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’Starlight Express’ Review: Wobbly Revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Roller-Skating Musical Never Hits Stride
Andrew Lloyd Webber's roller-skating epic ’Starlight Express’ gets revived by '& Juliet' director Luke Sheppard in a production short on excitement
Armed with the seemingly silly concept of marrying a slew of Max Martin mega-hits with a Shakespeare sequel, he created a smash which, still running on Broadway, was tons more smart fun than anyone anticipated. The busiest people on a fairly frantic show are arguably lighting designer Howard Hudson and his team who illuminate the action with everything from super-saturated neon-style lines and chase effects to isolating laser shapes and intense washes of turquoise and purple. The production’s major change is that while originally the racing trains were commanded into action by an unseen booming voice-over, now, the pre-teen young boy, Control (Christian Buttaci at the performance reviewed) whose dream the show is, now runs things.
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