The Prince of Egypt: Live from the West End

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They changed the whole story! It doesn't follow the FLAWLESS, emotionally gripping, and captivating animated at all...much less the actual story of Moses. Nothing about Moses' faith, God's commands, NOTHING. The costumes and styling are strange and don't match the time period or the geographical location. Why does the pharaoh look like the prince from cinderella with the shoulder pads and tassels? The new (TOO MANY) added songs, storylines are forgettable and don't add anything to the story. Acting/delivery was over done and cheesy and in no way draws me in like the animated movie. This had SO much potential they pretty much cheapened the whole story. Like why is Zipporah writhing and twerking in a cage for them? Why is she sing-growling all the time? I'll be forever disappointed, I've been waiting for someone to turn this incredible movie into a musical theater production since I was a kid :(

I was so excited to see this as Prince of Egypt is probably one of my all time favorite movies. Don't get me wrong, I love when movies or musicals add or adapt the story... most of the time. Newsies (went from movie to stage) is a great example of the story being changed without losing the essence of what it was about. Then we come to this one... The first song was amazing and gave me chills, though I didn't like the way they changed the meaning of the name Moses. But I could get past that. The next couple of songs were pretty lackluster and it seems like the creators felt like they had to shove a song into every possible moment of this performance. They made nonsensical character changes that didn't really add anything to the story and will only detract from it for those who love the original film. I can't even enjoy most of the songs that are actually from the film because the words leading up to them have changed the meaning of the songs too much. "Through Heaven's Eyes" is supposed to be about how we can't always see the good in us, but God sees our true purpose and what we can do. In the musical, it has been turned into "we don't know why you're here either, but there's gotta be a purpose". I know I sound petty, but so much of the power of the story has been lost. There are so many unnecessary changes, like changing Ra to Potar for whatever reason, that the enjoyment has been taken out. Prince of Egypt was a masterpiece I could watch even as an adult... I wouldn't wish this adaptation on even my worst enemy.

I gave it a 3 stars rating just because, the mapping on the LED screens was good, also the lighting was nice. That's about it. I didn't like anything else. The costumes sucked, the casting sucked, the added songs sucked, the creative licences sucked... I'm a big musical theatre fan, and I was hoping to be baffled and I was incredibly disappointed. The " burning bush" and the opening of the sea were the stupidest staging I've seen. I don't understand why they didn't use anything magical and went the way of more choreography and interpretative dance. The costumes were so modern that only highlighted the inaccuracy in everything else. Honestly I was bored to sleep. Read the other reviews...

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source: The Prince of Egypt: Live from the West End

The original film was one of the best animated movies ever made by a western studio, so I was excited to watch this recording of the long-time-coming stage adaptation. There is certainly a great deal of fan service achieved by upholding the same style, structure, and goosebump inducing music that made the 90s picture so amazing. As far as its modern innovations, however, this adaptation can frankly be skipped. Dozens of songs were added, and none of them landed like the original soundtrack. Also accompanying the new (and old) music were extremely on-the-nose dance numbers, mind you, performed by amazing dancers, but they were still an ill fit. This story didn't need dance at all, let alone a heavy incorporation of it. It seemed like the producers tried too hard to "show-tune" up a classic that was never meant to embrace that style to begin with. The script didn't help matters, with the addition of transitional scenes that were unneeded and expository, plus a refusal to cut other scenes that probably should have been. Action packed chariot races, hieroglyphs coming to life, among other sequences are fun ideas to explore in animation, but trying to imply them onstage only makes the final product much more campy. One couldn't exactly cut elements like the burning bush, parted sea, or the plagues when telling a story about Moses, but those are also reasons why the story is so hard to bring into a theatrical space. Mixing a Bible tale with stage effects gives a sensation of a novelty show from Branson, Missouri rather than anything from the West End. I did not much like the cast as a whole. The vocals were overall impressive, with perhaps the exception of Christine Allado as Tzipporah, who seemed intent on passing as a pop star. I particularly enjoyed the leading man, Luke Brady, who brought to the table a stunning voice along with very competent acting. Unfortunately, I think that's where it ends. This is the price that is paid when deciding to film a musical, as the acting style seldomly works in closeups. The most notable "weak links" are Tanisha Spring as Nefertari, one of those aforementioned unneeded additions. Her stereotypical snobby demeanor was eye-roll inducing whenever she took the stage, necessary for the character, but not for the show. There was also the problem of Adam Pearce as the High Priest. His performance was over-the-top, yet serious, extra infuriating considering he replaced the original's comedic relief. Why is that? Well, the show needed him to be the token bass, part of the larger problem with modern musical theatre, an obsession with belting tenors above all else. This poor casting choice additionally altered one of the better songs of the original. They should have added more deep voices to the ensemble, but not at the expense of "Playing with the Big Boys." This character is also a large part of objectively the worst element of the show, the ending. Ramses had a confusing babyface turn at the conclusion, hugging Moses and letting him escape. This allowed the High Priest to very briefly become the main antagonist, mind controlling the Egyptian army before all of them were swept away by the Red Sea. It's one of the worst creative liberties I have ever seen. The Prince of Egypt is not Star Wars! There were ways this show could have been great, as was evidenced by my excitement to initially see it. Unfortunately, with a few exceptions, they missed the mark by a wide margin.

The performances, and the clever use of the ensemble was very impressive. For example, the river carrying the basket was cool and the parting of the red sea was mind blowing. SOME of the cast is awesome. And others are in the wrong show. This show is probably an hour longer than it should be with a lot of added songs that serve very little purpose. The pacing is a lot slower than the movie. It seems as if everyone is singing for no reason rather than singing to enhance the emotion in a scene. The endless music devalues the songs that actually work because your mind is so numb to the mediocre songs that were added to seemingly inflate the runtime. A lot of the characters were changed in weird ways. For example, the pharaoh in the beginning is supposed to be very threatening and evil... but he's just like a normal guy and he cracks a few jokes. Not only did the characters change but a lot of the songs were adjusted in not great ways. There did not need to be a strangely sexual dance in the middle of "Through Heavens Eyes". That should not have to be said. So if you like watching shows for the awesome spectacle of the sets, then you'll love this. If you like watching shows for about anything else, then don't watch this. Go back and watch the original animated classic.

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