Starlight Express, one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's longest-running shows, is to close after 17 years.

Starlight Express will be pulling out of the Victoria Palace theatre (sited, appropriately, opposite Victoria station) Jan. 12, 2002. Yahoo news reports that by its close, the show will have run 7,406 performances and been viewed by more than 8 million people.

Having opened in March 1984, it is the second longest-running of Lloyd Webber's shows, the oldest being Cats at the New London. The longevity of Starlight Express is largely thanks to its appeal to children, making it a popular family show; Lloyd Webber has said that he wrote it with his older children in mind.

Despite the closure, the musical still has life in it; a tour is being planned, as is a television version.

The new show moving into the Victoria Palace will be Bollywood Dreams, with the very different setting of the Indian film industry. Lloyd Webber will, however, be maintaining his link with the theatre because, although he hasn't written Bollywood Dreams, he is producing it. by Paul Webb Theatrenow