Musical: Starlight Express

Yesterday, I was back with Up in the Cheap Seats for Starlight Express! Heard of this, never seen it - it's at the new (Troubadour) Wembley Park Theatre. And I thought I had it hard, taking three buses on Tuesday - try the Jubilee Line, for over half an hour! Not to mention, when I arrived at the station, it was to an announcement that the line was part suspended - due to a fire alert! To be expected, I suppose, in that weather. Happily, the trouble was at the other end of the line - not the direction I was headed in.

Having said that, there were supposed to be "severe delays" on the line - well, I seem to have struck it well; there was a train within a minute of my arrival, and I just managed to squeeze on. This line is airconditioned, but with this crowd, you'd never know it - I was delighted to get a seat after four stops. Finally emerged at Wembley Park Station - to an interesting information board; I suppose they have a lot of new stuff roundabouts, and just haven't had time to put up proper direction signs yet:

Actually, it's not that hard to find - head towards the stadium, and look for the billboards to the right:

Follow these - they lead all the way to the entrance. Where my bag was checked, then my ticket was scanned at the door. Then I was right into the bar - not for anyone who has trouble with flashing lights, but I suppose they wouldn't be at this show anyway!

I'd booked for their Studio Five restaurant beforehand - and I was 10 minutes late for my booking. Which is all right, except that I had to meet the others at 7, which didn't give me much time. Happily, it's well-signposted - and just as a sign at the door to the building proclaimed the show was sold out, so also the restaurant advertised that it wasn't taking walk-ins.

I was shown quickly to a table, and given a choice of a la carte or a set menu - apart from price, they're quite similar. I went for the set menu, where the beef in red wine sauce sounded attractive - for £34, I could have two courses, a side, and a glass of house wine. The beef wasn't even on the a la carte - there was steak on that instead. But I figured the beef would do me fine - and as the wine I would have liked wasn't available by the glass in the restaurant - and I didn't recognise any that were - the house wine was fine by me too. For my side, I had fries. I knew I wanted ice cream for dessert, but the waiter wouldn't take my order at that stage. They didn't have any starters I fancied.

Wow, that beef arrived fast.. and wow, it was delectable! I don't often have something so moreish - highly recommended. The fries were lovely - I scoffed them quickly. And then, of course, I was kept waiting - this was why I wanted to order dessert at the same time. But no, he wouldn't let me - and now he took his time in coming back, and when he did, he had the temerity to say I had time for dessert, and could he get me the menu? I was to meet the group in 10 minutes - so told him that actually, I didn't have time now, because I was meeting people, and could I just get the bill? The bill took long enough to arrive too.. otherwise, it was a lovely meal.

Back out in the bar, I got a drink - I could now get a glass of the wine I wanted (although the house wine is actually quite good). Decently priced too. Wandered around a bit, then found the group - and although, unusually among us, my ticket didn't give a door number (perhaps because it was the Wallet version, I dunno), we all turned out to be going in the same door anyway. 

It was easy enough to find my row - not so easy to find my seat, with the seat numbers not easily visible. Happily, the people around me were very helpful - the ushers weren't. We agreed afterwards that it was better to be up high for this show, to get the full effect - it's one of those where the last thing you want to do is be right up against the action.

OK! So - I'd only ever heard the name of this, and that it was composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and that it involved roller skates. Well, when I was a kid, I wasn't anywhere near anywhere it was being performed.. what it actually turns out to be, of course, is the story of a little boy who's obsessed with trains, and when he goes to sleep, has a dream about a race among all his toy trains. They're the people on roller skates - divided into engines and cars they pull - you can't race alone, you have to be paired with a car. So, there's a dining car, a First Class car (Pearl), and so on - for the engines, there's a diesel, the reigning champion: and Rusty, the old steam train, whom nobody pays much mind. The new challenger though - slickest of the lot - is Electra, the new electric train, all set to take the diesel's crown..

Okay.. it isn't much of a plot, except for kids. But wow, the staging is spectacular - as you'd expect, the lighting is terrific, and the stage is built around the racetrack - good idea to have their own, customisable venue for this; it's basically a shed, inside which they could build what they wanted. They still have the corrugated iron on the walls of the bar, for goodness' sake! The racetrack has lit edges - much like a Scalextric set! That, and the roller skates, are a real throwback to the 80s.. 

It's great fun watching the races. As someone remarked afterwards though, there's practically no plot, and there are really no memorable songs - not even the title song! But it is fun.. maybe take the kids? Currently booking until the 8th of June, if you're interested - at least I satisfied my curiosity. And the Tube was much more comfortable on the way home.

Naturally, I didn't have time to blog last night, being in the office today - the bus journey in to the office was much more pleasant than usual, less crowded. It took me a minute to figure out that's probably because of the school holidays.. there are usually a lot of schoolkids on this route. Mind you, at the end of the journey, we were taken on a small magical mystery tour, when our driver announced a diversion, but not to where - instead of turning left into High Holborn, he went straight on, went around in a circle, and came at the same road from that direction! Ah well..

Tonight, heading to Frankie Goes to Bollywood at the Queen Elizabeth Hall again - should be fun.

Tomorrow, I'm back to Ireland for the weekend again. Film for Saturday - at last! - is Twisters, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones as one of the tornado-chasers. Now, I've heard mixed things about this - but hell, I love a good disaster film, loved the original Twister. I think I'll enjoy it - and am delighted not to be missing it; I was afraid I would! Showing at a nice, convenient time at the Omniplex, for once.

On Monday, heading to Next To Normal, at Wyndham's - cheapest tickets with TodayTix. Eating at Bella Italia (St. Martin's Lane) again. Now, that is a favourite of mine..

On Tuesday, headed back with CT to Stagetime - more improvised comedy - at Shoreditch Balls! Eating at the nearby Blues Kitchen, which I love.

On Wednesday, back with London Literary Walks for Dickens, Woolf and Lawrence. Meeting at The Dolphin, but they don't do food, so I'll eat at the nearby Isolabella Italian restaurant beforehand.

And next Thursday, back with Buddies on Budgets for a sketching evening (!) in Phoenix Garden. Tickets from Eventbrite. If I go.. not usually my thing, but we'll see.