On The Town: The male chorus of Starlight Express, which opened at Dublin's Point on Thursday, came dressed as big, lumbering engines.
They rolled on, singing in deep, bass voices: "Freight is great, we carry weight, and freight is great". There were smiles all around as the worlds of Thomas the Tank Engine and Hornby train sets everywhere came to life.
The cast flew around the stage on roller-skates to music created by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Dinah, a lovesick railway carriage was brought to life by Lucy-Jane Adock, who sang about being dumped by the hard-hearted but lovable diesel engine, Greaseball, performed by Tom Kanavan. "He went in search of chrome and brass. Was I corroded or overloaded?" she wondered. "I've been U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D."
As the flashing 3D technology kicked in and the trains raced, so too did the serious philosophical struggle to convince non-believers of the benefits of steam over diesel and electric - age-old arguments about the power of faith, strength and conviction.
"Brilliant," said Stephen Clare (10) from Kilcullen, Co Kildare, who was with his father, Noel Clare. "The fellow who went up on the ramp and did the flip was the best," said Andrew Hogan (nine) from Dublin.
Also in the audience were Fiona Shirran, president of the Association of Irish Musical Societies; Lynne Parker, director of the musical Improbable Frequency, and one of the show's actors, Darragh Kelly; Dublin-based choreographer Julian Benson and his mother, Maura Benson-Margetson; actor George McMahon and his mother, Dee McMahon; and James Kenny, the American ambassador and his daughter, Kathleen (11).
And, appropriately, Minister for Transport Martin Cullen, was also there with two of his children, Christian (11) and Maikki (13).