Espresso's design has had notably different versions of the John Napier original concept - the original London production painted him red, like the actual high speed trains in Italy, while the lasting version used in Germany is bright yellow, making him resemble older mainline Italian locomotives rather than high speed ones. In the 2018 re-writes, he became vivid Italian red and green, making him resemble more of the Settebello.
London[]
In the original London production Espresso was the die-cast toy train painted in red and white stripes. The original production had to compromise on John Napier's futuristic, ambitious designs, and were limited with budget and technology. This resulted in the National Engines being greatly simplified from the original designs.
Broadway[]
The Broadway production, mounted in 1987, ramped up the costume builds, allowing the original designs to be fully realised into heavy, mechanical costumes. Espresso's design doesn't feature one dominant colour, but has blocks of primary colours over a dark base. This was simplified in the Japan/Australia and Bochum productions, giving him a bright yellow base, which results in him being the yellow engine with coloured details. Interestingly he seems to have used the logo for Via Rail Canada.
His makeup consists of appropriately red, green, and white themeing as well as occasional indications of stubble, and his signature stereotypical mustache.
Bochum, Germany[]
In 2018, for the German production's 30th anniversary, the show received a major overhaul. Espresso, who had been primarily yellow, received a new paint job, re-coloured to the Italian national colours of red, white and green. However his costume does not feature much white, instead elements of his previous primary yellow remain in the costume details. This combination of complimentary colours makes him particularly eye-catching onstage, especially against the muted palettes of some other characters.
Sadly, another casualty of the 2018 Bochum update was the removal of his mustache.
