Buffy the Buffet Car
Encyclopedia
Starlight Express
Starlight Express is a rock musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber , Richard Stilgoe and Arlene Phillips , with later revisions by Don Black and David Yazbek . The story follows a child's dream in which his toy train set comes to life; famously the actors perform wearing roller skates...
. Buffy, being the most mature of the cars in most productions, usually gives the best advice she can when it's needed. However, she is considered to be the most flirtatious of cars as well, who will race with anyone! In the US tour she introduced herself as a coach who will 'Treat you nice, but you've got to pay'.
Botana was the name of the buffet car in Expreso Astral, the 1997 production put on at the Teatro Polanca in Mexico City. Her big song was Con Mucho Chucu Chucu, or A Lotta Locomotion, which she sang with Perla, Vianda and Bacha.
Musical Numbers
Buffy doesn't have any solos much like AshleyAshley the Smoking Car
Ashley is the smoking car from Starlight Express, a rock musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber which follows a child's dream in which his toy train set comes to life. She's sweet and loving but has a bad habit when it comes to smoking...
but she does sing in Freight and A Lotta Locomotion as well as U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D and Girls' Rolling Stock.
In the recent UK Tour Buffy had no major contributions to any of the songs other than the sexually-loaded Whole Lotta Locomotion, and was reduced from secondary principal to being an ensemble role.
Costume
Like all Starlight ExpressStarlight Express
Starlight Express is a rock musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber , Richard Stilgoe and Arlene Phillips , with later revisions by Don Black and David Yazbek . The story follows a child's dream in which his toy train set comes to life; famously the actors perform wearing roller skates...
characters, Buffy has been through many costume changes. She is always based in yellow or gold, and with the exception of the On Ice production, has never had a skirt. She does have a folded napkin down the back of her belt, which has changed size from production to production. The main feature of her costume is the chest box, which is a display cabinet usually showing cakes behind perspex windows.
Buffy usually has stockings and suspenders(or leggings that look like them), but in a few London designs(e.g. that worn by Roni Bruno) she had 'window' stripes down the sides of plain cream leggings, which brought her into greater unison with Pearl
Pearl the Observation Car
Pearl is the "new girl" character and female lead in the West End musical Starlight Express. She is a railway observation carriage, although in Germany she is referred to as the "first class car"...
and Dinah
Dinah the Dining Car
Dinah is the sweet, Southern and lovable dining car from Starlight Express. She is hopelessly in love with Greaseball and her best friend is Pearl the observation car. She races with Greaseball during the 1st Heat but when she complains about his cheating afterwards, he uncouples her and races...
.
Her leotard is patterned with diamonds, which have been both painted lycra and DeVoré velvet in varying productions. She has horizontal lines on her upper arms, which represent the suspension springs that railway carriages sit on.
The later Las Vegas design, which then toured the US and now tours the UK, managed to give the illusion of Buffy baring more flesh by putting her silver stockings over flesh-coloured body stocking, so that her upper thighs appear naked, replacing the midriff of her leotard with body stocking so that she appears to be wearing a bikini
Bikini
The bikini is typically a women's two-piece swimsuit. One part of the attire covers the breasts and the other part covers the crotch and part of or the entire buttocks, leaving an uncovered area between the two. Merriam–Webster describes the bikini as "a woman's scanty two-piece bathing suit" or "a...
, and lowering the neckline of her chest box so that she has cleavage on display. Ironically, though, she is now the most covered-up of the Coaches, as she has something on her legs.
In Starlight on Ice, Buffy's outfit bore more relation to Dinah's in the other productions. This time, she had a skirt and wears blue and white. Her bodice and sleeves are folded napkins. Her hair is black with a flower sticking out the top, like a vase.
Wigs
Buffy traditionally has her hair up in a French Twist, with a small hat pinned on top. Her hat often contains a hotdog and some salad, from which she nibbles occasionally.In Bochum, the wig designs can be as experimental as the costume designs were in London and Buffy has gone from French twist to a French plait that went down her back, and currently looks more like a traditional Dinah
Dinah the Dining Car
Dinah is the sweet, Southern and lovable dining car from Starlight Express. She is hopelessly in love with Greaseball and her best friend is Pearl the observation car. She races with Greaseball during the 1st Heat but when she complains about his cheating afterwards, he uncouples her and races...
wig in ginger with a huge fringe and flicked bob. She still has the hat.
Actresses
London- Nancy Wood
- Robin Cleaver
- Caron Cardelle
- Nola Haynes
- Michelle Ballentyne
- Voyd
- Natalie Powers
- Anna Jane Casey
- Gael Johnson
- Rebekka Gibbs
- Sharon Mudie
- Roni Bruno
- Chellie Michaels
- Amy Field
Broadway
- Jamie Beth Chandler
- Lola Knox
Japan/Australia
- Charlotte AveryCharlotte AveryCharlotte Avery is a British actress and voiceover artist. Charlotte has a son called Jacob with Australian actor Craig McLachlan and a daughter Louella and son Jonah with her present partner Simon Hinton, self-development Master and creator of Quantum Power Programming...
Bochum
- Carol Hoffman
- Aiko Nakasone
- Ivy Fox
- Anne Tiger
- Kyla Grogan
- Kathy McIvor
- Isabelle Flachsmann
- Jessica Cooper
- Danni Kearsley-Wooller
- Emma Raciti
- Rachel Marshall
- Suzy Bastone
- Louise Jones
- Emma Nelson
- Julie Newman
- Sarah May
- Sian Frost
- Camilla Hardy
First US Tour
- Nicole Picard
Japan
- Caron Cardelle
Las Vegas
- Edyie Fleming
- Amanda Clarke
- Brigitte Snowden
- Jill Petersson
On Ice
- Nadia Kovalevskaya
Mexico
- Lilia Sixtos
- Nitzi Arellano
Second US Tour
- Joanna Richert
UK Tour
- Ashley Hale
- Alexandra Gottschall
- Kimmi Richards
New Zealand Tour
- Camilla Hardy
