So I watched the Prince of Egypt proshot
Moses and Rameses father Pharaoh Seti is portrayed much more Jovial. In the film is was very stoic and strict which is reflective of him in the Bible. In the film he is honestly pretty scary. In the stage production, his yells at rameses once, but immediately joking around right after.
The Pharaoh when confronted by Moses about the death of the Hebrew babies, states that it wasn’t something he necessarily wanted to do but needed to. The sentiment that “they were just slaves” is absent, which lessens the cruelty of the crime.
As Moses runs into the desert, he clearly isn’t as upset with his father as he should be. The line “ask the man I once called father” is missing during this scene. After Moses left, the pharaoh banishes him but begrudgingly. We see him still grieving Moses absence as he dies.
Rameses is portrayed much the same way throughout the play. Even once Moses returns to beg for the slaves to be set free, Rameses is seen as kind hearted, actually wanting to grant Moses request but is stopped by his wife and the Priest. It isn’t until Rameses son dies that we see a turn in him, but is clearly still being influenced by the priest. In the end, hesitating to kill Moses and sends his soldiers back, letting the Hebrews go.
As I understand these costumes were changed for this specific production, but gosh they are bad. They are a strange mix between British royal garb and ancient Egypt Halloween costumes.
All of the royal outfits just feel incredibly out of place
The songs (but mostly The Plagues)
This was the biggest hit for me. They changed Moses and Rameses verses in The Plagues. The Chorus stayed the same the verses were completely changed. The charged emotion that had been there before lost completely. If you want to hear for yourself, go give it a listen on YouTube or Spotify and hear for yourself.
The rest of the song from the film were kept in tact and performed perfectly fine. The new songs are honestly very forgettable. The Act one Finale, Never in a Million years and Heartless seem to be the best among them, but are still just ok. The music itself felt like it belonged in a D tier Disney movie, not a Bible epic.
The absence of dramatic resonance
The stage production has a habit of making the quiet dramatic moments loud or rushing through them entirely. The scene were Moses mother sings a reprise of All I Ever Wanted is supposed to be quiet and comforting, instead, it is belted out. It seemed that every time there was a scene where two characters were talking about something serious, they were just trying to get to the next scene. Never giving the audience time to sit and feel the moment.
The burning bush scene is one of the most impactful scenes in the movie. Although the stage production handles it interestingly enough, using dancers to interpret the fire and all of there voices as one sing the word of God, the scene is too short and throws away the quiet majesty present in the film.
The choreography and the dancers themselves were the best part of the whole show. The dancers were often used to tell the story that is difficult to tell on stage. They are the fire, the river, the Red Sea, the desert sands fighting against Moses. They are the hieroglyphics on the walls and the Midianites dancing with Zipporah. It was gorgeous to look at.
For those of you who were not aware, the film cast of Prince of Egypt was astonishingly white. In this production almost every member of the main cast is a person of color.
This production also tries to put more focus on its female characters. They actually introduce us to Rameses wife Nefertari. Showing that they were forced into marriage by both of their families. Moses wife Zipporah is also given slightly more emphasis. There is an added scene of Zipphrah and Moses flirting while Moses watches the sheep, enabling us to see a bit of their courtship which is complied into a montage in the film. While fleeing with the Hebrews, she has an emotional moment expressing how much she will miss her family, never being able to see them again.
Moses and Rameses mother is also given an extra scene during The Plagues, pleading with Moses to stop and see reason.
The prince of Egypt musical looks spectacular with its stellar choreography, staging and lighting, but falls insanely flat with its costume design and script. They took an amazing, epic story of two brothers at odds that felt almost Shakespearean at times, and made it feel entirely childish. It’s almost as if they didn’t think the audience could handle the original interpretation and decided to water it down.
If you, for some reason, have Broadway HD and love the film, give this one a pass.
