De Spooktrein 

[The Ghost Train]

A new mystery musical

Book and lyrics by Jan Boerstoel

Music by Martin Waddington

based on Arnold Ridley's play 'The Ghost Train'

This new musical was written in the 1990s during my time in Holland and was produced for a touring production by young producer Michel Boersma. There was a feeling at the time in the Dutch theatre community that musical theatre was in the hands of just one or two all-powerful production companies, and there was a desire to put new smaller-scale pieces on the boards. De Spooktrein premièred at the Luxor Theatre in Rotterdam in December 1996. and in the event the tour lasted a full year, visiting towns and cities throughout the Netherlands. The show was even revived the following year for six months, with a few changes in the cast. 

The play itself was very loosely based on Arnold Ridley's 1920's thriller, a popular 'pot-boiler', which often appeared on the English repertory circuit, and which was also already known in Holland. To my great surprise, there even existed an early black-and-white film version featuring the great Dutch actress Fien de la Mar.  The plot - unlikely enough - concerns a group of ill-assorted train travellers on their way to Cornwall. Late at night they find they have missed a connecting train and are stranded in a deserted, isolated train station. The stationmaster warns them that the place is haunted by a ghost train which arrives at midnight, and urges them to decamp. Various spooky things begin to happen, not least the arrival of an escapee from a nearby psychiatric institution, who appears to have some supernatural sixth sense. Needless to say, after a series of twists and turns, all is not as it seems to be, and the denouement involves smugglers, disguises and a gangster's moll from Chicago.

Songs include: 'On the way to Truro'  'A little drop of rum'  'Midnight approaches' and 'Charlie'.  The original Dutch text was written by author and poet Jan Boerstoel. Apart from about four song-lyrics, there is no English version of this piece as yet. [Watch this space!]