Who are the composers of Starlight Express?
Starlight Express. Starlight Express is a rock musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber (music) and Richard Stilgoe (lyrics). Later productions have used additional songs with lyrics by Don Black, David Yazbek, Nick Coler and Lauren Aquilina, and with music by the composer’s son, Alastair Lloyd Webber. Famously,…
When did Starlight Express first open on Broadway?
The Broadway production of Starlight Express opened on 15 March 1987 at the Gershwin Theatre, where it ran for 761 performances, closing in January 1989. This version featured extensive revisions to the plot and the addition and omission of several musical numbers. Orchestrations by David Cullen and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
What was the story of the Starlight Express?
Synopsis. Throughout Starlight Express ’s history, however, the fundamental story has stayed the same: a young but obsolete steam engine, Rusty, races in a championship against modern engines in the hope of impressing a first-class carriage, Pearl.
How many levels is the Starlight Express Theater?
The Starlight Express Theater features tracks on three levels in a U-shape, with the audience sitting in the middle and around these tracks. The fact that the venue took less than one year build is documented in the Guinness Book of Records.
How many times has Starlight Express been performed?
Famously, the actors perform the entire show on roller skates. The show holds the record as the ninth-longest-running theatrical production in West End history, having been performed 7,409 times between 1984 and 2002. Starlight Express is also the most successful musical in Germany, where it has been performed in a purpose-built theatre since 1988.
What’s the difference between Starlight Express and cats?
Where Cats was about felines, Starlight Express was about trains, with the actors portraying engines and sidecars in elaborate costumes, recreating the effect of trains on tracks by riding around the theater on roller skates. The plot, such as it was, had to do with a race.