‘What would a kid do in this situation?’ Engineering Starlight Express’s dazzling return

‘It was like mixing Mario Kart with trains and setting it in space’ … Starlight Express, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Photograph: Pamela Raith

Howard Hudson (lighting designer): I saw the original production many times. The scale and feel of it were unlike anything else. Complete escapism. I used to skate around the living room singing the songs.

Andrzej Goulding (video designer and animator): It’s such a part of popular culture – Starlight Express is even referenced on Family Guy. But I didn’t know a huge amount about the musical aside from the fact that it was on roller-skates and it was trains.