London’s smash-hit immersive production of musical Starlight Express is currently playing at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, but for how long?
The north London venue sits on a 6,600 square metre site that is set to be redeveloped as Fulton Quarter at Wembley Park, a major new development of 8,400 homes.
It’s still unclear when building firm Quintain will start work on the development, and when Troubadour will have to ship out.
Composer of Starlight Express, Andrew Lloyd Webber, talked about the possible move on Radio 2 this weekend, on Dermot O’Leary’s show.
Lloyd Webber said on the show that the production is “not going to be there forever” and that when redevelopment of the theatre starts, “at that point we’ll move – as we’ve got numerous options for moving.”
Starlight Express is currently booking to 26 October 2025 at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, with the expectation that it will continue to extend its booking period into 2026.
Moving the show to a new venue will not be without complications and costs. Turning the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre into the Starlight Auditorium, and adapting the theatre to create the immersive skating tracks that weave around the auditorium, was a big investment for Lloyd Webber’s The Really Useful Group and producer Michael Harrison.
Possible relocation options for the show include Troubadour’s newly proposed Troubadour Canary Wharf Theatre which, if granted planning permission, would open in autumn 2025 – perfect timing for an exit from Wembley.
There’s also the possibility of creating a venue. As has been seen by the producers of Come Alive! The Greatest Showman Circus Spectacular, it’s possible to find an existing blank canvas venue and turn it into a theatre destination.
Other new theatres opening in London seem less suited. The redevelopment of the Odeon cinema on Shaftesbury Avenue, to turn it back into the Saville Theatre, has already been ear-marked for Cirque du Soleil; Trafalgar Theatres’ new venue the Olympia Theatre, a 1,575 seat theatre in west London, will presumably see Trafalgar programme the venue with its own shows; and other new venues are too small to take a show the size of Starlight, such as the Capital Theatre, which will initially house the return to London of Dirty Dancing.
Regardless of venue, we hope that Starlight Express does continue to run in London. There are few big-scale shows for families in the capital, and especially shows that appeal to boys. Starlight Express has become a firm favourite amongst both fans of the show and Lloyd Webber, and new generations of theatregoers, and long may it continue.
Starlight Express is booking at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre to 26 October 2025.
Book tickets to Starlight Express at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre in London
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