Friday, Jan. 16, 2004 | 8:32 a.m.
All aboard for the "Starlight Express."
Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical based upon the children's book "The Little Engine that Could" will be pulling into the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts Tuesday for a six-day run.
As in his production of "Cats," in which Webber gives felines human characteristics, "Express" humanizes trains to create a tale about triumphing over adversity.
"Express" features a cast on roller skates (symbolizing their roles as different train cars) and a 3-D film of a train race.
The production, which premiered in London in 1984, is not new to Las Vegas. It opened in 1993 at the Las Vegas Hilton, where it played until 1997.
While at the Hilton it was seen by more than 1.6 million fans and a handful of lukewarm critics who found the production to be too childish for their tastes.
The musical has been a hard sell in the United States. It opened on Broadway in March 1987 and closed in January 1989, after about 700 performances, and was canceled by the Hilton a year before its scheduled closing.
But it was a big winner in London closing in 2002, after an 18-year run and 7,046 performances.
"It's nice to get nice reviews," said Drue Williams, the actor who plays the part of Greaseball, one of the leads. "But you can't expect them. Some critics don't like it, but the public does."
Williams, whose wife, Louanne Madorma-Williams, is an associate choreographer of the show, says "Express" has to be judged on what it is.
"It's not 'Les Miserables,'" he said. "It's just a fun piece.
"It wouldn't have been so successful if it weren't good. No show runs on the West End of London as long as 'Starlight Express' without being good."
Williams was speaking by telephone from Tucson, one of the stops on the national tour that began in Houston in May.
"It's a fun show, which is why I enjoy doing it," Williams said. "A friend of mine left the show after six months, but I thoroughly enjoy it."
He must. Williams has almost made a career out of "Express."
He was a member of the original cast in London. Except for about five years, when he took time off for other projects, Williams was with the production off and on for almost its entire run.
Williams was Gaston in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast," Monty in "Saturday Night Fever" and had the lead in Robert London's musical version of "The Fly."
Although Williams didn't perform in the Las Vegas production of "Express," he was in the German version (which is still playing in Bochum, Germany, after 14 years).
Williams, who met his wife while with the German show, has played several roles in "Express," but is most closely associated with Greaseball, described as a flashy diesel engine, an Elvis look-alike and a jerk who makes the female train cars swoon.
"I'm a bad guy," Williams said, "kind of an Elvis Presley/Meat Loaf type, but it's tongue in cheek."
The actor's main role in the early years of the production was that of a roller skater. He was chosen for the cast because he was a competitive skater.
"But it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the people who have the best parts and make the most money are the actors and singers," Williams said.
And so he took acting and singing lessons and eventually worked his way into the plum role.
Williams says many characters have changed from the original production and some are missing.
There are some new songs and others have been cut. The sets are different.
"Andrew wanted to change some things, but to keep the same formula," Williams said.
One of the biggest changes of the production is the addition of the 3-D film showing the train race.
"I was dubious about that at first," Williams said. "But when I saw it in rehearsal, how it blended in, it brought a big smile to myself."
One constant is the skating.
"The cast is portraying trains, so they're on skates all the time," said Michal Fraley, a Las Vegas resident who is the skate supervisor for the touring company. He joined "Express" when it was in New York in 1987.
Fraley says it takes about three months of intensive training for the cast to become proficient skaters.
"Generally speaking, people don't start feeling as if it's second nature till they've done the show for six months," Fraley said. "It's a strange skill to learn."
Dancers are easier to train than actors, because they are used to doing things with their bodies, he said.
"We actually used to audition on skates, but we haven't done that since '89 or '90," Fraley said. "Now, once they are chosen for their dancing and singing ability, then they show up for training.
"We start out with simple exercises to get their bodies prepared. The body has to get accustomed to that much skating activity. It's an intense process."
Fraley says he would like to see the production find a permanent home in Vegas.
"I would love for it to come back," he said. "I still think it's an excellent show for Las Vegas."
Fraley believes it failed the first time around because it was at the Hilton and not on the Strip.
"It wasn't extremely popular when it was here," he said. "But it would have been more popular at a Strip location.
"In a way, it's perfect for Las Vegas. It's a spectacle and there isn't a heavy story -- it's not like you have to follow a lot of difficult words."
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