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Post by david on Aug 25, 2024 21:07:02 GMT
Well, that was fantastic tonight. Having originally booked for an October viewing, I hadnāt planned on another viewing but with the early closing of the Pinter theatre show that I had planned to watch, I thought Iād have a look and see what availability was like for the Sunday evening show. Thanks to a nice bit of dynamic pricing of some single seats I got Carriage 3 DD 38 for the decent price of Ā£45. Having seen the VA production back in 2000 and loving that, I thought Iād give this new version a go and see how the 2024 version held up.
As a viewing experience, it was everything I wanted it to be - big, loud and in your face lighting, video and pyrotechnics (basically theatrical catnip for me). The view was brilliant (I certainly wouldnāt have gone any further forward in my seating choice based on todayās visit) and sat next to runway was just an added bonus and considering what these seats cost full price was an absolute steal.
The light and sound show you get in the foyer pre-show was a great start to the evening then walking into the auditorium, wow, I was very impressed with how the auditorium has been configured for this show (yes I did miss the swing bridge from the original) only to be beaten by the improved sound system so you can actually clearly hear the vocals as well as the band. The gender swapping changes made to some of the characters I thought worked really well in this production. Ok, there is no denying that the book isnāt great and doesnāt really have that much emotional punch but you just roll with it for this show.
At todayās show, we had the majority of the main cast on with u/s for Slick (Catherine Harrison), Blue Lightning (Lucy Glover) and Joule (Kelly Downing). A really great cast here and as the leads Jeevan and Kayna made a great pairing. As Momma, Jade Martin really nailed it with those vocals. A very special mention to the young lad Cristian Buttaci as Control. A brilliant job all evening and more than held his own on that stage alongside his older cast members. Overall, I thought the entire cast worked well together and had no issues with any of the performances. The skating was top class and we managed to get through all the races without any incidents.
With the score, on the whole, I thought mixing the new stuff alongside the original songs worked and it would be an OCR I would listen to. However, I did wish. they had kept the fantastic āNext Time You Fall In Loveā as the Rusty and Pearl duet. The sound mixing was fine from my seat so I could at least listen to the cast sing compared to what happened with Newsies.
The costume design I thought was ok, though I did prefer the designs used with the original which actually looked like trains. The lack of any kind of head gear to complement the design used was also an issue. The costumes need to look like trains and not something from the MCU. This was the one aspect that I felt let this production down.
As usual the mega mix was great fun at the end and got everyone clapping along. The FOH guy responsible for the folk in Carriage 2 was definitely living his best life with during the finale. Overall, a really fun filled evening and a great way to end the weekend. When Iām back in October, Iām in the Licomoyive section, so will be great to get a different perspective on the show.
Rating 4āļø
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Post by BVM on Aug 26, 2024 9:59:08 GMT
I asked RUG, ALWOfficial, StarlightLondon and MichaelHarrison across their various social channels about a cast recording and didn't get anything back from any of them. So frustrating! With respect, they aren't going to reply to you to tell you it's happening - they'll do that via a press release With equal respect Iām almost 50 - I know the official announcement will not be a PM to me. 20 odd years of asking across these channels has taught me: - they usually do reply in fact - if there isnāt gonna be one they usually say āsorry there are currently no plansā - if one is in the works they usually say āplease keep your eyes peeled across XYZ for an announcement.ā - the few no replies have usually lead to no OLC hence my frustration. But hoping this will be an exception! |
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Post by unseaworthy on Aug 26, 2024 14:18:17 GMT
With respect, they aren't going to reply to you to tell you it's happening - they'll do that via a press release With equal respect Iām almost 50 - I know the official announcement will not be a PM to me. 20 odd years of asking across these channels has taught me: - they usually do reply in fact - if there isnāt gonna be one they usually say āsorry there are currently no plansā - if one is in the works they usually say āplease keep your eyes peeled across XYZ for an announcement.ā - the few no replies have usually lead to no OLC hence my frustration. But hoping this will be an exception! I wonder if they are not checking their messages due to the bank holiday weekend... Please let us know if you hear anything next week. |
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Post by david on Aug 26, 2024 17:07:12 GMT
Dr Tom - Thanks for your earlier post about the location of the electronic cast board and which door to go through for the specific seating areas. I found that a great help for my visit yesterday evening. For any badge collectors, the Today Tix booth in Leicester Square station currently (they did as of Sunday afternoon) has a stock of Starlight Express badges which are free to pick up.
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Post by anthony40 on Aug 27, 2024 19:17:50 GMT
Dr Tom - Thanks for your earlier post about the location of the electronic cast board and which door to go through for the specific seating areas. I found that a great help for my visit yesterday evening. For any badge collectors, the Today Tix booth in Leicester Square station currently (they did as of Sunday afternoon) has a stock of Starlight Express badges which are free to pick up. I went there this afternoon and the woman I spoke to had no idea what I was talking about. She consulted with a colleague who also had no idea. |
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Post by david on Aug 27, 2024 19:24:56 GMT
anthony40, Iām not too sure whatās going on. When I went on Sunday there was a small plastic tub of them on the small desk where the London theatre magazine can be picked up. 
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Post by anthony40 on Aug 27, 2024 19:33:46 GMT
anthony40 , Iām not too sure whatās going on. When I went on Sunday there was a small plastic tub of them on the small desk where the London theatre magazine can be picked up. Don't know David. I had to go into town to pick something up and swung by and that's what they said. |
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Post by david on Aug 27, 2024 19:36:59 GMT
Hopefully they appear again soon for you anthony40 . Itās just very strange. There were plenty of them. |
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Post by amyja89 on Aug 27, 2024 20:58:23 GMT
Guerilla badging!
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Post by anita on Aug 28, 2024 9:15:50 GMT
Hopefully they appear again soon for you anthony40 . Itās just very strange. There were plenty of them. They handed me 2 of them [ on way out] as linked together. |
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Post by tcb on Aug 29, 2024 19:10:54 GMT
Finally saw this! Got two row EE of Carriage 4 on rush. Seats were great for that price but if i was paying full price I would definitely go front row of locomotive. However the carriages are well raked and I had a clear view albeit a bit sideways on but I felt quite immersed.
Now I have seen this once before age 10 but really I went in blind as have little memory of it at all and hadnāt read up on the story or listened to the songs in advance.
Pearl and Hydrogen were the stand out performers for me. I asked for a cast board to check who was on and was told by an usher they donāt have one but reading back it appears thatās not true! Thought the programme was a bit steep at Ā£15, itās lovely and glossy but to me unnecessarily expensive. I would be more than happy if we adopted playbills over here as really I just like a keepsake and a cast list to look back on.
I thought overall it was great visually to watch. I thought the storyline was quite weak and the visuals made up for that. Other than the main characters I felt it was quite difficult to keep track of who everyone else was. I felt quite immersed in it but obviously had a bit of a sideways view. I also found the ending a bit confusing.
I wasnāt very keen on Control I wonāt name who I saw, but he wasnāt great. Difficult to understand what he was saying, and I just felt it detracted every time he came on. It just didnāt work for me.
I did think the actual races felt a bit slow in places. Certainly the skating sometimes felt slower in the races than in other parts. I also felt there wasnāt much chemistry between Rusty and Pearl. It certainly didnāt feel like a great love/romance.
Overall I enjoyed it, itās certainly quite different, i left with āstarlight expressā as an ear worm. I probably wonāt be a repeat viewing customer but Iāll happily go once more as Iām sure I missed many things with so much going on at once in places.
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Post by fluxcapacitor on Sept 1, 2024 6:23:31 GMT
Earlier in the run, I swear either the Starlight Express website or the LW Theatres website had a link to purchase discounted single seats. I canāt seem to find it anywhere and single seats donāt seem to be discounted on either ticket maps I can find. Does anyone know if itās still live? Or have they stopped doing it? It was such a good initiative, I was really hoping it would catch on.
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Post by alece10 on Sept 1, 2024 7:55:53 GMT
Earlier in the run, I swear either the Starlight Express website or the LW Theatres website had a link to purchase discounted single seats. I canāt seem to find it anywhere and single seats donāt seem to be discounted on either ticket maps I can find. Does anyone know if itās still live? Or have they stopped doing it? It was such a good initiative, I was really hoping it would catch on. I took advantage of that offer and got a 1st class carriage seat for Ā£29 during previews. I don't think there was a special link, just went to the main website |
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Post by BVM on Sept 1, 2024 8:42:02 GMT
Earlier in the run, I swear either the Starlight Express website or the LW Theatres website had a link to purchase discounted single seats. I canāt seem to find it anywhere and single seats donāt seem to be discounted on either ticket maps I can find. Does anyone know if itās still live? Or have they stopped doing it? It was such a good initiative, I was really hoping it would catch on. As far as I am aware, there has never been a specific link, but they do still discount single seats. Higher prices currently go down to mostly 45, but some to 75. All the cheapest off peak tickets are 29 whether single or not! There are some great 45 quid single seats for the next show on Wednesday. This show is very aggressively dynamically priced however - so they aren't always available; only when whatever algorithm they use think it's needed to shift the seats. Seats have also gone sky high on in demand performances! (In fact I'd say it's the most dynamic pricing I have ever seen at an ALW London show - maybe this is the Michael Harrison influence!) Also worth mentioning that the alleged discounts for Theatre Week on Today Tix recently were not in fact discounts - they were the same as dynamically priced down seats on the official website - so currently I don't think you need to look anywhere else! |
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Post by ceebee on Sept 1, 2024 9:17:49 GMT
Earlier in the run, I swear either the Starlight Express website or the LW Theatres website had a link to purchase discounted single seats. I canāt seem to find it anywhere and single seats donāt seem to be discounted on either ticket maps I can find. Does anyone know if itās still live? Or have they stopped doing it? It was such a good initiative, I was really hoping it would catch on. As far as I am aware, there has never been a specific link, but they do still discount single seats. Higher prices currently go down to mostly 45, but some to 75. All the cheapest off peak tickets are 29 whether single or not! There are some great 45 quid single seats for the next show on Wednesday. This show is very aggressively dynamically priced however - so they aren't always available; only when whatever algorithm they use think it's needed to shift the seats. Seats have also gone sky high on in demand performances! (In fact I'd say it's the most dynamic pricing I have ever seen at an ALW London show - maybe this is the Michael Harrison influence!) Also worth mentioning that the alleged discounts for Theatre Week on Today Tix recently were not in fact discounts - they were the same as dynamically priced down seats on the official website - so currently I don't think you need to look anywhere else! I think the dynamic pricing utilised on Starlight Express is the best I've come across. It's great for people who can be flexible/last minute/spontaneous. Perhaps it's because this is largely a family show (I've lost count of the number of large families I have seen at the show - we're talking parents, children, grandparents... Sometimes eight or ten people to a group.) I agree that Ā£45 is the new Ā£29 - at least for the summer. Perhaps prices will drop a little as the colder/darker months roll in. |
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Post by BVM on Sept 1, 2024 9:47:36 GMT
As far as I am aware, there has never been a specific link, but they do still discount single seats. Higher prices currently go down to mostly 45, but some to 75. All the cheapest off peak tickets are 29 whether single or not! There are some great 45 quid single seats for the next show on Wednesday. This show is very aggressively dynamically priced however - so they aren't always available; only when whatever algorithm they use think it's needed to shift the seats. Seats have also gone sky high on in demand performances! (In fact I'd say it's the most dynamic pricing I have ever seen at an ALW London show - maybe this is the Michael Harrison influence!) Also worth mentioning that the alleged discounts for Theatre Week on Today Tix recently were not in fact discounts - they were the same as dynamically priced down seats on the official website - so currently I don't think you need to look anywhere else! I think the dynamic pricing utilised on Starlight Express is the best I've come across. It's great for people who can be flexible/last minute/spontaneous. Perhaps it's because this is largely a family show (I've lost count of the number of large families I have seen at the show - we're talking parents, children, grandparents... Sometimes eight or ten people to a group.) I agree that Ā£45 is the new Ā£29 - at least for the summer. Perhaps prices will drop a little as the colder/darker months roll in. I also think this! Deffo some of the most dynamic of the dynamic pricing that's out there! And very nice that for once single people who can go off peak can get a big discount. (Bochum's discounts are all focussed on groups, families and kids). |
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Post by Dr Tom on Sept 1, 2024 10:38:48 GMT
This has been selling well over the school holidays, but still nowhere near as many children as you might expect. Back to the term time schedule now, so I expect there will be more of the under Ā£30 single tickets showing. There have been some during the summer, but they get snapped up.
Rush is very easy to get as well (at 10am), mostly first class carriages 1 and 4, but there are good seats all over.
Only interesting note I have is a recent show where one of the teams in the first race didnāt crash. Everything continued, with the race board stuck showing then in first place, but they were in fourth. They did crash in a later circuit with the third place wrong turn almost immediately after.
Iām convinced that most of the cast are far better skaters than they get to show. Harrison, in particular, does some fantastic spins when he can, and extra flourishes when he gets the chance during the bows.
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Post by BVM on Sept 1, 2024 11:06:37 GMT
Iām convinced that most of the cast are far better skaters than they get to show. Harrison, in particular, does some fantastic spins when he can, and extra flourishes when he gets the chance during the bows. Totally agree with you. Theyāre all very competent skaters. The simplicity of most of the skating is down to choreography/direction/choice. Not skating ability! |
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Post by marob on Sept 1, 2024 11:23:40 GMT
Iāve got no co-ordination whatsoever so thought what they do is pretty impressive, particularly the way they turn and go down the central aisle backwards, often while singing.
But then the one time I tried roller skates I went arse over t*t and ended up bleeding, so Iām impressed if anyone can stand up in the damn things.š
On pricing, when I went in July I got a cheap single seat, but it was actually cheaper from todaytix than LW. Itās a pain but itās best to just keep checking both.
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Post by BVM on Sept 1, 2024 11:28:50 GMT
Lol. Same. Went to a roller disco once and clung to edge for a few laps fearful for my life before giving up.
It is impressive what they do effortlessly. In fact when someone falls in a way it shows you how hard it is what theyāre doing. The fact theyāre not falling 99.9% of the time is amazing.
Stephanie Lawrence famously couldnāt skate backwards lol. (Not unusual before the skate school eraā¦.)
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Post by ceebee on Sept 1, 2024 21:23:52 GMT
This has been selling well over the school holidays, but still nowhere near as many children as you might expect. Back to the term time schedule now, so I expect there will be more of the under Ā£30 single tickets showing. There have been some during the summer, but they get snapped up. Rush is very easy to get as well (at 10am), mostly first class carriages 1 and 4, but there are good seats all over. Only interesting note I have is a recent show where one of the teams in the first race didnāt crash. Everything continued, with the race board stuck showing then in first place, but they were in fourth. They did crash in a later circuit with the third place wrong turn almost immediately after. Iām convinced that most of the cast are far better skaters than they get to show. Harrison, in particular, does some fantastic spins when he can, and extra flourishes when he gets the chance during the bows. Was that last Sunday early matinee by any chance? I saw the same thing happen. |
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Post by ash on Sept 1, 2024 21:31:52 GMT
I saw this on August 24th, sat in one of the first class carriages (can't remember which one). Loved the view, although sitting bit further back probably would've offered a better overview of the whole thing.
I was a huge fan of the London production as a kid (I think it was the first show I properly obsessed over), and having seen the last London cast, the uk tour a few times, and then once I Bochum last year, I'm fairly used to seeing different incarnations of the show.
I loved it. The space was fairly small, but I quire enjoyed it as it felt more intimate. Loved the more gender fluid casting, and I didn't feel for one minute it felt like it was slow or lacked energy, even during the races. I think I mentioned this before, but the races in Bochum are considerably slower than they were in London; I just don't think they can get away with what they used to anymore, as it was frigging dangerous.
I also really enjoyed the onstage control, I felt it kind of gelled everything together a bit better. Costumes I also liked, they worked well in context, but I do feel the engines could've maybe looked a bit more specific, as they kind of blended with each other at times.
Basically, I had a great time and would definitely go back. Yes, it's rediculous, and I don't care as I was smiling like an idiot from start to finish š
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Post by Dr Tom on Sept 2, 2024 8:38:25 GMT
Was that last Sunday early matinee by any chance? I saw the same thing happen. It was indeed. The Sunday 1pm show is generally my preferred performance if I've nothing else on (although I did switch it up for Frozen yesterday as it's closing so soon). |
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Post by amyja89 on Sept 4, 2024 21:35:38 GMT
A visually fun, narratively bonkers evening!
This was my first time experiencing Starlight Express, and Iām glad to have ticked it off the list but wonāt be rushing to go back. Itās a shiny production, but perhaps the cynic in me just couldnāt settle into the story. Maybe not having a childhood nostalgia for it was a disadvantage. In fact, the only thing I was familiar with was the old original soundtrack version of He Whistled At Me, so I was a little disappointed that it wasnāt performed as such. Thatās just a personal point though.
We had the assistant director come out on stage before the show started to let everyone know that they were going to be filming for a trailer. And across many of the numbers a drone was flying around the auditorium, quite loud when it passed overhead! Camera crew popped up at the back center ramp entrance from time to time too. It didnāt really detract from the show for me, was just interesting!
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Post by knutinkerbell on Sept 5, 2024 4:50:08 GMT
Saw it last week after seeing the Bochum version at the beginning of August. Mixed opinion, cause the tracks in Wembley are really cramped into the auditorium and the space for rollerskating is ridiculously restricted.
I told myself that it is a childrenās room, no space for large trains. But the races are the thing in starlight express.
In the other hand there was the sound design that was pretty good. I liked to hear the songs in the way intended and not like through the wall of a room next door.
Also I liked female Greaseball really much.
Donāt know if Iāll see it again but was a nice experience for the day.
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