express at the same time, whereby the unresolved question arises whether Papa / Mama only "plays" the Starlight Express to give Rusty the belief in himself, or whether there really is a Starlight Express.
Pearl is the 1st class carriage. At the beginning she is mocked by the trains, only Rusty takes her in a friendly manner. He tries to win her heart right from the start, but fails because both Electra and Greaseball strive to win her over as a wagon. In the first race she drives with Electra, in the final she drives with Greaseball, but regrets this because he disconnects her. Rusty saves them, and after winning the race they become a couple.
Dinah is the dining car and the girlfriend of Greaseball. Since she advocates a fair competition, she speaks to Greaseball about his cheating in the first race and is then abandoned by him. However, she finds solace in Belle and Carrie, and finally there is a happy ending for them too, as Greaseball apologizes to her.
Belle is the bar cart. Carrie is the luggage cart. They both comfort Dinah and encourage her to fight Greaseball.
Caboose is the brake wagon and therefore has a lot of power over the outcome of a race. However, when he races with Rusty and pretends to help him, it turns out that his connection is only fake. He tricks Rusty and Greaseball in favor of Electra. But the commitment to Electra also turns out to be a ruse to achieve one's own goals.

Dustin is the coal wagon that drives Rusty in the final. However, Dustin has to persuade Rusty to drive with him because Rusty thinks it is too heavy.

Flat Top is the stone wagon. He adores greaseball and likes to be at the edge of his aisle. When this takes action against Rusty, he stays in the background and worries about Rusty.

The three Hip Hoppers / Rockys are box vans.

Electra's wagons include the so-called “components”: the Purse money transporter , the Wrench repair wagon , the Volta refrigerated wagon , the Joule explosives wagon and the Killerwatt armaments wagon .

The other trains that compete in the race are the French TGV Bobo / Coco , from Italy the Rome-Milan Express Espresso , the German ICE Ruhrgold , from Russia the Trans- Sibirien -Express Turnov , from Japan the Shinkansenzug Manga and the British locomotive Brexit (based on the actual Brexit ).

In addition, the voices of the little boy, in whose dream world the trains operate, and his mother can be heard as off-screen voices.

show

Starlight Express Theater Bochum

The Bochum production in the Starlight Express Theater , built especially for the show in 1988 , is characterized by elaborate laser effects, extraordinary costumes and roller skating rinks that run right through the auditorium. The heart of the technology is a nine-tonne pivoting bridge that enables the performers to move on three levels. It also serves as a start and finish marker. Since the theater was built just for this play, the architecture could be perfectly tailored to the needs of the play.

In October 2006 “Greaseball” got burning roller skates and the electric locomotive “Electra” got sparks. There are now two stunt skaters ("Trax") who perform tricks on inline skates between races - jumps, somersaults, etc. - and appear as marshals during the races, but have no singing appearances.

As part of the revision of the play in 2018, the theater was also given a general overhaul for 4.5 million euros. Furthermore, all costumes have been redesigned and new roles have been added. The changes to the costumes range from changing the hair color (Dinah → blonde to black), to the complete redesign of individual costumes (Electra got a white look, with fiberglass hair and Pearl's outfit became white. Before she had a completely pink costume with her pink hair, now she has blonde hair and a simple, white outfit).

Revisions

Over the course of time, the piece has undergone numerous dramaturgical and musical revisions at the various venues. In the British version there was originally a sleeping car called Belle , but its role was canceled when it was revised in 1992. Belle has been available in the German version since the revision in 2018, but as a bar cart.

Revisions of the German version

In 2002 the German version was revised. In addition to a revised megamix , in which some of the melodies from the musical are summarized again at the end, the song Crazy was added and the duet Du was replaced by Alone in the Light ( Next Time You Fall In Love , text by Don Black ) . The pieces composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber were translated into German by Wolfgang Adenberg .

In 2006, the four Rockies ( freight cars ) were replaced by the three hip hoppers, who are also counted among the freight cars, similar to the second US tour.

In 2008 there was another revision for the 20th anniversary. The overture was cut, the song Love Express was then he whistles at me (English. He'll whistle at me ) and replaced in the light of the star alone was only with him (Engl. Only He ) replaced. The song Your friend has been completely deleted.

Another change took place in 2013. The title Nur mit him was replaced by Forever , which was not composed by Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, but by his son Alistair. In addition, Ne Lok with Locomotion was replaced by Never Enough .

On May 13, 2018, at the end of the 7:00 p.m. show, in addition to the annual cast change, another revision was announced. This revision was initiated by Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber himself, as he was of the opinion that the musical, which premiered 33 years ago, was no longer up to date. So he and his old creative team started to rework the piece. The most important change was the strengthening of the female roles, which is why the role of Lok Papa was replaced by Mama and another female Lok (Coco) was added. In addition to the replacement of the roles Buffy and Ashley by Carrie and Belle and the three hip hoppers by three Rockys , the songs and dialogues were also revised, with the revision of the dialogues also closed logic holes that had arisen from previous revisions. As a nod to the withdrawal from the EU of the United Kingdom one was United Kingdom and Gibraltar European Union membership referendum bandwagon introduced (this is from United Kingdom).

music

Andrew Lloyd Webber combines different styles of music such as pop , rock , blues and electro in the musical . The individual figures / trains are assigned individual motifs and characteristic styles. The daring diesel locomotive "Greaseball" is always characterized by classic rock and blues sounds, the modern electric locomotive "Electra" by futuristic synthesizer sounds. The sincere and dreamy steam locomotive "Rusty" can be recognized among others. a. of trendy ballads.

The songs

The piece contains the following 25 songs:

Overture / appearance of the international trains (this is where the trains appear for the first time)

Rolling Stock

Crazy (Here the girls sing about the fact that Pearl shouldn't drive with Rusty because he's crazy -> hence the song name)

Call me Rusty if you want

I am me (song of the female roles, as the male features wanted to kill them, but they fight against it)

Whistle to me! (Song between Rusty and Pearl as they get closer)

Freight is power (the freight cars step on)

AC / DC (Electra's first song)

Pumping Iron (Here Greaseball sings he's the best)

Freight is power (recapitulation)

Crazy (recapitulation)

Help me understand (Rusty doesn't understand why Pearl left him)

Mamas Blues (Rusty's mother performs)

Slow locomotive (The trains are wrecking Rusty because he 'll be too slow in the finale anyway)

Starlight Express

The rap (Greaseball wins Pearl as a wagon for the finals and casts out Dinah)

DEPENDED (Dinah is sad because Greaseball has chosen another wagon)

My game (Caboose sings that he's the decider of the races and he's all about money)

Not the real time, not the right place (The Rockys sing that Rusty has to lie to win the final)

Starlight sequence (Rusty meets the Starlight Express and finds new courage)

I am me (reprise) (Dinah has been kicked out by Greaseball, which is why she is angry and sad)

One rock and roll too much (Greaseball, Electra and Caboose had an accident and are singing about it)

Forever (Pearl and Rusty get together and swear everlasting love)

Light at the end of the tunnel (mom makes it clear that steam trains are the only option)

Finale (Here some songs are presented again)

Performance history

March 27, 1984 - January 12, 2002 (7,406 performances): Apollo Victoria Theater , London, United Kingdom.
March 15, 1987 - January 8, 1989 (761 performances + 22 preview shows from February 24, 1987): Gershwin Theater , New York City, USA.
since June 12, 1988: Starlight Express Theater , Bochum, Germany.

In addition, there were several touring productions in the United Kingdom and the USA and also smaller productions in Australia, South Africa and other countries, which, however, were significantly reduced in terms of equipment compared to the original productions because the extensive structures for shorter seasons or Tour productions are not feasible and transportable.

review

The musical writer Michael Kunze described Starlight Express as Andrew Lloyd Webber's weakest work. In the 2016 Musical1 musical elections, Starlight Express took second place in the "Most Popular Long-Run Musical" category.