Starlight Express - Characters

Characters

The Voice-over Characters

• Control, the young child in whose dream the story takes place.
• Mom, Control's mother.
• The Starlight Express – The midnight train, a representation of God.

The Engines

• Rusty, the steam engine who longs to enter the race and win.
• Poppa, a retired champion Steamer.
• Greaseball, the macho diesel locomotive and reigning champion.
• Electra, the new challenger, described by Control as "the Engine of the Future".

The Coaches

• Pearl the Observation Car, the newest 1st class observation coach who instantly catches Rusty's attention and eventually falls in love with him.
• Dinah the Dining Car, sweet, southern and lovable Dining car. Best friend to Pearl.
• Ashley the Smoking Car, laid back and always in search of a cigarette (replaced by Duvay the Sleeper in the UK 2012 Tour).
• Buffy the Buffet Car, smart and sassy, hot and cheap and quick.
• Belle the Sleeping Car, an ancient but luxurious Pullman carriage comparable to the Orient Express. The character was eliminated from all productions after Broadway.
• 2nd and 3rd class Sleepers, chorus roles played by the performers of Joule and Volta when Pumping Iron came before their entrance in AC/DC, only appeared in London between 1984–1992, and only during "Pumping Iron".
• Duvay the Sleeper Car, who replaces Ashley during the UK 2012 tour.

The Freight Trucks

• Rocky 1, 2, 3, and 4 – the box cars who carry goods and supplies freight. Rocky 4 only featured in the late 1980s, on Broadway, in Germany and on the Japan/Australia tour. In the US/UK tours and new Bochum production, they have been replaced by the "Hip Hoppers"
• Flat-Top the Brick Truck, a friend of Rusty who longs to be part of Greaseball's gang.
• Dustin the Big Hopper – The Big Hopper. Carries aggregate freight. Sweet, shy and sensitive about his weight.
• CB the Red Caboose/Caboose, the caboose (brake truck). He is a two-faced psychopath who causes disaster wherever he goes. He is a major character in the original plot and remains vital to the German production. However, he was cut from the London production from 1992 onwards and is only a minor character in later revised English language versions.

Electra's Components

• Krupp, Electra's armaments truck.
• Wrench, Electra's repair truck.
• Purse, Electra's money truck.
• Volta, Electra's freezer truck.
• Joule, Electra's dynamite truck.

Engines

• Bobo the French Engine TGV
• Espresso the Rome – Milan Express
• Weltschaft/Ruhrgold the Intercity Express
• Turnov the Russian Trans-Siberian Express
• Hashamoto/Nintendo the Shinkansen Bullet Train
• City of Milton Keynes/Prince of Wales the British Advanced Passenger Train/Royal train

Ensemble

• Race Marshals – they wield the green and red flags at the beginnings and ends of the races, tow crashed engines off the track and decide on the outcome of the aborted Uphill Final. Their costumes are Gang with fluorescent chequered tabards thrown on top.
• Traxes – trick skating race marshals. Introduced for the 2nd US tour in 2003, also featured in the UK Tour and German productions. Traxes wear Rollerblades rather than quad skates and exist purely to perform stunts, they do not sing nor take part in most of the numbers.
• Greaseball's gang – a chorus of black-clad diesel engines who do Greaseball's bidding.
• Tank, Gook and Lube – Members of Greaseball's gang, who take the spoken lines in Taunting Rusty. Though they still exist, they are no longer named characters.