Sang Makeup my Heart in a local talent competition last night and won first place. The organizers then asked me to sing another song so I chose He’ll Whistle at Me. (I had to combine the two videos cause I could only put one file. Also ignore the horrible quality my phone is old asf lol)
I was definitely more confident for the second one. One of the woman who was in charge of the event recruited me for the local musical theatre program, and offered to sponsor me for voice lessons! I was also interviewed for the local paper :p
They change Starlight Express literally every century, maybe in 2028, Bochum brings my goat Old Caboose back (I'm sorry but blueboose / BV / Canoose (???) WHATEVER you call him is a disgrace for this awesome slot of a character)
Complete essay below
I also have my problems with other parts of the 2018 revival but Caboose is still and will always be the biggest one - you have such a deep, interesting, heavy and unexpecting plot twist turning character in an ONLY 2 HOUR MUSICAL and reduce it to a character that is known since the start for being shitty and his motivation is money - AGGGHHH his character was SO GOOD it also makes NO SENSE that Rusty races with him now when everyone already knows that he's shitty since the beginning, same with Electra.
That one scene, "I was robbed", THAT SCENE IS SO GOOD. And it was cut obviously, it was not included in the story and the character of Caboose anymore. Every footage of that scene I watched from before 2018, the audience CHEERS, I FEEL this scene so much, IT'S GREAT. It gives Caboose AND also Rusty, Flat-Top, Pearl and Greaseball SO MUCH MORE DEPTH and CHARACTER, and this is only one of old Cabooses many cut scenes. His main song is meant to be a TWIST.
His character was only going downhill, already beginning in the 90s. He was completely scrapped in the New London Show (and they needed to rewrite the whole story lol), his second song with Dinah was cut, and all of his promo ads already spoilered his character - they didn’t cared about him, and everything that happened in London and outside always slowly affected Bochum. I don't know why Andrew Lloyd Webber hates him so much, his character was already that freaking great since the first London show in 1984 (All love for Michael Staniforth). And I didn’t even started talking about his outfit, GOD, what has that to do with a caboose/brake train - his beautiful hair, his awesome hat, his outstanding make-up, just his gorgeous Red Caboose-ness..
If you want to know my other problems with the current show - 1. the presentation of the women. No, Bochum, making the skirts longer doesn’t fix the problem (bruh). They even gave Momma, I love Momma, she is the exact same as Poppa but that's not an issue here, but STILL they give her a skirt. Both the new coach additions, Belle/Brandi and Carrie who replace Ashley and Buffy, get skirts. ????Adding a female Rocky doesn’t change anything too (only female with trousers lol), just adding female Freight and Locomotives in general doesn’t change anything if you don't change the way they are presented - even COCO got a skirt DUDE (and they didn’t added a male coach) 2. Adding I Am Me doesn’t magically make the Misogyny disappear. 3. Cutting Girls Rolling Stock. That song was a strong women song, they literally took Macho Greaseballs Song and turned it into their own, shitting on him. 4. I don't think I need to say what the problem is with Coco, Turnov and Brexit, and the Nationals depiction in general. 5. I don't know why they cut Purse and Krupp, I can imagine why they cut Krupp, but they turned them both into one, Killerwatt, which meant one Compoment less, so they needed to make one of the other ones, which where all female, male, so it's balanced again - idk dude. They probably also made it so they have less actors. 6. Pearl and Electra are a downgrade outfit-wise. Pearl had beautiful hair and was pink, it was perfect for little girls watching, Electra had beautiful colours that instantly stood out (which is important in Musicals) and the blue-red was a nod to power, his engine. Also it was just major 80s vibe. 7. That's just a nitpick cuz it is not the main story, but I also liked the old Megamix more, it had more songs and fitted good together. 8. CABOOSE and this is the BIGGEST one, see EVERYTHING above 👆
Anyway lets hope they make a (GOOD, PLEASE A GOOD ONE) change when we hit the next 10 year mark 🤌 Because I actually love the Bochum Show, of course I do.
people will see a male character who could have been saved by love and they always go "aw, how heartbreaking. let's write a story where we save him with love!" then those same people will see a female character who could have been saved by love and they go "too bad that she was inherently bad and undeserving of love."
With Wembley closing I’m just now realizing how I’ve now been in the fandom for 2 years, it feels like just yesterday I watched stex for the first time (on YouTube lol)
I’ve met so many cool people because of this fandom and have learned new things I don’t think I would’ve if not for starlight.
I hope the best for the cast as they move on, and can’t wait for the world tour in 2027 <3
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