Review- Starlight Express

A review of the musical Starlight Express, in Sunderland, April 2007:

With all the hype surrounding popular television shows like X Factor and Popworld, you could be forgiven for thinking that theatre was still reserved either for the toffs in their DJ’s sipping brandy, or a one-off treat for the parent celebrating a 50th birthday.

But now Saturday evenings receive a dazzling (albeit camp) sprinkling of the stage, and suddenly star searches on telly such as Any Dream Will Do and How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? have brought the classic shows to a fresh popular audience.

Riding on the back of the new-age theatre wave is another reinvention of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1983 extravaganza on wheels, Starlight Express. It has been moulded into a new, slim-line version; gone is the double tiered set and the heart-wrenching ballad Next Time You Fall In Love; in come the 3D glasses, recorded race scenes. Welcome to Starlight Express: The 3rd Dimension.

It is the second time in three years that the Starlight Express has rolled into Sunderland’s Empire Theatre, which could go some way to explaining the empty seats that pepper the auditorium. Nevertheless, there is an excited buzz amongst the crowd as they await the appearance of the greatest locomotives in history.

Since the second reinvention of Starlight Express occurred in 1993, it had seemed that the show was for the theatrical scrapheap when the curtain closed on its 7409th performance nine years later. The 3rd Dimension is evidently a shadow of the show’s former self. The set seems cheaper, the roller-skating stunts less frequent, and the race scenes less gripping.

mfThe two tiered raceway which Electra, Rusty, Greaseball and Nintendo sped around in the ‘90s created frantic, exciting and exhilarating action. In this new version, a projector screen drops down from the sky and the audience is subjected to a Hollywood-esque comedy drama on screen, where a pre-recorded contest serves to take the viewer out of the imaginary bubble of the show and back into the real world.

Aside from the disappointing selling-point of Starlight: The 3rd Dimension, there is luckily still the fun storyline and brilliant score to save the day. Almost all of the old classics are included in the show, and the crowd was evidently brought back to life with the expertly rolled-out dance routines and fantastically written music. What less would you expect from a Lloyd Webber musical?

Star of the show is Mykal Rand as Electra. As soon as he comes fizzing into the narrative, he is seductive, sexy and sublime. He mesmerises the crowd with his opener AC:DC, and is the epitome of his character as he slides along the stage like a pulsing circuit. Flanked by his posse of similarly ice-cool aficionados, Electra offers a dark side to the jovial proceedings.

All the ingredients are still there for a fantastic show. The mix of melodies ranges from hip-hop to blues to country to rock ‘n’ roll. There is something for everyone. Children will still be dazzled by the dancers on wheels, and marvel at the 3D screens. For parents and adults who are not so impressed by the novelty of the projected races, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s fantastical creation should still whet the latest popular theatre-goer’s appetite.