London run ended 3 May 2026. The upcoming UK tour has no London dates.

Starlight Express begins a world tour at Curve Leicester in May 2027, with UK dates announced through September 2027 and prices varying by city. See UK tour dates on ATG Tickets

Starlight Express at a glance

Show
Starlight Express
Status
Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre run closed 3 May 2026
Theatre
Starlight Auditorium, Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, 3 Fulton Road, Wembley Park, London HA9 0SP
Run
8 June 2024 – 3 May 2026 (extended seven times)
Genre
Musical, performed on roller skates
Running time
2 hours 30 minutes, including interval
Age guidance
All ages; under-3s not admitted; under-16s with an adult
Music
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics
Richard Stilgoe
Director
Luke Sheppard
Choreographer
Ashley Nottingham
Opening cast
Jeevan Braich (Rusty), Jade Marvin (Momma McCoy), Al Knott (Greaseball), Kayna Montecillo (Pearl), Eve Humphrey (Dinah), Tom Pigram (Electra)
Awards
Seven 2025 WhatsOnStage Awards including Best Musical Revival; three Olivier nominations
Next
World tour from May 2027, opening at Curve Leicester; no London dates

Looking back: Starlight Express at Wembley

4.7
★★★★★

LTH Retrospective Rating

Retrospective by the London Theatre Hub editorial team. Last updated: 23 September 2026.

The Verdict

Starlight Express closed at Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre on 3 May 2026, almost two years after its first preview and after seven extensions. Luke Sheppard's revival did not simply restage the 1984 original; it rebuilt a theatre around it, turning the Wembley venue into the Starlight Auditorium with a track that looped through the seats so the skating trains raced past, around and above the audience.

Most critics were won over. The Telegraph gave five stars and called it "part theme-park ride, part theatrical revolution"; The Stage also gave five. The Guardian, The Times, the Independent and the Daily Mail gave four, the Guardian describing it as erupting "like a Vesuvius of light, sound, projection and dry ice". Not everyone was sold: Time Out and the Sunday Times gave three stars, and the i gave two, calling it "slick but soulless". The critics' average sat just under four stars. What nobody disputed was the scale of the achievement, which swept the 2025 WhatsOnStage Awards and kept the show running two years in north-west London.

What Made It Special

  • A theatre built for the show. The Starlight Auditorium put a racetrack through the audience, so no two seats saw the races the same way.
  • Design on an arena scale. Tim Hatley's set, Gabriella Slade's costumes, Howard Hudson's lighting and Gareth Owen's sound drove seven WhatsOnStage wins and three Olivier nominations.
  • A breakout Rusty. Jeevan Braich made his professional stage debut in the lead role when the production opened in June 2024.
  • A family event. Suitable for all ages, and one of the few London shows of the period that children and adults were equally keen to see.
  • The fortieth anniversary. The revival marked forty years since the original production opened at the Apollo Victoria in 1984.

Everything You Need to Know

What happens in Starlight Express?

Starlight Express takes place in the imagination of a child playing with a toy train set. The trains come to life, and each engine and carriage becomes a character with its own personality, costume and style of skating.

The championship

The engines compete in a championship to find the fastest train in the world. The favourites are the flashy, arrogant diesel Greaseball and the electric newcomer Electra, both far newer and faster than Rusty, a humble steam engine who is told he is out of date.

Rusty and the Starlight Express

Rusty's mother, Momma McCoy, tells him about the Starlight Express, a legendary train that helps those who believe in themselves. With that encouragement, and with the observation car Pearl beside him, Rusty takes on the faster engines in a series of races.

The final

The story builds to a final race in which old-fashioned steam goes up against diesel and electric. It is a simple story about self-belief, told at speed, and built around the spectacle of a cast racing on roller skates.