ON TRACK: Starlight Express cast members, from left, Saskia Lockey, Lucy-Jane Adcock, Amy Thornton and Gemma Atkins

Trains hadn't been sexy since Brief Encounter until Andrew Lloyd Webber came up with a high-kicking West End show based on a child's dream about a set of engines who race another for a prize.

Steam-powered Rusty (a youthful Kristopher Harding) struggles against macho diesel Greaseball (Tom Kanavan) and flashy Electra (Mykal Rand) in a gaudy parade of skintight suits, hip-grinding routines, and firework-assisted antics that are camp even by Lloyd Webber's standards.

When Electra (played by Rand, the resident director of this production, as a cross between Judge Dredd and Limahl of the 1980s pop combo Kajagoogoo) declares with a flourish: "AC/DC is okay by me", nobody is entitled to raise an eyebrow.

It is, of course, hugely entertaining and technically accomplished, even if this year's spectacle - choreographed by Strictly Come Dancing's Arlene Phillips - does not feature the thrust stage that propelled the action into the New Theatre audience in 2005.

Starlight first rolled out of the sidings in 1984, boasting a curious pedigree - the lyrics were by Richard Stilgoe, but it was directed by Royal Shakespeare Company bigwig Trevor Nunn - and since then it's been revamped considerably. Many of the songs have been swapped and there are now some startlingly effective 3-D excerpts.

But principally this is about pulse-racing energy on stage, thanks to a farrago of foot-tapping tunes such as Light at the End of the Tunnel, Freight and U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D, combined with stunning sequences, the highlight being Rusty levitating against a sparkling backdrop as he has a vision of the mysterious deity, the Starlight Express (the impressive Michael Samuels).

Rusty makes a charming underdog who deserves to win the heart of the beautiful coach, Pearl (Gemma Atkins, in fine voice). In the second act, after the honest engine has been cheated, someone last Wednesday night called out from the stalls: "We still love you".

It runs until January 5.

10:21am Monday 17th December 2007

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