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.
So I had the big urge to draw Caboose today although I never drew big stuff in my life - I found out that I can draw, at least him, decently good! I'm basically him so maybe that's why hah - here's my second Caboose drawing I did and I'm surprised and impressed by myself :D
