Long Time No Write - Starting Critic Badge

 It’s been a long time…getting from there to here…. whoops! Wrong thing entirely - but now I’ve given you that ear worm, I’ll happily provide one or two more. On a complete tangent from what I’m writing about today, that song from Star Trek Enterprise - I was in two minds about it when I first heard it as to whether I really liked it or not. But now I’ve accepted that I really do quite like it, and it is totally different to any other Star Trek theme tune.

But I digress. I was looking through the badge book, thinking about what badges I could do (partly avoiding starting on one of my Badge Roulette badges possibly?), and saw Critic - and realised that this year I have done a few things, been to a few places that  count towards this. So here I go.

Starlight Express - London Wembley July 2024 - a review

As a teenager I got to see quite a few musicals in London, as Mum used to organise coach tours up to them through the PTA. I got to see Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (with Phillip Schofield - back when he was just known for Gordon the Gopher and the Broom Cupboard, and singing Downtown), Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, The Mousetrap, Crazy For You - and Starlight Express. I don’t remember much about the show I saw back in the early 90s, and my souvenir brochure from then didn’t help much either. When I saw that the show was making a return, I knew that I had to go and see it - and I thought the young man who lives with us would enjoy it too.

Going to see this show really is an experience right from the start. In the West End you can walk past theatres without knowing what show is on, unless you are deliberately looking at the entrance. This was not the case for Starlight Express. The fence outside makes it obvious where the theatre is. 

 Once at the theatre, the spectacle continues inside - not the small area we saw with Phantom of the Opera, but a large open area with the bar and the merchandise.

The difference with the Wembley Troubador Theatre (so I’ve read) is that the theatre area was a blank space - so everything could be built from scratch, rather than having to work around an existing stage and auditorium. We entered the auditorium, and I could see by the marks on the floor that the performers would be using this space. I had booked seats in the Locomotive section, row Q. These were some of the cheapest seats. When booking, the seating areas are designated as First Class carriage 1, 2, 3, 4, Trackside, Platform 1, Platform 2 and Locomotive. The Locomotive section were the cheapest, but in my opionion I think we managed to get the best seats:

We got seats in where I have circled in yellow on this seating plan. We were sat immediately above the entrance to the auditorium, so we saw the performers coming and going. We could see all the action on the track - we didn’t have the performers getting that close to us - which those in other seats did have, but we could see all the action. Those who were trackside may have been closer, but I don’t think they would have seen all the action, as performers on stage wouldn’t have been facing their way - I think Trackside audience would have had to look to the side quite often.

There were performers on scooters too, which was a bit of a novelty - I don’t remember that from last time. Some of the ensemble had cameras at some points in the race that they carried around and these pictures were streamed to screens at the side of the auditorium. There were additional fixed cameras around the centre stage - some of the audience had the camera come up in front of them - and the footage was streamed to the screens. Mention must be made of the child performers too - something else I didn’t remember from previously seeing it - and those child performers were part of the whole show in one way or another.

The songs were familiar to me already - one or two new songs - such as Hydrogen, and Whistle At Me. People who have seen the show multiple times will probably know Whistle At Me; the tune was catchy and seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place it. Once home, I looked in my piano book of Starlight Express - and found the song ‘Engine of Love’ - which is exactly the same tune, and I’m pretty certain this is what I saw the other time I saw the show. 

I was impressed with the costumes - they seem to cover more of the performers than previously, - this could be me mis-remembering, relying on the previous souvenir programme; however, I did think that they were more “circumspect” (?). I felt that the show had been changed to reflect modern society more - as I say, I last saw the show in the early 90s, so some of the changes may have come in before then.

The lighting and staging - well, what can I say? How amazing to have lots of stars come down and float above you and twinkle, and a laser light ‘etching’ the area behind the Trackside Seats before the start of the show. Areas of the stage opening and closing, and rising up too - it was truly magical. 

This is certainly a show that is very worthwhile seeing - yes, ticket prices can be a bit steep. It would be lovely to experience it from the seats in the Platform and First Class Carriage sections, but even the front row of the Locomotive section is good - and I was delighted with our seats. The seats have cup holders - which is a definite bonus! One thing to consider for tickets is looking at the app TodayTix: you are given options for available seats on the day for shows, but if you are with a group of people, the seating options are more limited. In conclusion - definitely a show I would love to see again, and it is great to see that roller skates are still used - that it isn’t roller blading.

As an additional note on this - we stayed at a Premier Inn near Hangar Lane. The bus journey from the hotel was very interesting - looking at all the different shops that we just don’t see living in North Devon. Opposite the theatre is Boxpark- an indoor open area offering a vast variety of different cuisines; this was where we went for tea - I’d have loved to have sampled the Pad Thai (I do like to compare different Pad Thai dishes, as they are not readily available as street food in our area), but I opted for the German Döner Kebab instead this time - and didn’t regret my choice at all. The area is great for doing a spot of geocaching too - both virtual caches and Adventure Labs, and for Munzees too.