Starlight Express: Andrew Lloyd Webber musical ‘more preposterously OTT’ than original

Cast members of Starlight Express during show in London.

Roller-skating trains in ‘iridescent costumes’ zip around the stage



(Image credit: Pamela Raith)

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Starlight Express” is back, four decades after making its West End debut. 

Critics may have “sneered” at the show in the past for “lacking sophistication”, and admittedly Richard Stilgoe’s lyrics can be as “bland as an old British Rail sandwich”, said Dominic Cavendish in The Telegraph. But director Luke Sheppard and his team have conjured a “head-spinning wonderland”, infused with “magic and life-affirming meaning”.

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Irenie Forshaw is a features writer at The Week, covering arts, culture and travel. She began her career in journalism at Leeds University, where she wrote for the student newspaper, The Gryphon, before working at The Guardian and The New Statesman Group. Irenie then became a senior writer at Elite Traveler, where she oversaw The Experts column.

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