`Starlight Express,” Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway musical about roller skating railroad trains, glides onto the ice at Rosemont Horizon Wednesday, complete with Teflon-coated ramps. The flashy show is produced by family entertainment mogul Kenneth Feld, who also masterminds the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey circus and Walt Disney’s World on Ice.
Tribune: How does “Starlight” on blades differ from “Starlight” on wheels?
Feld: “The big difference is that we’re operating in a huge space–a hockey rink–that’s three or four times the size of any Broadway show. On stage, the roller skaters were basically static, with very little choreography until the races. In the ice show, there is constant movement and the skating is much faster. Somebody with a radar gun clocked one of our skaters at 28 or 30 miles per hour. You can also do more on ice than you can on roller skates. There are more triple jumps in this show than in any other ice show we’ve had.”
Tribune: Were there any difficulties in switching “Starlight” to ice?
Feld: “The hardest thing was getting our performers to skate uphill. In the Broadway show, that was easier because the roller skaters were always on the same kind of surface. In our show, it’s harder because the skaters have to go from real ice to artificial ice (on ramps).”
Tribune: Families with toddlers have flocked to your Disney shows to watch Mickey, and Snow White on skates. How will you attract a more adult audience to “Starlight”?
Feld: “What we have here is a new kind of entertainment that combines the excitement of a Broadway musical with incredible skating and opens up the marketplace for a lot of people who maybe couldn’t afford to see an Andrew Lloyd Webber show in a theater.”
Tribune: Now that you and Webber have successfully collaborated, what’s next: Donny Osmond doing a double axel as “Joseph”?
Feld: “But he can’t skate, right?”
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“Starlight Express” runs Sept. 24-28 at Rosemont Horizon and Oct. 1-5 at the United Center; tickets: $10-$15 (312-559-1212).
