Starlight Express is a musical written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Richard Stilgoe. Starlight Express takes place in the dreams of a 10 year old boy named Control. In his dream, Control's toy trains come to life. Our protagonist is Rusty, a young and hopeful steam engine, who wishes to win the international championship againist more modern engines to impress Pearl, an observation car. Starlight Express also features three main antagonists: Electra, a futuristic electric engine; Greaseball, a macho diesel engine; and CB, a mischief making caboose. Famously, the actors perform on roller skates.

My personal favorite production of the show is the Original London production. It opened on March 27th, 1984 and closed on January 12th, 2002. Starlight Express was performed at the Apollo Victoria theatre with over 7,406 performances. The Original London production was directed by Trevor Nunn and choreographed by Arlene Phillips. Lighting was done by David Hersey and sound was done by Martin Levan. Both costumes and set were designed by John Napier. The production musical director was David Caddick with orchestration done by David Cullen and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Tony Stenson has also been credited as musical director with Phillip Edwards as assistant MD. Dion McHugh was assistant director, Liz Da Costa was assistant costume designer, and Jane Newman was assistant choreographer. Mark Davis was the dance captain. Starlight Express was produced by The Really Useful Theatre Company.

The original cast of the show features Ray Shell as Rusty the Steam Engine, Stephanie Lawrence as Pearl the Observation Car, Jeff Shankley as Greaseball the Diesel Engine, Jeffrey Daniel as Electra the Electric Engine, Michael Staniforth as CB the Red Caboose, Lon Satton as Poppa the Old Steamer, Frances Ruffelle as Dinah the Dining Car, Chrissy Wickham as Ashley the Smoking Car, Nancy Wood as Buffy the Buffet Car, Eddie Kemp as Krupp the Armanents Truck, Carola Amphlett as Wrench the Repair Truck, Kofi Missah as Purse the Money Truck, Debbie Wake as Joule the Dynamite Truck, Voyd as Volta the Freezer Truck, P.P. Arnold as Memphis Belle the Sleeping Car, Danny John Jules as Rocky 1, Attlee Baptiste as Rocky 2, Richard Bodkin as Rocky 3, Paul Reeves as Flat-Top the Brick Truck, Gary Love as Dustin the Big-Hopper, Tom Jobe as Bobo, Bobby Collins as Turnov, Ruel George Campbell as Espresso, Drue Williams as Hashamoto, Mark Davis as Weltschaft, and Raymond Hatfield as City of Milton Keynes. Several characters in the cast also doubled up as members of Greaseball's gang: Eddie Kemp, Kofi Missah, Danny John Jules, Attlee Baptiste, Richard Bodkin, Gary Love, Bobby Collins, and Drue Williams. A few actors also doubled up as named members of Greaseball's gang: Tom Jobe as Lube, Paul Reeves as Gook, and Mark Davis as Tank. Debbie Wake and Voyd also doubled as 2nd and 3rd class sleepers. The orginial cast also had several covers: Abraham Osuagwu as Poppa, Samantha Fox as Belle, and Charlotte Avery as Buffy. The swings for the show included Sebastian Craig, Michael Seraphim, Eleanor Bertram, Uduak Ephraim, and Pollyanna Buckingham.

One of my favorite fun facts is about the changes made between the previews and the production itself. Rusty was originally a water engine, which Ray Shell stated was "slowing the show down and confusing audiences". This led to an aria titled "Be a Pump" being cut from the show!

The opening of the show is also wildly infamous for what happened sound-wise. A BBC broadcast truck was parked outside the theatre, waiting to see the audience's reaction after the show. Fifteen minutes from the end of the show, the truck started transmitting on the same frequency as the mics in the theatre. When the sound crew found the problem, the BBC refused to turn their transmitter off. Andrew Lloyd Webber states that it "all but destroyed Stephanie Lawrence's big number "Only He" and caused huge mirth in the finale when Lon Satton hit the lines, "There are dark days ahead when the power goes dead.""

Below are some of my favorite pictures of the original cast!