COMING up for its 30th year since musical inception, Andrew Lloyd Webber's tale of rivalry and redemption has had to evolve quite a few times to retain relevance with its audience.
The original tracks, therefore, tend to stick out as 1980s relics due to the juxtaposition with the (also now dated) rapping which must have been added in the 1990s restaging.
To bring it up to the 2000s, 3D film was added and although this has been further updated for the current touring production (which started out at the Wimbledon New Theatre in May), this footage is more Power Rangers than a happy bedfellow with some Power Ballads. That's not to say that children will not enjoy this facet, and it's quite apt really as the Starlight Express story was written as a Cinderella-esque train fable for Lloyd Webber's own kids, with a view towards an animated movie.
From this production there were two stand-out performances: from Kristofer Harding as Rusty and Ruthie Stephens as Dinah. Dinah's pastiche country and western solo U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D. brought some much-needed laughs to the action, while introducing a much pacier second act. Rusty's Starlight Express and reprise with Poppa (played by an aged-up Lothair Eaton) was the other vocal (and stage lighting) pinnacle, confirming Harding is definitely one to watch in the musical theatre sphere.
It's easy to forget that the full cast is performing on rollerskates as there was a high level of ensemble proficiency along with some super stunts, although these could have been more frequent.
The staging simply cannot compare to the original production though, where a large racetrack was built around the audience.
Sometimes technology and 3D specs can't replace the thrill of live action – a message akin to the show's own plot.
HHH
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article