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Post by showtoones on Jun 16, 2023 4:11:41 GMT
I would be interested to go and see this if it was like the original or Bochum productions. I saw the UK tour with 3D glasses, and it didn’t really do anything for me. This is an entirely new production Mr. B - are you still hearing that this will happen in the late fall? |
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Post by BVM on Jun 16, 2023 6:10:29 GMT
And I would have thought that SE has massively more name recognition and appeal than Newsies. It’s rollersaking trains! Definitely not with younger audiences, unless you’re in your late 40s to 50s 👨🦯 This unfortunately is very much my hunch. I love SE. Literally my fave musical of all time. Been desperate for it to come back forever. But I honestly don't know if there is an audience for it. Excitement on here from people that saw it the first time round is just that. To be a success, something HAS to cross over and catch the mass market. I show my nieces and nephews vids and clips of Starlight and it's not even that they think it's naff, they are just utterly disinterested (they are obsessed with Six though). All the big revivals (Miss Saigon, Cats, Evita - all West End and Broadway) have sold well for a few months then dropped off very quickly - which to me suggests most ticket buyers are there for the nostalgia. They've not found a new audience. Aspects of Love currently - barely open a month and 50% full with deals everywhere. Sunset hardly the ticket buying scrum some thought it might be. The difference between the above and Starlight is that a big production will need to run longer to make any money. Miss Saigon and Evita may well have recouped in their year and a bit. I think a decent production of Starlight would need to keep going for longer. Anyway, just my hunch - nothing would please me more than being completely wrong. ALW my fave composer of all time - there just seems to me to be a lot of evidence around that his shows (plentiful though they are currently - for which I am very grateful) don't sell that well in today's climate and are not really what the masses currently want. Other than the handful that have crossed over from musicals to total institutions (Joseph; Phantom; Starlight in Bochum in fact!) I also agree with others that Wembley is problematic. I don't live in London anymore but I do remember the attitude that getting somewhere not in zone 1 was too much like hard work. Public transport between suburbs is awful so you almost always have to go into the centre then come out again. Driving around London is horrific and the North Circular one of the worst roads on earth. So I kinda get it. But it's an attitude thing too. Now am not in London I do get amused by my London friends unable to travel what are to me short distances and getting stressed when the wait time for the tube is more than 3 mins. I dunno - am desperate for it to happen and I want it to work - am just finding it hard to imagine! Like I say I'd so like to be proved wrong. The epic version in Bochum remains very much my happy place. And is completely free from the endless current discourse about ALW's relevance in 2023. Which is nice. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 16, 2023 6:16:58 GMT
And I would have thought that SE has massively more name recognition and appeal than Newsies. It’s rollersaking trains! Definitely not with younger audiences, unless you’re in your late 40s to 50s 👨🦯 Thanks for the old bloke emoji  But yes I agree youngsters won’t recognise the name, but when granny or granddad (up there in their late 50’s) says “hey little grandkid let’s go and see a show with music and lights, it’s about about TRAINS on roller skates…” I think that would have more allure than “let’s go and see a show about a strike”. |
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Post by BVM on Jun 16, 2023 6:20:19 GMT
Definitely not with younger audiences, unless you’re in your late 40s to 50s 👨🦯 Thanks for the old bloke emoji But yes I agree youngsters won’t recognise the name, but when granny or granddad (up there in their late 50’s) says “hey little grandkid let’s go and see a show with music and lights, it’s about about TRAINS on roller skates…” I think that would have more allure than “let’s go and see a show about a strike”. This certainly would be very much my hope.... And once they're through the door am sure they'd love it as the score is brilliant and the energy of the piece insane. |
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Post by ceebee on Jun 16, 2023 9:22:04 GMT
If Newsies can work at Wembley then Starlight Express easily can. Consider the advances in theatre and tech since SE closed - some investment and vision could create something truly fantastic.
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Post by luvvie23 on Jun 16, 2023 11:21:49 GMT
Get some of the six girls as Pearl, Buffy, Dinah and Ashley….. Louis Gaunt as Electra….
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Post by steve10086 on Jun 16, 2023 11:42:00 GMT
If Newsies can work at Wembley then Starlight Express easily can. Consider the advances in theatre and tech since SE closed - some investment and vision could create something truly fantastic. But, financially, Newsies hasn’t worked at Wembley. That’s the point. |
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Post by Jon on Jun 16, 2023 12:05:08 GMT
If it can sustain in Bochum, why not? It's really become more of a theme park attraction in Germany than a musical, attracting people who wouldn't normally go to theatres. And of course there is far less choice in Germany, especially regionally. The only other big musical in NRW is the very new and very well selling Moulin Rouge. In fact I think Starlight Express may benefit from people who travel to Cologne for that now and may think "let's see Starlight Express again as well, it's been 18 years". Their competitor Stage Entertainment has been helping them alot (inadvertently) by closing the only other musical theatre in the Ruhr Valley (in Oberhausen) because they couldn't make it work and focusing mostly on Hamburg and a bit less on Stuttgart (which gets the hand-me-downs from Hamburg). There is endlessly more choice in and around London. I still don't get (based on the replies I got on the Newsies thread) why a location like Wembley which is far more accessible by car, isn't more popular with families especially, since it must be much easier and cheaper to wrangle kids into a family car for a day's out, park close to a venue, feed everyone ice cream and see the show, rather than all the faff of getting into central London. The accessibility by car is another pro for Starlight Express here - the theatre is within an hour's drive of 20 million people and just off the motorway exit, which makes trips there very easy. Driving in London is not easy especially with ULEZ and Congestion Charge. You also have to contend with match or event days at Wembley Stadium and Arena and most Londoners don't drive because of the transport system being so good. |
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Post by luvvie23 on Jun 16, 2023 14:05:31 GMT
Definitely not with younger audiences, unless you’re in your late 40s to 50s 👨🦯 Thanks for the old bloke emoji But yes I agree youngsters won’t recognise the name, but when granny or granddad (up there in their late 50’s) says “hey little grandkid let’s go and see a show with music and lights, it’s about about TRAINS on roller skates…” I think that would have more allure than “let’s go and see a show about a strike”. Early to mid forties!!!! Lol |
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Post by danb on Jun 16, 2023 14:51:43 GMT
My kids (20, 23, 25) are well aware of Starlight Express, and not just from having it rammed down their earholes on car journeys.
If kids aren’t aware of it they might want to get on board now as I hear Uncle Andy is planning something ‘massive’, ‘cool’, ‘awesome’ and ‘totally rad, man’ with this latest try. I hear some, modern cool MT names are attached to it like Kerry Ellis, Dave Willets and current flavour of the month Carrie Hope Fletcher. Some of them may even roller skate! Someone from ‘Six’ might even be in it. Imagine how cool that would be 🤦♂️
Having respect for different generations and its art should be taught in school to discourage the ill educated from making massive sweeping ignorant statements…imho.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2023 15:13:45 GMT
My kids (20, 23, 25) are well aware of Starlight Express, and not just from having it rammed down their earholes on car journeys. If kids aren’t aware of it they might want to get on board now as I hear Uncle Andy is planning something ‘massive’, ‘cool’, ‘awesome’ and ‘totally rad, man’ with this latest try. I hear some, modern cool MT names are attached to it like Kerry Ellis, Dave Willets and current flavour of the month Carrie Hope Fletcher. Some of them may even roller skate! Someone from ‘Six’ might even be in it. Imagine how cool that would be 🤦♂️ Having respect for different generations and its art should be taught in school to discourage the ill educated from making massive sweeping ignorant statements…imho. CHF rollerskating 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Seriously though I don't really understand the 'must always make it relevant for new generation'. Plenty of things were from previous generations when I was growing up, I didn't need them remade for me to try it or understand it. If you're interested in movies, theatre whatever you discover things as you go. Or family introduce you to them. Trains have such a universal appeal and fanbase, that alone will likely get must people's interest |
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Post by Jon on Jun 16, 2023 15:18:19 GMT
Starlight Express has been changed so much, there isn't a definite production either way.
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Post by danb on Jun 16, 2023 15:36:23 GMT
My kids (20, 23, 25) are well aware of Starlight Express, and not just from having it rammed down their earholes on car journeys. If kids aren’t aware of it they might want to get on board now as I hear Uncle Andy is planning something ‘massive’, ‘cool’, ‘awesome’ and ‘totally rad, man’ with this latest try. I hear some, modern cool MT names are attached to it like Kerry Ellis, Dave Willets and current flavour of the month Carrie Hope Fletcher. Some of them may even roller skate! Someone from ‘Six’ might even be in it. Imagine how cool that would be 🤦♂️ Having respect for different generations and its art should be taught in school to discourage the ill educated from making massive sweeping ignorant statements…imho. CHF rollerskating 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Seriously though I don't really understand the 'must always make it relevant for new generation'. Plenty of things were from previous generations when I was growing up, I didn't need them remade for me to try it or understand it. If you're interested in movies, theatre whatever you discover things as you go. Or family introduce you to them. Trains have such a universal appeal and fanbase, that alone will likely get must people's interest For example I hold the Adelphi/Elaine era of Sunset as pretty much stage perfection, and don’t get why it needs reinventing. If its for cost reasons just say so. I’m a big boy, I can take it. But trying to make out that a gold curtain and a spiral staircase off of B&Q are like for like, and a reinvention, just winds me up. If you say you are going to ‘re-invent’ it do it totally not just less expensively. Some of the current generation of theatre kids seem to think that they invented the artform, (which they’d rather enjoy from home on a 5” screen than actually visit) and that is fine, just don’t equate your experience to mine. |
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Post by showtoones on Jun 21, 2023 16:35:32 GMT
Any more news on Starlight coming in the fall?
Mr. Barnaby - any word? You always come through and I am very grateful!
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Post by Being Alive on Jun 21, 2023 16:43:38 GMT
Certainly not happening this year - I had heard the plan is the Spring.
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Post by thecursedexpress on Aug 14, 2023 21:38:41 GMT
I have always been an adovocate for SE to go to the Dominion Theatre, as it would be big enough to put in ramps etc like Apollo Victoria had. However when I saw Cinderella (Gillian Lynne) I had a similar thought of maybe Starlight could go in there.
Its unfotunate Birmingham never came to the light of day and is now canned.
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Post by luvvie23 on Aug 18, 2023 13:29:35 GMT
I wonder if this production is going to replace Poppa with Momma? Like the Bochum production.
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Post by viserys on Aug 18, 2023 15:57:19 GMT
I wonder if this production is going to replace Poppa with Momma? Like the Bochum production. If it happens, yes. The current Bochum version is based on the (English-language) workshop at The Other Palace, so I guess this is what ALW wants as the new template, even if it's ZERO improvement over the old one. Bochum just released a CD single with the track "I am me" (Ich bin ich) that has replaced "A lotta locomotion" as the introductory song for anyone who cares. |
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Post by mrbarnaby on Aug 30, 2023 21:09:56 GMT
TheatreFan posting about this on Twitter just now.. like he has some kind of scoop 🤣
If you’re reading this- it’s at the Troubadour in early 2024… as discussed here for a while now.
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Post by danb on Aug 30, 2023 21:19:49 GMT
Is it still about trains or do electric scooters have the edge now?
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Post by gmoneyoutlaw on Aug 30, 2023 21:28:07 GMT
Is it still about trains or do electric scooters have the edge now? It's about a love between a boy and girl train. With Races. I love this show as it make me happy. Saw it in Bochum during it's 30th year. Will pay to see it again in London in 2024. Could we please get some love for this one. Maybe go woke? |
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Post by stagebyte on Aug 31, 2023 2:03:19 GMT
My kids (20, 23, 25) are well aware of Starlight Express, and not just from having it rammed down their earholes on car journeys. If kids aren’t aware of it they might want to get on board now as I hear Uncle Andy is planning something ‘massive’, ‘cool’, ‘awesome’ and ‘totally rad, man’ with this latest try. I hear some, modern cool MT names are attached to it like Kerry Ellis, Dave Willets and current flavour of the month Carrie Hope Fletcher. Some of them may even roller skate! Someone from ‘Six’ might even be in it. Imagine how cool that would be 🤦♂️ Having respect for different generations and its art should be taught in school to discourage the ill educated from making massive sweeping ignorant statements…imho. Carrie Hope Fletcher (even if ALW would consider her) would be a massive hypocrite going into this show after the shade she threw at the composer after Cinderella. Combined with her husband Joel Montague now doing the same in interviews I would say think the ALW show bridges have been well and truly incinerated. |
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Post by viserys on Aug 31, 2023 5:05:07 GMT
Taking a wild guess here... I'd say danb was being sarcastic. And while I agree that it would be nice if different generations would respect each other's "arts", it's how it has always been, young people sniff at the oldies' stuff, before they start getting old themselves and have the culture of their youth sniffed at. In the present situation I can even understand young people, because so much of the older's generation's stuff hasn't aged well (the sexism and racism of some things I used to love in the 80s boggles the mind now). Though on the other hand I don't understand the vitriol piled onto "Cats" for example, which was a sensational success over so many years back then and has always been "equal opportunities" (although I've had one person construct a pretty baffling case that Cats was very sexist, because the two old male cats were revered by the others, while the one old female cat was despised...) So, I don't know, maybe the young generation would enjoy Starlight Express as something fun (even if the "totally rad, man" changes are rather "totally cringe, man" and no improvements) or they might look at it with the same disdain they have for Cats these days. We won't know unless the show is actually done. gmoneyoutlaw - Andy can't do "woke" as his horrible failure to write something about/for teen girls/young women showed. He did try to address the complaints that "all the engines are played by men, while the women all play carriages who have to attach themselves to a man and have no power of their own" by turning Poppa into Momma and adding a female engine called Coco. Neither makes any significant change in the dynamics. I'm VERY touchy when it comes to sexism in musicals and I never considered Starlight Express a sexist musical. In the end it is Pearl who has the power, making the guys fight over her. If they wanted a strong female engine, they should simply recast Electra with a female performer. The character has always read nonbinary anyway. |
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Post by max on Aug 31, 2023 6:13:04 GMT
Watching the terrific Anime film 'The First Slam Dunk' in the cinema last night (the Manga series made basketball popular in Japan apparently) it confirmed my sense that Manga/Anime of 'Starlight Express' would be its strongest outlet - and yes, it would be 'cool'. John Napier's original costume designs always had a Japanese influence, I think.
Most criticisms of the show would fall away in Anime form - and the newly self-empowering women of the show ('I've got me') would be rather progressive amongst the many doe-eyed females of Manga (I'm a beginner, so I expect there are strong female Manga characters too). The basketball game animation in 'The First Slam Dunk' was brilliant, and used motion capture and then applied a drawn-character skin - the Starlight races would work so well.
Elsewhere in animation world - if 'Elemental' (didn't see it, won't bother) can make a story out of various elements that mustn't mix (not very promising material) then competing trains is pretty lucid and dynamic.
ALW clearly fancied a bit of Emerald City action seeing the success of 'Wicked'. He'll be observing the trend for Anime turning theatrical. The innovation for him would be heading the other direction from Stage to Anime, then back again. Surprisingly could be ALW's biggest ever.
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Post by danb on Aug 31, 2023 6:38:17 GMT
Taking a wild guess here... I'd say danb was being sarcastic. Sorry, it’s my default setting. 😬 I thought Dave Willets might give it away. 🙄 |
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