Following the meeting, Lloyd Webber started composing, with actor and children's TV writer Peter Reeves contributing lyrics, alongside artist Brian Cosgrove animating for it.

After withdrawing from the project, Lloyd Webber heard a recording of an American soul singer, Earl Jordan, who could sing three notes at once in the style of a steam whistle.

Lloyd Webber and Peter Reeves wrote a novelty pop song for Jordan called "Engine of Love," released in 1977.

Around the same time as writing "Engine of Love", an American TV station invited Lloyd Webber to compose songs for an animated film of Cinderella.

In this version of the story, the Prince would hold a competition to decide which Engine would pull the royal train across the United States of America.

The director Trevor Nunn watched the performance and offered to help develop the material from something "twee"[9] to something with more "spectacle and theatre magic".

The choreographer Arlene Phillips was brought on board along with the designer John Napier, who suggested staging the show on roller skates.

Based on the workshop's success, Starlight Express began full-scale production, opening in the West End in March 1984.

Rusty points out that the race is already whole, but suddenly, Control announces that the British train has been scrapped, leaving space for a late entry.

Poppa wins the race, securing a place in the finals against Greaseball and Electra, but the effort of outracing the others and pulling the hefty Dustin exhausts him.

Ashley, Buffy, and Belle try to persuade Dinah to fight for Greaseball's affection ("Rolling Stock (Reprise)"), but instead, she accepts an offer from Electra to replace Pearl in the finals.

The Starlight Express reminds Rusty that he already possesses the strength he needs if he believes in himself, inspiring him to enter the rerun of the final race.

Freight trucks Electra's entourage of components Ensemble The musical numbers in Starlight Express have changed many times since the first production opened in 1984.

[14] Later productions have used additional songs with lyrics by Don Black, David Yazbek, Nick Coler and Lauren Aquilina, and with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber's son, Alastair.

The original cast included Stephanie Lawrence, Frances Ruffelle, Jeff Shankley, Jeffrey Daniel, P. P. Arnold, and Ray Shell.

Considered one continuous production despite revisions, Starlight Express ran for 7,409 performances, making it the ninth longest-running West End show.

The production introduces 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 production feature one of the largest Lighting and Sound systems in UK theatre as well as unitises a whole range of technology from using ZakTrack for tracking of cast around the venue.

The creative team included the choreographer and designer from the West End and Broadway productions, Arlene Phillips and John Napier, alongside a new director, Dion McHugh.

However, the creative team made further revisions, notably removing a character, Belle, who had been part of both the West End and Broadway productions.

After extensive workshops in London, songs were cut, characters removed, female engines added, and most notably, Papa changed to Mama.

In March 2008, the production ran a talent competition called Musical Showstar 2008 on German television to find the next Rusty and Pearl.

As well as the changes from The Other Palace, they also: An abridged, 90-minute production without an intermission opened at the Las Vegas Hilton on 14 September 1993, with direction by Arlene Phillips and with Reva Rice reprising her role of Pearl.

Several songs were cut, and many lyrics trimmed to make it fit into its 90-minute run time with great care taken to preserve the plot's integrity.

From October 1997 until April 1998, a Spanish-language production entitled Expreso Astral was played at the Teatro Polanco in Mexico City.

Mostly, it was a Spanish version of the Las Vegas production (using the same edited script) with costumes and sets inspired by several earlier shows.

The show was the same as the Australian/Japanese touring production, with the "Silver Dollar" subplot removed and the character of Memphis Belle cut completely.

Originally adapted from the second U.S. tour, most of David Yazbek's contributions were removed after Andrew Lloyd Webber visited a performance.

The stage design was unique to this production, featuring landmarks such as Mount Rushmore and a platform that could elevate up from the floor to change the setting of the races.

The large-scale tour that began in Japan in 1987 continued to Australia, where it visited Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, ending in May 1988.