Starlight Express: The Third Dimension toured the US from 1 April 2003 to 13 June 2004, opening roughly a year after the West End production closed.
The production was the first to feature new material written with American composer David Yazbek. As with the first US tour and Las Vegas productions, the race sequences were filmed, rather than performed live.
Production Details[]
In this production, Control was never referred to by name. Instead of beginning his announcements with "This is Control!", as he had in previous productions, he said "Attention! Attention, everybody!".
The production marked the return-for-good of CB/Caboose, who had been cut from the London production in 1992, although he was resurrected in Las Vegas and has remained a fixture in Bochum since the production opened in 1988.
The Rockies were updated as 'Hip Hoppers'. Stunt-staking race marshals, known as Trax, were introduced. Two national engines (Bobo and Espresso) and one of Electra's components (Krupp) were cut.
The production recycled many costumes from the Las Vegas production, including the "showgirl" costumes for the coaches.
New Material[]
Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Yazbek collaborated on a new song, "Whole Lotta Locomotion", which has a more modern Pop/Hip Hop vibe, focusing on what the Coaches need in a partner, without individual introductions.
This production also introduced an updated Rap, attempting to sound more contemporary than the distinctly early 1990s flavour of the previous version.
Similar to the 1993 Las Vegas production, Caboose's role was minimized with no "There's Me". When the tour started, Caboose a shortened version of "Wide Smile" with Greaseball and his gang. The number would later be cut to the dialogue-only version of the scene.
Yazbek also rewrote other musical underscoring and recitative passages, such as the original characters' introductions in "Freight" or "Dinah's Disco", changing the music and lyrics but keeping the same spirit and context. Some of these lyric changes were to clarify story telling; others appear to be change for change's sake. Some changes were made for colloquial American English - for example, "Poppa, you're mad!" was changed to "Poppa, you're crazy!" to clarify between mad as in insane, and mad as in angry.
Many of these changes were eventually reverted to Lloyd Webber's original music.
The pre-recorded races led to some interesting plot points: the third race was not filmed, so the Uphill Final was cancelled before it even began. The final race included Rusty crossing the finish line with both Pearl and Dustin, and was followed directly by "One Rock & Roll Too Many", without Rusty leaving to find Pearl. This was then initially followed with Pearl, alone, singing "Only He", without a plot device to explain how she is alone at the start of the song.
The tour originally had used a version of "Only He" that was a blend of the original 1984 version and the duet "Only You". One major reason the original version of "Only He" was not used in later productions is that is it very vocally demanding; many actresses could not do the song justice immediately after racing. However, with the pre-recorded races, the actresses playing Pearl on tour could devote more energy to the big solo. It would later be replaced with the 1992 London song, "Next Time You Fall In Love."
Race Sequences[]
The set design of the first US tour proved controversial with theatres, as it meant removing seats and, therefore, cutting potential profits. Producer Nick Howey wanted to find a way to do the races without having to remove seats from each venue. Drawing on his experience producing the Las Vegas production, which recycled filmed race sequences shot for the first US tour, Howey suggested creating new race sequences in 3D[1].
Julian Napier directed the film shoot for video company Inition. The skaters included Paul Ramsay, Trevor Hodge, Sarah Landy, Dustin Dubreuil, Kati Heidebrecht, Andrew Millar, Jamie Capewell and a professional stunt skater called Storm. The shoot, which took place at a disused munitions depot in Wales, was fraught with problems. Veteran skate coach Michal Fraley details the process in a whole chapter of his memoir, Skating the Starlight Express.
Due to the reduced cast, the race structure involved three competitors in each heat, with Greaseball and Electra ending Race 1 in a dead heat and therefore both going to the final.
No film exists for the third race, as the film crew ran out of time[2]. This problem was solved onstage by having a fight break out before the race begins, causing it to be cancelled.
The final race shows Rusty win the race pushing Pearl, and pulling Dustin, unlike in other productions where Pearl is left halfway through the race course and Rusty leaves the victory celebrations to find her.
Opening night incident[]
Starlight Express played two previews before its opening night in Biloxi. The actor playing Poppa (Jason) was removed from the production after failing to turn up for the opening performance. He was found the next day and allegedly failed a drugs test. Poppa was played on opening night by Peter Hagen, who stepped in at a few hours' notice and performed without skates. Hagen played the role for two weeks while a replacement, Dennis LaGree, could be integrated into the company[3].
Tour Dates[]
| City | Theatre | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Biloxi, Mississippi | Grand Casino | 1st - 27th April (previews) |
| Houston, Texas | Theatre Under The Stars | 8th - 25th May |
| Atlanta, Georgia | Fox Theatre | 9th - 22nd June |
| Chicago, Illinois | Palace Theatre | 23rd June - 6th July |
| Green Bay, Wisconsin | Weidner Center | 14th - 20th July |
| Minneapolis, Minnesota | Orpheum | 21st - 27th July |
| Kansas City, Missouri | Starlight Theatre | 28th July - 3rd August |
| Dallas, Texas | Music Hall | 4th - 17th August |
| Orlando, Florida | 1st - 7th September | |
| Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Academy | 8th - 14th September |
| Grand Rapids, Mississippi | DeVos Hall | 22nd - 28th September |
| Birmingham, Alabama | JCPAC | 29th September - 5th October |
| Memphis, Tennessee | Orpheum | 6th - 12th October |
| Norfolk, Virginia | Chrysler | 13th - 19th October |
| Charlotte, North Carolina | Blumenthal | 20th - 26th October |
| Tampa, Florida | 27th October - 2nd November | |
| St Louis, Missouri | Fox | 3rd - 16th November |
| East Lansing, Mississippi | Wharton | 17th - 23rd November |
| Syracuse, New York State | 24th - 30th November | |
| Buffalo, New York State | 1st - 7th December | |
| Cleveland, Ohio | Palace Theatre | 8th - 21st December |
| Costa Mesa, California | 22nd December - 4th January 2004 | |
| Tempe, Arizona | 5th - 11th January | |
| Tucson, Arizona | 12th - 18th January | |
| Las Vegas, Nevada | Aladdin | 19th - 25th January |
| Los Angeles, California | Pantages | 26th January - 8th February |
| San Jose, California | CPA | 8th - 21st March |
| San Diego, California | Civic Theatre | 1st - 7th March |
| Sacramento, California | Civic | 8th - 21st March |
| Portland, Oregon | Keller Auditorium | 22nd - 28th March |
| Seattle, Washington | Paramount | 29th March - 4th April |
| Omaha, NE | 5th - 11th April | |
| Boston, Massachusetts | Wang | 26th April - 2nd May |
| Richmond, Virginia | Landmark | 3rd - 9th May |
| Providence, Rhode Island | Providence PAC | 17th - 23rd May |
| Hartford, Connecticut | Bushnell | 7th - 13th June |
Tour Dates Reference [4]
Musical Numbers[]
|
Act 1
|
Act 2
|
| Race 1 | Race 2 | Cancelled Race | World Championship Race |
|
|
|
|
Cast[]
| Rusty | Franklyn Warfield | Pearl | Clarissa Grace |
| Greaseball | Drue Williams | Dinah | Katie O'Toole |
| Electra | Dustin Dubreuil | Ashley | Kait Holbrook |
| Poppa | Dennis LeGree | Buffy | Joanna Richert |
| Hopper 1 | Orren Webber | Flat-top | Russell Saylor |
| Hopper 2 | Walter Louis | Dustin | Scott Bolt |
| Hopper 3 | Stephen Maestas | Caboose | Jeremy Kocal |
| Purse | Aaron Coulson | Ruhrgold | Kristopher Stock |
| Wrench | Robyn Hurder | Turnov | Brandon Warner / Graham Harvey |
| Volta | Suzanne Wogisch | Nintendo | Robert Roby / Angelo Rivera |
| Joule | Kelly Stensland | Prince of Wales | Jared Lee |
| Trax | Ben Tucker Rotundo | Swing | Leesa Osborn |
| Swing | Tony Andrade | Swing | Jeff Dean |
| Swing | Paul Lane | Swing | Eric Christopher Freese |
| Swing | Graham Harvey |
Additional Cast Members: Beverley Braybon (Dinah, November 2003), Peelee Clark, Gary Albers
Emergency cover Poppa: Peter Hagen [5]
Cast List [6]
Gallery[]
References[]
Links[]
Fansite - The Midnight Train X-ing
- ↑ Fraley, Michal: Skating the Starlight Express (2011), ISBN: 978-1-4583-7432-5
- ↑ Fraley, Michal: Skating the Starlight Express (2011), ISBN: 978-1-4583-7432-5
- ↑ Fraley, Michal: Skating the Starlight Express (2011), ISBN: 978-1-4583-7432-5
- ↑ http://www.beeptwo.com/pearls/mainframe.html
- ↑ Skating the Starlight Express, Michal Fraley. Chapter: "Finding Poppa"
- ↑ http://www.angelfire.com/musicals/dyanarosejill/starlight/ustour/Tour_Main.html