FOR almost 30 years the award-winning Starlight Express has delighted millions of people of all ages around the world.

This spectacular new updated 2012 version stays true to the original story while adding fresh ideas, sounds and projections.

Based on the Thomas The Tank Engine concept of trains having feelings and experiencing danger, rivalry and thrills, this is the dazzling 21st-century version.

In any musical, performers need to sing, act and dance. In Starlight Express they have to do it all on roller skates, as human trains, and at high speed and precision.

With music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Richard Stilgoe and choreography by Arlene Phillips, you know you’re getting a high standard.

Add sensational lighting and sound effects, stunning 3D action inserts (you’re given 3D glasses at the door), and you’ve got an unforgettable show.

The eight-piece live band is superb (shame we can’t see them) and the cast of 28 characters is utterly mesmerising.

Particularly outstanding are Kristopher Harding as Rusty, Ruthie Stephens as Dinah and the delightful Amanda Coutts as Pearl, with her moving Make Up My Heart.

When you hear the audience leaving the BIC still singing the encore Light At The End Of The Tunnel, you know that Starlight Express retains its hooky catchiness.