Casting announced for Starlight Express at Wembley Park

Initial casting has been confirmed for the upcoming London return of Starlight Express.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical, about a child’s train set that comes to life and competes to become the fastest engine in the world, is being revived in an all-new production at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, where it opens in June.

The production will introduce Jeevan Braich as Rusty, Kayna Montecillo as Pearl, Jade Marvin as Momma McCoy, Al Knott as Greaseball, Eve Humphrey as Dinah and Tom Pigram as Electra.

The cast also includes Ollie Augustin, Charles Butcher, Renz Cardenas, Catherine Cornwall, Jamie Cruttenden, Kelly Downing, Asher Forth, Sam Gallacher, Lucy Glover, Pablo Gómez Jones, Scott Hayward, Lilianna Hendy, Lewis Kidd, Hannah Kiss, Oscar Kong, Emily Martinez, Deearna Mclean, Marianthe Panas, David Peter-Brown, RED, Bethany Rose Lythgoe, Ashley Rowe, Gary Sheridan, Elly Shaw, Jessica Vaux, Jaydon Vijn, Lara Vina Uzcatia, Sharon Wattis and Ashlyn Weekes.

Further casting is still to be announced.

Starlight Express premiered at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in 1984, and ran until 2002. It has been running in Bochum, Germany for over 30 years, and has been seen by more than 20 million people. It has music by Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Richard Stilgoe, and famously sees the cast perform on rollerskates. The original choreography was by Arlene Phillips.

Luke Sheppard directs the new production, while Tim Hatley is designing the sets, with Gabriella Slade on costume design and Phillips part of the creative team, alongside video designer Andrzej Goulding, lighting designer Howard Hudson and sound designer Gareth Owen, with new orchestrations and musical supervision by Matthew Brind. It has new choreography by Ashley Nottingham, musical supervision by Brind and David Wilson, musical direction by Laura Bangay and casting by Pearson Casting.

The production is set to “whizz around and above” the audience. Spectators are able to sit either around and inside the “racing track”, or behind the performance space on a more conventional rake.

Performances begin on 8 June 2024. Tickets are on sale below.