Sister Simplice
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Belle?When the show was revamped for the New SE version in 1993, was it ever said why Belle was removed from the show? I've been listening to her song, "Belle the Sleeping Car". The song has made me fall in love with her character and I think it's such a shame she got excluded from the New version.
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Belle
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I don't know of any official reason given - all the publicity was about "5 new songs!!!" and the 8 or so songs cut and two characters cut never got a mention...
But it was a logical progression. Originally, Belle raced with Rusty in Heat 2, and they got beaten by Electra, hence Rusty being so hopelessly depressed. Then Poppa and Dustin raced in heat 3 - that was when they had 3 trains per race, and the winner of each went through.
When they took StEx to Broadway they decided a total of 5 races was too many, so they changed it to having 4 engines in each race, and two heats. So Rusty no longer raced, meaning Belle no longer raced. Her entire contribution to the Broadway production was she came on, sang her song, and then went off again. Then she appeared for "Light at the End of the Tunnel". She didn't do the Rap/Silver Dollar, Uncoupled and Girl's Rolling Stock as she had in London. So it was really pretty pointless paying an actress for one song.
Also the "New" show is a lot shallower and faster than the OLC. Belle's Song is a slow number, and they want to get the show over and the audience out of the theatre as fast as possible!
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JamieHT
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What were the 5 new songs?
He'll Whistle At Me
Crazy
Make Up My Heart
The Rap
Next Time You Fall In Love
and the songs they got rid of?
He Whistled At Me
There's Me
Belle The Sleeping Car
The Rap
C.B.
No Comeback
Only He
Only You
is that right?!
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Belle
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Yup - pretty much. "No Comeback" was cut a few years earlier, and they messed about changing the format and adding in stuff that got cut, and a lot of the plot-carrying between song sections got cut out too, bits that aren't full songs but are sung sections.
Plus they added the Megamix.
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Angel-of-Music*
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the rap is still in it. so is only he.
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Belle
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"The Rap" has been re-written completely 3 times. The Rap that was introduced in 1993 was completely unlike The Rap from 1984. The Rap in the UK tour is very different again.
"Only He" was cut from London in around 1988 to be replaced by "Only You" - a duet version of the solo. This was scrapped in 1992 for "Next Time You Fall In Love".
After the UK tour had been running for a couple of weeks, "Next Time You Fall In Love" was replaced by the long duet version of "Only He".
The UK tour is very, VERY different to any of the stages of the London production.
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Angel-of-Music*
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ah well, i could've been right 
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Vice
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| Belle wrote: | | ...So Rusty no longer raced, meaning Belle no longer raced... |
Wait...
So Rusty doesn't race at first anymore?!?!?!??! 
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Belle
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No - Rusty doesn't race. Without Pearl as his partner, he'd rather sit and sulk. As the races stand now -
Heat 1 - dead heat between Electra and Pearl, and Greaseball and Dinah
Heat 2 - won by Poppa and Dustin, second place Ruhrgold and Joule in Bochum.
Uphill Final - called off
Downhill Final - won by Rusty and Dustin (who saw that one coming?)
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Roller Boy
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I would love to see some of the original sheet music for Belle's song, and for the original caboose score.
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Belle
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| Roller Boy wrote: | | I would love to see some of the original sheet music for Belle's song, and for the original caboose score. |
Come over and take a look.... 
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Roller Boy
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You have it on Belles domain? or in your flat?
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santtu
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It is a pity ALW didn't use the melody of "Belle The Sleeping Car" when he rewrote some of the show in 90s. I think the melody is gorgeous. Well, let's hope he'll do the same with it as he did with "The Ballad of Billy McCaw" which was cut from CATS - he re-used the melody as "Next time you fall in love" which, as we know, was added in STARLIGHT EXPRESS.
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mantarnia
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| JamieHT wrote: | What were the 5 new songs?
He'll Whistle At Me
Crazy
Make Up My Heart
The Rap
Next Time You Fall In Love
and the songs they got rid of?
He Whistled At Me
There's Me
Belle The Sleeping Car
The Rap
C.B.
No Comeback
Only He
Only You
is that right?! |
This is not quite correct. While it is true that "Make Up My Heart" was not in the show originaly. It was added earlier than the others. When I saw the show (about 6 months to a year before "The New Starlight Express") both "Make Up My Heart", and "Belle" were perfomed.
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Mungojerrie_rt
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Where does Engine of Love come into it all? Wasn't it written before the show existed?
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Belle
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"Make Up My Heart" was written for the Broadway re-write in 1987, it came to London 1988 or so (They didn't put dates in the programmes, so tho I have one from the week of the song changes, it doesn't say when it was!)
"Engine of Love" was written in the 1970s, and is the kernel the entire show grew from! Although the song didn't appear in the OLC, it was re-written as "He Whistled At Me". Then when they went to Broadway, "Engine of Love" was put in in the vague hope someone might remember its brief charting 10 years ago.... and with Engine of Love in the show, He Whistled was cut - hence Make Up My Heart going in.
Although "Make Up My Heart" did go in 4 years before the revamp, it was inaccurately advertised as being new to the show in 1992, part of the "5 new songs!"
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Mungojerrie_rt
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I think they need to do the show as a combination of the new and old. Keep C.B., Belle, No Comeback, There's Me, and He Whistled at Me. But add Crazy, Make Up My Heart and I can't decide between Only He and Next Time You Fall in Love. They're both so good and you can't have both.
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Mazz
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I think it would be a huge benefit to the show just to put 'No Comeback' back in, and return One Rock 'n' Roll to a 2-person song. With the rest of the cast gawping.
EDIT: And it's hard to have Only He, as they're discovering in Germany - Pearl's just run half the Downhill Final, and she's expected to belt out that power ballad? It's a great song, but even having her exit the race halfway isn't enough to get her puff back.
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jcstar
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I have always said the best version of StEx is, has and always will be the songlist from the Broadway and 1990 tour. Keep the songlist and the orchestrations from that era.
Cite the 1989 CD that came out, too. Incredible album.
Andy.
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Belle
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Interesting you pick productions that were notably less successful and with convoluted and unnecessary plot changes - "The Silver Dollar"? WTF? "Lotta Locomotion" ran without Pearl? Why? There was a lot of good material in there, "Engine of Love" is one of my absolute favourites. But another of my favourites is the Overture, the most beautiful, stirring, emotional music with such promises! So much more exciting than the Entry of the Nationals.
And do you mean the German 1989 recording? Or the 1987 Concept album? 
My ideal version of the show is the London production from the same era - 5 races so the plot makes sense, Belle and CB, but "Only You", "Engine of Love" etc.
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Mungojerrie_rt
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Is there a recording of the Australian tour? There are four youtube videos with the audio, and it seems like official recording quality.
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Mazz
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Yes, but I think it's out of print. It shows up on eBay every now and then.
I'm - very slowly - working on a dream version of the show in a little notebook to my right. I'm only up to Lotta Locomotion as far as writing all the lyrics out goes, but the running order would be -
Pre-show toy trains, signals etc
Control's introduction
Starlight lullaby(when the night is darkest version)
Overture(with skate-round)
Rolling Stock
Engine of Love
Taunting Rusty
This is Gonna Be the Day(sort of Call Me Rusty, but those lyrics are never said)
A Lotta Locomotion
Freight
Entry of the National Engines
AC/DC
Pumping Iron
Coda of Freight
Hitching and Switching
Crazy(would cut if time doesn't allow)
Pearl, you've been honoured
He Whistled at me(because I'm a sadist)
Heat 1(Greaseball, Bobo, Hashamoto, Espresso)
That was Unfair
There's Me
Poppa's Blues
Belle, the Sleeping Car
Only Believe
Heat 2(Electra, Poppa, Turnov, Ruhrgold - Poppa racing with Belle)
Laughing Stock
Starlight Express.
Act 2
The Rap
Pearl Twirl
UNCOUPLED
Rolling Stock: reprise
Dinah, you're honoured
Wide Smile, High Style
Uphill Final(Greaseball, Electra, Bobo, Rusty)
Sadder but no wiser
You're no engine
Right Place, Right Time
Starlight Sequence
Dinah's Disco
Earth, Water, Air, Fire(with Rusty in the Broadway-inspired Starlight Express costume)
Downhill Final(Greaseball, Electra, Rusty)
No Comeback
One Rock 'n' Roll too Many
Lap of Honour
Dinah Splat
Light at the End of the Tunnel
Band Bows
Megamix
Skateround
playout.
Obviously that's all the scenes and dialogue as well.
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Mungojerrie_rt
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Some of those just seem to be the same song listed several times.
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jcstar
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I'm talking about the "concept" album.
Andy.
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Belle
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| Mungojerrie_rt wrote: | | Some of those just seem to be the same song listed several times. |
She's going through the scenes, including the little reprises that are sort of recit. That's a very detailed run-through of the show, sounds great!
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Mazz
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| Mungojerrie_rt wrote: | | Some of those just seem to be the same song listed several times. |
Where?
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Mungojerrie_rt
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Well, my cd has 'Pearl twirl' as part of UNCOUPLED and 'That's unfair' as part of 'There's Me'.
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Mazz
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That may be how your cd's tracks were marked, but if I just said 'UNCOUPLED', you wouldn't get that I also wanted Pearl Twirl.
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Belle
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| Mungojerrie_rt wrote: | | Well, my cd has 'Pearl twirl' as part of UNCOUPLED and 'That's unfair' as part of 'There's Me'. |
Get hold of the complete German recording... then translate the track titles... each of those scenes is named in the score etc, and the running order.
One of the biggest disappointments with Starlight Express is the lack of a complete English language recording. The closest is the OLC, but that's only 2/3 of the show! And almost unrecognisable compared to the recent tour.
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Mungojerrie_rt
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Is there any spoked dialogue in the show? I'm not sure if there is or not.
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mantarnia
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| Mungojerrie_rt wrote: | | Is there any spoked dialogue in the show? I'm not sure if there is or not. |
There are tiny bits of dialogue by control in most versions. Plus of course the commentry on the races (originaly made by an adult sports commentaor, but later replaced by control).
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Mungojerrie_rt
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So it is another ALW opera.
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mantarnia
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| Mungojerrie_rt wrote: | | So it is another ALW opera. |
Yes but much more of a pop score than Cats, or Phantom (and the like).
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Belle
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The term is "Sung Through". There's only the odd line that's not sung, but it's really not "opera"!
The race commentary was originally done live in the theatre, so it was an adult voice commentating. It does make more sense to be the same recorded voice for the child tho, and it must make it easier for the skaters to keep to their marks - the races are incredibly tightly choreographed. As long as the techies are on the ball if something does go wrong and they get delayed, it's all good.
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