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A friend just saw the 24 production and liked it but for me the OG will always be my starlight. I never saw the OG performance. My Mum did and bought the double album cast recording. I listened to that album religiously, nearly wore it out and was at one point word perfect on it. Years later a friend and I went to see Starlight at the Apollo Victoria. I was really excited because I was going to see this thing that only lived in my head as the OG Cast album. I didn't know it at the time but this was the 1992 production..... and it was so different :( I was heart broken, because I had no clue there had been so many changes and this wasn't happening as I remembered. Rather than the joyous experience I was expecting It was a gut punch..... and I forgot about Starlight. Broken. I don't know if I would have felt different had I known of and were familiar with the changes before hand. Also any starlight without CB (Michael's CB that is) or the Rockys (Go Danny) is just not Starlight. "Alotta Locamotion" was a criminal cut as were all the changes to "Freight" (half of it is missing for starters !!!) I'm listening to the OG cast version as I type this and I just got to CB.. (sigh). There is just a better dynamic tonal contrast between the freight and passenger cars that is missing from the new one, which just feels muddy in comparison. So After my friend went and saw it I listened to the Cast recording for 24. It's ok but it lacks the sparkle of the OG.. The gender swaps were a surprise. But what does that matter as we are talking Singing trains here !!! The Hydrogen message is a tad heavy handed, cool tune though And I DO subscribe to the message, but as it what was inserted into the hole that was left by the massacre of Freight, I have issues! To Me (from the Cast Album alone) the OG was simply perfect and IS Starlight for me. (sorry)

Loved 2023 tour had better background story how strat survived how relationship was beetween tink and strat this tour seemed to lack but still amazing

I totally agree with this! You put it perfectly, the hype on this show really affected my opinion on it too. So glad i found your channel :)

Interesting point about when you first saw it not being overly keen on it, could it be the cast? I know it’s not the done thing to criticise the cast but for example I’ve seen six multiple times and with this cast of SIX even the group of friends I went with particularly to see the most well-known cast member weren’t overly impressed because this cast with the exception of one of them the overall thought that we all had was that five out of the six Queens performance was like five of the Queens were reading off a Q card behind us when it came to the linking acting segments. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying it’s a bad show, but I do think who’s has been cast in the show can it affect your enjoyment of the show. Another example of this I saw Hamilton and they had an alternate playing Hamilton and a standby who covers up to 5 different roles played Aaron Burr and his performance were so good that I thought the show could’ve been called Burr and the alternate really seemed to be out of his depth and I know with this one I wasn’t the only one as it seem to appear on forums that opinion. Anyway, keep up the good work huge fan of yours someone who doesn’t come across as if they’re trying to gain interviews, et cetera or contacts

Very wrong about stunt casting they were amazing much better than London cast

loved this!! you didnt mention slick though :(

i personally adore the 2024 revival, may be a little biased as it was my introduction to starlight. however ive done my research on all the productions. i love the lack of alpha male energy greaseball used to give being replaced with this badass butch lesbian train. as a lesbian, i am in love with this production. and im my opinion, i think these costumes actually look more train like as they have that more shiny look that trains have

Is that at there tour. I'm going on Wednesday

Im a bit late to this video but, oh well! I just think that there are so many new characters that I cant keep up with, Im excited to see it this year but I miss CB. I think CB was just such an interesting character! Im hoping he comes back soon even though it might be a stupid little wish :(

its awful Terrible characterisations. Scots guy cant sing. the whole romance takes five seconds. The narrator is unintelligible. The music is boring. The stage is so restricted with the band on stage. The acting was like a pantomime. It's a five second story extended to three hours. But as someone said you dont have to be good to have a cult following.

The story sounds really cut. Strat and tink kiss?? They didn’t before? Falco gets a scar in the first act, there was also a newspaper detailing why Strat and Falco didn’t like each other. (He was going to always destroy the deep end) Tink also died and there is a scene (I think it’s cut now) between Strat and Zahara which did draw a line between having Zahara work there and Getting Strat back to see her after the gap at Tinks grave. Andrew played Strat a bit differently too. Oh the bike came apart… guess that’s gone too? 😢 I’ll probably like it, being that middle aged house wife type lol 😂 I love the music and will see it for that alone

"look how they massacred my boy"

Camerman looked like he'd been backstage and got lost - genius

Also saw for the first time at the King's, Portsmouth on Friday 17/1/25. Went with my dad, we're both huge Meatloaf fans. Agree that the lack of a story was a problem, but forgivable given the talent of the cast. I think the plot was a valid way to string the selection of songs together. We walked away a bit baffled by the (lack of) story, but agreed it was definitely worth going to see and we'd go again! Side note: the camera concept worked fairly well for me, it felt like a proper 70s music video. It was overused though, it should have been for just a couple of numbers

First of all, thank you so much for this video!! You really did your homework and gave great unbiased (as in explaining without trying to force an opinion) detailing of the changes in the show. I WAS definitely on the train (pun intended!) of “why don’t they look like trains?? I will admit from the first pic I saw I thought the costumes were gorgeous but looked more like steampunk clowns than they did trains. Your explanation makes sense and I’m for it! The only thing (now) that was a change that I cannot get behind is the use of scooters instead of inlines. In a world of trains, there should not be any “feet” (exception of Control of course, which I love that the character is actually in the show now!). That’s just my opinion which is more than slightly biased being roller skater (inlines & quads) myself. I respect and agree with what you said about having “something else” to see as the audience, especially when the audience is not made up primarily of skaters like me. Thanks again for the sharing of this. I’d really like to see the new show in person, now even more because of you! 🖤✌🏻🛼🚂

I saw this in Edinburgh. Agree with all your points. I hated the story, hated the mics, hated the camera filming. But I LOVED the songs and the singing performances.

I grew up listening the Meat Loaf’s album as my mum and Step dad really liked it and had it on a fair bit. But I never knew the album was based on an existing musical. I just assumed it was its own concept album.

I saw this today and…. Like yourself came out of the show with more questions than answers. I went into this as a massive Meatloaf/Jim Steinman fan and knew all the music which I definitely think was helpful because if I was relying on story telling alone I feel I’d have been even more confused. I didn’t like the handheld mics, definitely felt like a hindrance. I also didn’t appreciate the live camera feed- so many of the angles meant we got the side or back of the performers forcing us to watch a the unclear screen. As an audience member I thought why am I here? They’re not playing to me but to the camera. The only time I thought it was used to any kind of effect was during Paradise by the Dashboard Light. I think the tour had a lot of changes made to the original production. I came out of the theatre and was reading up on what the actual plot is meant to be and I was like ooooh that makes more sense now. I feel like context was needed

So happy to be able to see your content here!

I am a millennial. I didn't laugh once. In the words of the writers themselves, it is "lazy and forced."

Enjoyed this review, I don't know why they didn't find another venue that was say the same size as the one in the original Apollo or one in Germany! I mean this isn't a tour, this is at a set venue. I heard they coud be building a venue esp for Starlight Express either in London or outside of London so would be in a massive building like the one in Germany! The reflecton on your glasses was making me laugh, like you had Cats eyes no pun intended with the other hit musical from Andrew Lloyd Webber lol

Loved this review, just booked tickets to see it in March-used the theatre vouchers me and my gf had for ages! Made me laugh when your cat mucked up what you wanted to do. Talking of Cats have you seen that classic musical live on stage??? 🐈🐱 Starlight Express is the musical I have seen the most times. I have seen it 24 times in total- first as a little kid when I was 5 in Summer of 1986 and begged my mum/dad to take when seeing the adverts for it on TV, posters in the high street, buses/train stations, reading reviews for it on Teletext/Magazines etc Saw it 11 times in London, once on Broadway/once in Vegas, 6 times in Germany where it still play as you prob know. 4 times on UK Tour, and once in Norway! Yea the Bill Kenwright Tours were ok with half set size + 3D glasses, but this is how it should be done esp UK Tour when they did it in Arenas/Stadiums like: Milton Keynes Bowl which I saw in 2004! Shame it isn't as big as the one in London used to be or the one that still plays in Germany. Whereabouts in UK you from-I'm in Kent 😎 When it was announced with Andrew and Arlene etc. They said it would be like the German production yet when I then heard/read a few months before it opened in June of last year said the iconic rotating bridge wouldn't be there and couple of songs being replaced etc 🤷🏻‍♂ Looking forward to it though!

Did you know that this isn't the first time the character Control has appeared on stage in any production of *Starlight Express*? The earliest version I’ve heard of was an American ice skating tour called *Starlight Express on Ice,* from 1997 to 1998. In this production, the musical was performed on ice skates rather than roller skates. Unfortunately, the ice show struggled to find its audience and was short-lived. Personally, I believe this 2024 revival works much better with Control performed live on stage, especially since the story is about toy trains magically coming to life in a child’s dream. I find roller skating to be far more relevant than ice skating for this theme.

I worked on the 1988 production in adel, south australia. It was sort of spectacular to a point. It's not a brilliant story, as such, and there are some awful songs that arent3inckuded on the sou strack, theyre so bad.

The look of disappointment where she say's it's about trains.

Wembley reminds me far too much of my local high school production I saw almost 20 years ago. Do I like it as much as what Bochum is doing? Definitely not but it is introducing my favorite musical to a new audience which I am so grateful for

I left a long comment on another video, so I will shorten my views here. Loved the soundtrack and all the bright colors, but the costumes made me not want to see this particular version of the show. I agree with you, you can have rainbow trains. However, the problem is they don't have train bits on them! Also, not a fan of replacing the freight trucks with the fuel trucks. The fuel trucks are too identical and they don't feel as unique as the freight cars, who were much more lovable. I prefer Dustin to Hydra.

Hey there! I've got his booked for February simply because - if you can believe - I have never been the Other Palace and this looked like a fun show! I've never heard of it before, let alone knew what it was about; hope it's not going to be a bit too "young" for me? Anyhoo, I notice Pedro Joaquín Valdés is in the cast, whom I've seen in no less than four other productions in the past two years. I'm inadvertently following that guy about in his career 😆🎭

My favorite version exists solely on a cassette tape my brother brought back from his time as an exchange student in germany, which is primarily the 1984 version, with some songs missing (notably light at the end of the tunnel, but also a lot of the short recitatives). So many fond memories.

Also I'm an Apollo kid for sure, I had a feeling before but the quiz confirmed it

Fun Fact this was the first musical cast album I memorised of my own fruition instead of it being forced into my head after doing a show. It’s one of my favourite musicals. Also Max Harwood liked and commented on my TikTok post where I announced he was playing the role

1st Keep up the good work

Mmn good to here someone point of view.....i went opening ngt....took it as a fun ngt out...great cast...great songs.....i say go and see it....need to get young people to the theatre.....i say good start pity its ending perhaps they started too big goin to the west end first....should had took it on the road....then west end.....but hay ....didn't think they were trying to get 14 year olds to watch this play.....mmn ....didnot think it was a fan girls level in a play ....now that was a young people's play ...and another good show....

The peacock theatre is a west end theatre, no?

Not gonna lie, I'd rather go to Bochum to see their version of Starlight Express, not the London production. I just really really hate the aesthetics of the London show. And I do not want to get into the gender bent Greaseball thing. I do not like it at all. It infuriates me.

I've been feeling ill all week, have the day off today, and thought what better way than to sit with Flora through all the West End venues? 😁 Can't disagree with much of what you said. I too like the Art Deco aspect of theatres, love the Criterion and Wyndham theatres (although how much of that is due to the influence of "Two Strangers" and "Next to Normal"?) I felt you were a bit mean to the Prince of Wales, this is a truly beautiful theatre, with its recent restoration bringing out and highlighting all the Art Deco aspects. I take it you've never read through the weighty tome "Master of the House", which goes through all the Delfont Mackintosh venues and how they painstakingly refurbished each and every one? It's a bit pricey, sure, but it is a stunning book. Oh, and I have Hadestown booked next week. I'm sitting bang centre of front row of Dress Circle! (Last time, I was row C of stalls and it really wasn't that bad!)

Fortune should be way lower, literally some of the most uncomfortable seats i have ever sat in

THANK YOU FOR THE LYRIC HATE. I despise the lyric and I think they should pull it down and rebuild. I sat in the upper circle for 2:22 and I had to sit on my chair when it wasn't folded down and i kid you not I could not see 3/4 of the stage. Paid £50 for Hadestown in the dress and the column made it so I couldn't see anything, so disappointing.

B = Barbican, which is technically a West End theatre (despite being in The City).

did you forget the troubadour theatre where STEX is at the moment and also the turbine theatre?

That backdrop celling at the apollo is hiding anther level and has been closed off sinch the celling fell down I don't know whether the real celling has been restored hence that cloth fake celling

Thank you! top guide

Flora..did U forget Soho place

unironically this is the most important journalism of all time

Comment at start of video ; if lyric and Shaftesbury aren’t at the bottom I’ll be upset

Is it just me or is the audio panned all the way to the right? And then the vlog is only in the left ear?

I was never a fan of the Stones until I saw this

loved this!! can’t wait till i’m old enough to go 😂

This new 1 is 100% better. The other one is not really good, so I'll give my thumbs up to this new 1. I enjoyed this one more than the old one otter, it last thursday

Re: Poppa > Momma... What did Cartman say as Kathleen Kennedy? 😅