Coleg Gwent musical theatre students from Crosskeys Campus are full steam ahead for their production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express that rolls into the Blackwood Miner’s Institute on 15 -17 May.
Starlight Express tells the story of a toy train set that comes to life in a child’s imagination.
The fastest and most dynamic musical experience follows underdog Rusty in his quest to become the fastest train in the world, however his rivals Greaseball and Electra have other ideas. Will Rusty win the race and the hand of the first class coach of his dreams Pearl?
Unlike traditional musicals, students won’t be treading the boards, but skating on them. Like the West End original, the performance will be performed using roller skates – a skill students have learnt specially for the production.
The students have been coached by Zeph Gould, original cast member from Starlight Express, West End and Germany.
Zeph Gould said: “None of our students have roller-skated before, so this has been a tremendous challenge for them as you can imagine! Performing musical theatre involves acting through song and dance, which alone can be challenging enough for young people. Doing all this on roller skates takes this particular musical to another level!”
The students are all really proud of what they have achieved so far and hoping to put on a dazzling show.
Eighteen year old Grant Stroud from Caerleon, plays Poppa: “It’s been a brilliant experience. The skating on its own is difficult, add to that the singing, dancing and acting and it was a real challenge but one that we all rose to and conquered – it should be a great show, really showcasing all the hard work we’ve put in from designing and making our own costumes to belting out some fantastic songs.”
Thomas Ashmore, 17 from Cwm, plays Rusty: “It has been amazing to be trained by our lecturer Zeph who has actually performed in Starlight Express in the West End – from the inside stories and tricks he learned on set, to getting a real insight into professional life on stage.”
There’s no quiet carriage on this musical train as the show boasts an awesome rock / pop score.
Starlight Express on at Blackwood miners institute on the 15th 16th May at 7pm and 1:30pm on Saturday 17th May.
Tickets are priced at £6.50 and concessions at £5.
Tickets are available from Blackwood miners institute’s box office and can be purchased online. And can be found at the below link; http://your.caerphilly.gov.uk/bmi/whatson/whats-on
