Starlight Express--can ANYONE defend this show? — Page 2

I just saw this in London and think it’s a MUST SEE. Obviously you have to recognise it is a…family show and is completely insane/bizarre but this is truly one of the most unique musicals in existence and you really do have to experience it live. Behind Jamie Lloyd’s sunset it’s probably my 2nd fav ALW experience now.

Wow a thread brought back to life from 17 odd years ago.
Add me to the list that loves this show, but in saying that, I wish it was still the original score not the updated one.

I saw this show on tour (1990-ish, maybe) and loved it. Were I to see it again, I'm confident I would love it still. There has not been a single ALW show I've seen that I didn't love.

I saw the show in Germany last year (without really knowing any German) and the spectacle and sheer athleticism were the main things that grabbed me. It wasn't a show I knew super well before but I was always interested in it as a curiosity. I do like the score a good amount, but it's more that individual songs stand above others rather than the entire score being strong as a whole. That said, I think "I Am Me" is inane (and doesn't even make contextual sense), but I'm glad they brought back "CB" in the form of "Wide Smile" and I don't hate "I Do", though I did also like "Only He"

I'm planning on going in London and most of my friends are also intrigued by the camp and silliness of it

binau said: "chrishuyen I'm very interested to hear what you think of the German production compared with the London production, both in terms of the physical production but also how understandable the German one is because it's not in English right?"

Right, it's all in German (though apparently some of the accents can be pretty rough since most of the cast are English speakers anyway), so I mostly familiarized myself with the cast recordings beforehand and could usually follow along with the songs based on what I knew from the English lyrics. The main part I missed was the announcements from Control for what was happening during the races (since the blocking doesn't make it super clear either), some of the political maneuvering from CB, and also some of the puns and jokes, which my friend (who DID understand German) relayed to me at intermission/after the show.

Having only seen clips of the London production, the German version sticks with the same original costumes and whatever script changes had happened prior to London (they still have the national trains etc.), though I think the song list is the same with the exception of Hydrogen. Also the two race officials(?) are on inline skates in the German production as opposed to scooters in London. Will be excited to see the London production just to compare more in depth!

Hated CATS, but loved Starlight Express in London, where the skating scenes circled around the orchestra (stalls) level, which was huge (it was an old movie palace).

it was just fun. I’ll admit that I didn’t play the OCR very often, because it was fluff; but it was a lot of fun. Saw it twice in London, but never saw it in NYC, because I couldn’t see it working on the Uris (Gershwin) stage without looking incredibly cluttered.

I saw this in London in 1998, I waited in line for a cancellation and ended up getting a ticket. The excitement was amplified because Princess Diana had seen SE the night before and it was all of the tabloids. The set and production design were amazingly over the top. Phantom had the chandelier, Miss Saigon had the helicopter, Les Miserables had the barricade, and Starlight Express had a bridge. All jaw dropping Coup de théâtre's of their time.

Updated On: 10/15/24 at 04:24 PM