Starlight Express – Australian Amateur Premiere
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Additional lyrics by David Yazbek.
Oakhill College, NSW. June 9 – 18, 2016
472 hours of rehearsal, 196 hours of set building, lighting and sound rigging, 326 wheels, 154 skates, 83 performers, 25 crew, 13 musicians, 4 races, 1 champion - the entire ensemble became the champion in what was both a huge challenge and a very fulfilling experience!
The decision to stage Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Starlight Express, announced in November, 2015, was met with a mixture of wild enthusiasm and the catch cry of “But I can’t skate!” My reaction was – “Then learn!” And learn they did. Students attended skating classes throughout the Christmas break, while stores within a twenty-kilometre radius of the school sold out of roller blades and skates. A future cast of students from Years 7 - 12 started 2016 ready to tackle singing, dancing and skating auditions.
A design turning an indoor school basketball court into an arena stage with audience on three sides and a roller rink centre with ramps was drawn up and a model built. Creative meetings with the lighting team, BLM Production Services and Jason Fripp, took place so we could integrate lights into the set, build tunnels for the audiences to enter through and the cast to exit into and a sound design for 32 body mikes was locked into place. Costume and make-up was designed and the sourcing of shoulder pads, shin pads and bulky vests began. A skating teacher was organized to conduct a one-off class with groups from the cast.
In Starlight Express every character is a train engine or carriage as we enter into the imagination of a little boy playing with his train set and thrilling to the races between electric, diesel and steam trains.
Due to the ensemble nature of the musical many students were able to gain a major or minor lead and those who didn’t were thrilled to be in Greaseball’s Gang or part of Electra’s engines. A wide array of chorus songs provided lots of opportunity for the entire cast to dance on wheels and sing their hearts out. That, coupled with the competitive nature of the races where engines competed for a spot in the final race and supporters in the cast cheered them on, resonated well with both our cast and our audience.
This is not a show for the faint hearted. As a director I held tenaciously to the belief that all the students’ skating would improve - and it did! I, and my choreographers, needed to get our heads around creating dance moves that would work ‘on wheels’; that the cast would be able to learn choreography, emote character, sing and cope with ramps and rapid entrances and exits.
The Musical Director, Mr Anthony Timmins, embraced the challenge to work in a silent pit and co-ordinate live musicians with both a backing track and click track that contained all the sound effects of the show. On top of that there was the new 21st century score with updated musical numbers and a completely new song, “I Do”, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s son.
The seniors in the cast, from Years 11 & 12, were seasoned performers, having already been in five years of full school and junior musicals, plays and Musical Performance nights at the college, along with performances in a variety of local performance groups.
Starlight Expressis based on the premise that we can all achieve if we believe in ourselves. The little underdog steam engine, Rusty, comes to understand this. The cast also came to realize that they could acquire new skills and achieve, and, as the very lucky lady to produce and direct this production, I came to believe in the positive essence of the wonderful young people who I had the pleasure of directing. Is ‘There a Light at the End of the Tunnel’ - ABSOLUTLEY!! The musical played to six sell out performances but it didn’t end there - students are still enjoying skating with parents, brothers, sisters and friends; our school community is still singing snatches from “AC/DC” and “Locomotion”, and a belief that with passion and commitment anything can be achieved is still flowing through the Performing Arts Department of Oakhill College.
Di Herron - Performing Arts Head
Originally published in the July / August 2016 edition of Stage Whispers
