Starlight Express

[DickDeadeye]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 6:30pm

One of my fondest memories from my childhood was going to NYC with my parents when I was 7 years old, back in 1988. They always said that was one of the best trips they ever took, as we got to see Phantom with the Original Broadway cast, along with Into The Woods, and Patti Lupone in Anything goes...I don't remember this, but my mom says I gave her a standing ovation, and she noticed me.

We also wanted to see Les Mis, but they could only get 2 tickets from our connection. So, we settled on Starlight Express. In retrospect, that was probably a good call, because seeing little Gavroche getting gunned down would have probably scarred me at that age.

Anyway, I recently rediscovered Starlight, and got an MP3 album of the original 84 cast recording...now let me tell you, I'm a huge Sondheim fan, I've performed Into The Woods in High School (I played Jack), and I've been doing a lot of Gilbert and Sullivan lately...that being said, I still like Starlight, I discovered! I know, I'm a freak! ^_^

Yes, it's a very simple show, and yes, the lyrics leave a bit to be desired. But, there's just something catchy about most of the songs, and something appealing about the presentation, that makes this show all the more memorable for me. It may not be Jesus Christ Superstar, but I can tell you this much, I like it a hell of a lot better than Cats.

I'm not the world's biggest Andrew Lloyd Webber fan, but in this case, I think he created a great show for introducing children to musical theater. I know that I was one of those children for sure.

Thanks for the memories, Andrew!
I am The Starlight!

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 8:39pm

It's basically Cats on wheels, which I guess is why I like it so much. It's a very thin plot strung together with a bunch of songs where the characters are mostly singing about or introducing themselves. Still, the "Starlight Sequence" when Rusty sings "I am the starlight. I can achieve anything." gets me every time.

I like the 1992 cast recording better and I wish they would have released the updated duet version of "Only He" that was in the last UK tour because I really prefer that over the original and "Next Time We Fall in Love." Will Martin and Rebecca Wright recorded it, but for whatever reason they never actually made a high quality version available to purchase.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YesuOaTVguo



Updated On: 7/11/12 at 08:39 PM

[chewy5000]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 10:06pm

I too love the Starlight.

[DickDeadeye]

Posted: 7/11/12 at 10:49pm

I think there's a way to approach this show, that would make it a little more interesting for adults as well.

Everyone assumes that Control is a child, but remember, this is a dream world of sorts, and logical rules don't apply. Control could simply be a computer system of some kind, that happens to have a the voice of a child.

Now, I do think we're in someone's dream world, and it could conceivably be inside the mind of an adolescent young man, who is going inside of a childhood memory of his. In this case, I think Rusty and the young man could be one in the same. (Rusty even sounds like a child's name if you think about it.) He's going inside his old train set, and choosing to go up against the very toy trains he used to race. He's out to prove his own worth in the world, and discovering his spiritual side in the process.

Remember, Starlight Express is basically an allegory for God, and Rusty proclaims that he is the starlight. He's also a steam engine, and you could argue here that steam is way of portraying the soul, or the spirit. He uses this power to free all the others from the outside force of control, including Pearl, who is probably a girl this young man likes in the waking world personified.

I may be over thinking things here. I have Asperger's, and that's a habit of mine. In any case, thanks for reading this little ramble :)



Updated On: 7/11/12 at 10:49 PM

[Brian07663NJ]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 8:38am

DickDeadeye...

I too love Starlight Express. I saw it in NYC and then a few years later in London. Wished I would have been able to see it in Las Vegas but that never happened. You should really listen to the difference in tempo between the NYC and London recordings! NYC (single CD) is a bit more rock and London (2 CD set) more mello. I enjoy both recordings.

Wow, I must admit that you really do have a vivid imagination with the way you analyzed the show. Respectfully think you have in fact dug in a little too deep. When I hear the child's voice - that is where I stop. I don't think I can migrate to thinking there is any allegory for God in there as you have explained. Check out the London cast recording and it is quite clear that the show is simply a kid playing with a set of trains...especially when the cast responds "Shut it control" when the kid screams "DO WHAT YOU'RE TOLD!" Following your logic that would have the 'people' yelling at God so that they could party?

[DickDeadeye]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 10:34am

I'm sorry, I think that my message got confused a little. I don't see Control as god in any way, shape, or form. God is a separate entity from control in the way I see it, and god is, through rusty, showing all the trains the way to free will, so they can break away from control...Control would be a false idol they worship, in a sense.

But, it can indeed be just about a child playing with his trains too. It's the simplicity of this show that makes it so appealing in the end. I still love Les Mis, Sweeny Todd, Assassins, and the like, but it's nice that I can come back to such an uncomplicated, and entertaining show at the same time.

Here's the best of luck to the UK's new touring production under Bill Kenwright!
2012 Touring Production Advert.

[castlestreet]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 11:17am

IMO- Starlight Express is just another example of going to the theater and having dumb fun- and that's okay!

I like the show a lot and find some of the music to be fun and charming. Nothing earth shattering, but people forget that sometimes you want to go out and literally just be entertained- and a show like Starlight Express does a good job of that I think.

[Brian07663NJ]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 11:30am

Completely agree with you castlestreet!!!

[Skip2]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 11:49am

And it was so much better in London than in NYC.

Thrilling!

[DickDeadeye]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 11:55am

Much more concise than I could have put it Castlestreet. ^_^

CATSNYrevival: Thanks for the tip. I just got the 92 recording on Itunes for ten bucks, and I like it quite a lot as well.

Skip2: I've heard about how much better it was in London. Wish I could have seen it in that form.

[JRybka]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 12:20pm

I have always loved this show. I have seen it on tou, in the UK and in Las Vegas. LLoyd Webber always said he wanted to write a show for his kids (and his sons love for trains). It is fluff, but it taps into anyone who was ever a child.

[greensgreens]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 3:34pm

I too love this show for all its fluffiness. I did catch the first national (and remember when they made such a HUGE deal about carting that relatively small circular ramp that extended into the audience from town to town), which was excellent (and how nice to have Reva Rice in the tour - the original B'way and only Pearl in my book - as well as a generally underappreciated talent).

However, I'm not a fan of the massive rewrites the show has received over the years. I especially miss CB, which I think got lost over the years (if memory serves correct). I do like "Next Time You Fall In Love" - but that was written so much later it doesn't fit in with the rest of the show at all.

I did not see the B'way incarnation, but when I was lucky enough to see the show in London, I really understood what the show was about. The set and how it's used was simply beyond anything I have ever seen before. Definitely one of the only commercially produced environmental stagings I have ever seen - and certainly the flashiest! The problem with the scaled down versions (incl. the more recent US tour, even though it did have "3D" filmed segments) is that it doesn't bring the audience into the action effectively. I kinda need to feel like the actors could come hurling into my lap at any moment or it's just not worth it. It was kinda like an early Spiderman.

Oh, it should be noted that there is no Broadway cast recording - only the American concept recording (produced by Phil Ramone) which carried the same artwork as the B'way production. All the songs on this album were performed by studio artists. The Harold Faltermeyer-produced Race Is On track was even released as a 12" single.

Oh, and we mustn't forget the Kenneth Feld-produced "Starlight Express: On Ice"! Talk about a total mess that I will never forget... So amazing.

But, did anyone catch the show in Germany? I believe the theatre was built specifically for Starlight - I'm curious to know if there were any significant modifications to the set and/or show itself.

Oh, and did anyone catch Jane Krakowski in this? How was she doing UNCOUPLED???

[nealb1]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 3:41pm

"Starlight" was the first Broadway show that I saw, the first time I went to NYC in July of 1988. I bought a ticket at TKTS, and was sitting inside of the figure 8 layout of the seats in the front Orch. So, everytime they would start to skate around the set, alarms would go off, and the clear glass walls would rise up.

I remember having dinner at Sizzler that night, which is where the Stardust Diner is now on Broadway. Everytime I go to NYC and walk by the Stardust Diner, I think of when it was a Sizzler.

I saw Jane Krakowski as Dinah The Dining Car, and I just remember how incredibly beautiful she was. She was just stunning. I have such a clear memory of her.

I saw the show a few years later when it came to LA at The Pantages Theatre, and the cast performed on "The Tonight Show," and I still have that appearance on videotape.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 4:47pm

I actually really like the changes they've incorporated over the years. I really like the new rap and the "Whole Lotta Locomotion" revamp that David Yazbeck wrote the lyrics for.

The lyrics for "Next Time We Fall in Love" never really made sense to me. Maybe someone can explain it.

And, as I said before I LOVE the duet version of "Only He." I really thought that duet version finally solved the problem with that moment. I was really bummed to find out that the current UK tour is using a new song all together called "I Do," apparently with lyrics by Alastair Lloyd Webber. I haven't heard it so maybe it's great, but I still think I'd prefer the "Only He" duet.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 5:01pm

This show kinda seems to define that era of UK musicals with massive, ridiculous, kinda futuristic sets (Time, Metropolis), but I admit--it worked. I think the score has a few fun pastiches (awful lyrics, even for an ALW show), but I agree that I really don't get all the changes made to it (and can't keep track of them). Yazbeck wrote some new songs at one point, right? (It seems weird ALW couldn't just pull something out of his trunk). I like "Next Time We Fall In Love"--it's one of ALW's more catchy adult contemporary pop style ballads, but I agree that it sounds out of place in the show. Most of the updates seemed also to make the show even more kid friendly--ie taking out the innuendo in Lotta Locomotion (which I know many felt verged on misogyny with the sleeping car, or whatever), even toning down the whole "scary" AC/DC bisexual element.

I saw the show, in its second London incarnation I guess, when I was there in '99. Hardly my fave theatrical experience that trip, but I admit it was a lot of fun and the theatre was spectacular, and we took my friend's very young niece and nephew to it who *loved* it (I probably liked it more seeing how much they enjoyed it). I get why the musical is considered something of a hideous joke to so many critics and theatre fans, but out of those kinds of shows I do think it's one of the few that somehow manages to simply "work". (I think Cats has more charm though, simply due to Eliot's poetry being much better at characterising the characters than Stilgoe's simplistic lyrics).

OKm, one question. All these tours with 3D video--does that mean when a race starts the audience has to put on 3D glasses? I kinda don't get it--the show feels like i would have very little appeal to me without the elaborate set and stunts.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 5:07pm

Lotta Locomotion was such a cute song, I don't know why it was replaced with the horrific new version. For the life of me, I can't figure out why they did that. I think the only additions I actually felt were improvements were Crazy and Next Time You Fall in Love. But overall, the original London recording is my favorite.

I saw the first US tour and loved it. It wasn't until 1999 that I finally got to see the show in London on the original set and while the design was breathtaking, the cast and crew had long since abandoned the show, just phoning in the bare minimum. The entire audience simply talked amongst themselves until there was a song they could clap along with. It was the biggest let-down I experienced in the West End.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 5:12pm

^Yazbeck didn't actually write the music, Eric, he only wrote the lyrics. The music was still by Webber. Same with the new song in the current UK tour. The lyrics are by Alastair, but the music is still by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 5:26pm

Thanks for clearing that up, all the info I found was pretty hazy.

[Idiot]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 5:33pm

Saw it in London and NYC... and found it unbearably stupid in both places. Even the stagecraft wasn't all I'd hoped it would be.

For some reason I didn't have that reaction to CATS.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 5:35pm

^Also Eric, to answer your other question, you do have to wear 3D glasses. For the last US tour the glasses were handed out with the playbills and during the show, as the screen slid into place, Control would announce to the audience to put on your "safety goggles."

Updated On: 7/12/12 at 05:35 PM

[lesmizsaigon]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 11:24pm

I saw the US tour with the 3D glasses, which was my very first musical theatre show ever. Before that I just relied on cast recordings. Looking back, the show was a bit of a mess, and reminded me never to expect the cast recording to be the same as the actual show, but I had tons of fun and never will forget the experience. Btw, "U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D" is probably my favorite song from the show.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 11:28pm

^Well, if they would just record the updated version it would be the same!

I also found this video of the new UK tour performing on BBC Breakfast. It looks like they're using the same sets from the last tour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzLS3UkOkxY

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 11:37pm

There's a cute review here where a boy talks about the new production and he shows the 3D glasses that they give out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg5hRHdbwmY

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 7/13/12 at 12:01am

Just seems so weird to me to wear 3D glasses in the live theatre... That set is kinda... uninspired. (but yes, that review is cute...)

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/13/12 at 12:12am

I also made a mistake earlier. The new song for the 2012 UK tour is written by Alistair Lloyd Webber and Nick Coler so Andrew Lloyd Webber actually didn't write the music for that one.

***

Or he did. I don't know. It says the music is by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Nick Coler. Whatever that means.



Updated On: 7/13/12 at 12:12 AM