Performances in the purpose-built, specially designed Starlight Auditorium will start from 8th June next year. 

Ticket sale details will be announced in due course and in the meantime, group travel organisers can sign up to receive more information as well as priority booking.

A true theatrical event, Starlight Express will fully immerse audiences of all ages inside a world of speed, song and storytelling as a cast of 40 whizz around and above, performing some of musical theatre’s most beloved songs, including AC/DC, Make Up My Heart, Light at the End of the Tunnel and the iconic Starlight Express. 

As a child’s train set magically comes to life and the engines race to become the fastest in the world, Rusty the steam train has little hope of winning until he is inspired by the legend of the ‘Starlight Express’.

“Watch out for the big new plot twist and you will discover why steam power is the future of the railway.”

Andrew Lloyd Webber

With music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Richard Stilgoe, the creative team for the new production is helmed by director Luke Sheppard (&Juliet, The Little Big Things), set designer Tim Hatley (Back to the Future), video designer Andrzej Goulding (Life of Pi), costume designer Gabriella Slade (Six), lighting designer Howard Hudson (&Juliet) and sound designer Gareth Owen (MJ the Musical) with new orchestrations and musical supervision by Matthew Brind.

With thrilling new choreography by Ashley Nottingham (Pacific Overtures), the production will also see the return of one of the original Strictly Come Dancing judges Arlene Phillips as creative dramaturg.

The Starlight Express story

In 1976, inspired by a trip on the Valley Railroad in New England with his children, Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote a few songs for a proposed cartoon feature about animated trains. The cartoon was never produced but the ideas stayed alive.

In the early 1980s, drawing inspiration from R&B, rock ‘n’ roll, jazz, rap and country and western music for his upbeat score, Lloyd Webber took those initial songs and ideas and composed a full length musical about trains. Eventually, he teamed up with lyricist Richard Stilgoe, expanding upon the concept of his lifelong fascination with trains and Starlight Express came to life.

The world’s only musical performed entirely on roller skates, the show premiered at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, London in 1984. Andrew Lloyd Webber said: “I am thrilled that Starlight Express will be powering down the tracks again. The world’s first truly immersive musical will this time be an experience like no other. Watch out for the big new plot twist and you will discover why steam power is the future of the railway.”

Director Luke Sheppard added: “Nothing comes close to the thrill of Starlight Express and it’s a privilege to be directing this brand-new production, which will bring audiences right up close to all the music, the wonder and the action that makes this show so iconic.”

About Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre

Seating up to 2,000 guests, the new theatre is located in the heart of Wembley Park, a new cultural hub featuring accommodation, restaurants and more. It recently staged Disney’s award-winning Broadway musical Newsies and next year will see the opening of the Starlight Auditorium, purposely built for the new staging of Starlight Express.