Starlight Express - Troubadour

[ceebee]

Jun 20, 2024 17:22:49 GMT anthony40 said:

Lol! Everyone comments on Freight is Great.

As yet I've not seen this production however TBF from memory through Freight is Great they introduced several supporting characters.

And some oil drums.

[tommy]

Having both seen the Apollo Victoria and Bochum adaptation of Starlight Express years ago, this 2024 version feels like a complete new show (based on the same music) that I think doesn't need to be compared to the previous. A classy, strong, fresh and magical but also intimate production that often almost feels like to happen in sort of large living room.
Amazing that after just one week of previews this what I assume very complex project to stage already was at such very high level everywhere! At moments some voices seemed to get a bit overwhelmed by the music, but I'm sure the balance will be sorterd towards first night. I had a similar thought like someone above mentioned about why not having kept Greaseball male and perhaps Electra female, but that's an artistic choice of course. Great to see how the audience was so touched and easily giving the show a standing ovation. Think it will go down very well for a long time. Curious to see the reviews in the press.

[BurlyBeaR]

Small reminder to think about whether you really need to quote very long posts. Lots of the reviews for this show are detailed which is great, we LOVE the detail but if a long review is quoted and re-quoted it can make the forum very difficult to read, especially on a phone (over half of our members are using mobile).

When responding to a very long post consider quoting only the relevant sentence or paragraph, or just referring to the post without quoting it in full eg thanks for your review @membername.

Thank you. 

[alicechallice]

Can anybody report on the price of the programmes?

[luvvie23]

Had to be done!

[evilmat360]

Jun 20, 2024 21:54:23 GMT alicechallice said:

Can anybody report on the price of the programmes?

They're £12, equal in size to the Palladium Pantomime and Back to the futures ones.

[FrontroverPaul]

I was in seat S2 in the Locomotive Section this afternoon which was a perfect view and didn't feel far from the stage and skate track at all. A steal @ £29.50. There are some even better single seats currently available at that price for imminent performances. The LW Theatres booking policy of allowing single seats to be left, and then later offering them at a much reduced price, is to be applauded. There are currently two singles Trackside and about a dozen in Locomotive reduced from up to £100 for this Saturday evening.

The First Class Carriage and Platform seats are inside all or part of the skating track. Very close to the action but I could see people trying to look round on several occasions. At least one crash would be hard to see from there. Great if dynamically priced @ £29.50 but IMHO not worth full prices as high as £180.

[alicechallice]

Jun 20, 2024 22:53:37 GMT evilmat360 said:

Jun 20, 2024 21:54:23 GMT alicechallice said:

Can anybody report on the price of the programmes?

They're £12, equal in size to the Palladium Pantomime and Back to the futures ones.

Gulp! Thank you.

[osdtdg]

I saw this show not this Wednesday, but the wednesday prior and really enjoyed it! It is just very silly, (mostly) family-friendly fun! It was the perfect show to just enjoy the spectacle and voices and turn your brain off. I especially liked Hydrogen, they were fantastic, but Rusty's voice is angelic! I love him so much. So I had a great time!

All that being said though, I should acknowledge this was my introduction to Starlight so I have no nostalgia nor any points of comparison.

[watsonjm]

Hi All.

Looking for a bit of advice. Planning on taking my 4.5 year old to see this but wasn’t sure where best to seat given her age. I was thinking towards the front/middle of the locomotive section so we cab see everything without have to turn round?

Thoughts or advice welcome?

Thanks

[ceebee]

Jun 21, 2024 18:45:45 GMT watsonjm said:

Hi All.

Looking for a bit of advice. Planning on taking my 4.5 year old to see this but wasn’t sure where best to seat given her age. I was thinking towards the front/middle of the locomotive section so we cab see everything without have to turn round?

Thoughts or advice welcome?

Thanks

Front locomotive probably best.

[watsonjm]

Jun 21, 2024 22:24:32 GMT ceebee said:

Jun 21, 2024 18:45:45 GMT watsonjm said:

Hi All.

Looking for a bit of advice. Planning on taking my 4.5 year old to see this but wasn’t sure where best to seat given her age. I was thinking towards the front/middle of the locomotive section so we cab see everything without have to turn round?

Thoughts or advice welcome?

Thanks

Front locomotive probably best.

Thank you

[herculesmulligan]

Anyone sat in row K on the Locomotive seats yet? What are they like? Good for a six and four year old?

[Dr Tom]

Second visit last night was a brilliant first class seat and I picked up on more of the plot. The same boy as Control, which was nice to see.

I also picked up on more of the innuendos, but will save the blushes of the person who struggled to get it up, had a delayed release, then hit me in the face with it. Their inflatable wings, that is! Some seats are dangerous.

For those concerned about TS, when this ended at 9:55pm, the streets were already full of fans. I walked home, but had to take the tube from work. I now know all I need to know about how young women from Middlesbrough cope with their periods. Note to self, bring headphones.

Back tomorrow for the matinee, but at the other side of first class.

[danb]

What a day of frothy fun! First ‘Mean Girls’ now this. It looks really special given the tiny space it has been squished into. It’s still Starlight, but vastly different to its previous permanent spectacles. I couldn’t take to Greaseball. It’s like ALW has wanted to ‘Six-up’ some of the female roles, so gave her a cockernee accent. I missed the beefiness of ‘Pumping Iron’ but it did build to something satisfying. Pearl has obviously come on leaps & bounds because she actually had a character arc, and competent skating. Rusty didn’t really feel like ‘the lead’ as it was all a lot more spread out with the new ‘blank’ engines and control being a character. This deserves to be successful, just because of the care & atd. (The sticker atop my pint was a bit mad also) 3 stars (got to listen to a bit of T Swizzle too while my 3 investigated their coaches).

[jonworld]

Saw it last night, Saw the original
in 1984 at preview!

A few things really struck me
Great cast
Didn’t mind musical reworking of score

BUT


Didn’t like child at the core; sounded too precocious and added to dumbing down

The whole vibe of the theatre was theme park
Audience members with pints
Crunching of of popcorn throughout the first half
Distracted child too young playing up for the whole of the first half (they didn’t come back for the second half )
And we were in the expensive seats

Overall the original was a little more subtle and the characterisations bigger and ground breaking in its day

The stars of this version were Rusty and Pearl

Overall it is an ambitious project but for me it was a little disappointing

[PineappleForYou]

Jun 23, 2024 9:49:10 GMT jonworld said:

Overall the original was a little more subtle

I think that's the first time Starlight Express has ever been described as that 😂

[danb]

BRIGHT COLOURS!
LOUD NOISES!
PEOPLE PRETENDING TO BE TRAINS!

I see no subtlety here 😂

I think its just a bit more concentrated in a smaller space, both physically and in how intense the experience is.

[anthony40]

Forgive me if this may seem like a strange question?

Given the venue's proximity to the stadium, whilst you're watching the show can you hear the noise of a concert, or a sporting match? And if so, does this infringe upon your experience?

Or, is it a case, that whilst running, there's enough noise from the singing and the skating to drown out all that outside noise?

[danb]

Not at all no. We could barely hear the concert when we came out onto Wembley way. My daughter said she could hear it better when she went round the corner to the coach park, but its well contained by Wembley.

[daniel]

Jun 23, 2024 11:49:52 GMT anthony40 said:

Forgive me if this may seem like a strange question?

Given the venue's proximity to the stadium, whilst you're watching the show can you hear the noise of a concert, or a sporting match? And if so, does this infringe upon your experience?

Or, is it a case, that whilst running, there's enough noise from the singing and the skating to drown out all that outside noise?

whilst it’s close, it’s not that close. Plus as a former TV studio it is very well soundproofed. Back in the day they could record two TV shows simultaneously in each half of the main space, with no sound bleed. So there’ll be no noise disruption from the stadium.

[alece10]

Thinking of going to the designer outlet after Wednesdays matinee so that I can avoid the evening rush hour on the tube.
For anyone who has been is it worth it and is it far from the theatre?

[londonmzfitz]

Many sports outlets, Lindt chocolate, chain restaurants upstairs. It's worth it for browsing with a possible buy, but I wouldn't guarantee you'd get anything you'd specifically be shopping for.

[londonmzfitz]

Oops, no, not far from the theatre at all, 5 mins walk maybe?

[alece10]

Jun 23, 2024 19:14:34 GMT londonmzfitz said:

Oops, no, not far from the theatre at all, 5 mins walk maybe?

Thanks for the info. You sold me on Lindt.