Stilgoe wrote lyrics for Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Cats" and "Starlight Express" and collaborated with Charles Hart on the lyrics to "The Phantom of the Opera". He also wrote two musicals for schools, "Bodywork" and "Brilliant the Dinosaur". Stilgoe gave all his royalties as lyricist on "Starlight Express" to a village in India. Such was the musical's success that for some years his donations were exceeding £500 a day. He has appeared on the Royal Variety Performance, presented the Schools Proms for over 20 years and toured solo and with Peter Skellern.