CurtainUp
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A CurtainUp London Review
The Prince of Egypt
The story is a blend of biblical history and new stories but the words for the introductory number were drowned out by poor balance between the many singing on stage and the orchestra. I knew about Moses, the baby in the bullrushes, who in this instance is rescued not by the Pharoah's Daughter and brought up as her adopted son, but by Queen Tuya (Debbie Kurup). Tuya is Seti, the Pharoah (Joe Dixon)'s wife and they raise Moses as a brother to the heir apparent Prince Ramses (Liam Tamne). You make think initially you have come to an S and M show as the whips crack and the Hebrew slaves are badly treated, including of course the population controls ordered by the Pharoah of killing babies. The staging of the bullrushes scene has Moses rescued by some blue balletic swans who wouldn't look out of place in Billy Elliot. The blue is presumably a reference to the Blue Nile but I am still useless at geography. Great blocks of building materials construct the Pyramids. The Egyptian court is finely dressed although I couldn't quite see lumbering Joe Dixon as a majestic Pharoah but the amount of gold is appreciated. Birkenstocks must have done a roaring trade in oversize, gold male sandals! Hanging fringe curtains reflect the Egyptian's predilection for pleating fabric and heads of the Pharoahs are projected right into the auditorium side boxes, as are later screens of hieroglyphs or Egyptian drawings. Behind the fringing are projections of landscape often of the desert. A secret room in the temple, ruled by the villainous priest Hotep (the musical star we all love to hate, Adam Pearce, who has finally escaped from shows of Evita) is used by Ramses and Moses. Hotep has some good tricks up his sleeve like turning a staff into a serpent courtesy Chris Fisher illusions. This secret room has a line of human caryatids holding the beam and, seeing them only from the rear, they are a fun design feature. Sibling rivalry features in the first scenes as Moses (Luke Brady) shows up the Pharoah's legitimate and biological son in almost every task. A chariot race is staged Bob Fosse style with dancers forming the chariots and with Moses and Ramses competing. Ramses' bride is chosen for him: Nefertari (a beautiful Tanisha Spring) and Moses's heart is captured by the caged dancing Midianite princess Tzipporah (Christine Allado on top form). Tzipporah is the daughter of Jethro (Gary Wilmot in headband) leading a bunch of Midianite hippies. The Hebrew slave choreography is rather too much confined to rolling around on the stage in costumes that look as if they have been made out of assorted cat fur. The whole show is very busy with only the love duets calming things down a bit. I liked much of the score with its reliance on Israeli or Middle Eastern rhythms but Schwartz's lyrics are mundane and don't soar as much as his tunes. I loved the singing voices of the main women, Christine Allado, Alexia Khadime as Miriam and Tanisha Spring as Queen Nefertari and the tunes would be better appreciated with a better book and less razzmatazz. The hit song "When You Believe" is sung superbly by Alexia Khadime and Christine Allado. The stage briefly lights up with the burning bush scene, the flames are dancers, the waters of the Nile turn red with blood and the Red Sea parts to let the Hebrews through. The number of plagues are very reduced but Hotep is hit badly with red, oozing pustulent boils. Let's move on! The night I saw it, the audience were ecstatic, on their feet and cheering happily. I found it fun too, maybe not in quite the way that the Schwartzes intended. Time will tell!
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Search CurtainUp in the box below PRODUCTION NOTES The Prince of Egypt Book by Philip Lazebnik Music and Lyrics: Stephen Schwartz Based on the Dreamworks Animation Film Directed by Scott Schwartz Starring: Luke Brady, Liam Tamne, Christine Allado, Alexia Khadime, Joe Dixon, Debbie Kurup, Gary Wilmot, Mercedesz Csampai, Adam Pearce, Tanisha Spring, Silas Wyatt-Barke With: Simbi Akande, Casey Al-Shaqsy, Joe Atkinson, Danny Becker, Felipe Bejarano, Paje Campbell, Adam Filipe, Soophia Foroughi, Natalie Green, Jack Harrison-Cooper, Rachael Ireson, Kalene Jeans, Christian Alexander Knight, Jessica Lee, Oliver Lidert, Jay Marsh, Scott Morris, Carly Miles, Sam Oladeinde, Alice Readie, Christopher Short, Molly Smith, Ricardo Walker, Danny Williams, Nico Wirachman, Sasha Woodward, Leo Babet, Jonah Collier, Taylor Jenkins, Mia Lakha, Iman Pabani, Hannah Selk Choreographer: Sean Cheesman Music Supervisor and Arrangements: Dominick Amendum Vocal Arrangements: Emily Marshall Musical Director: Dave Rose Orchestrations: August Eriksmoen Set Designer: Kevin Depinet Costume Design: Ann Hould-Ward Illusions: Chris Fisher Lighting Design: Mike Billings Sound Design: Gareth Owen Projection Design: John Driscoll Running time: Two hour 45 minutes with an interval Box Office: 0345 200 7982 Booking to 31st October 2020 Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge based on 18th February 2020 at the Dominion Theatre, 268 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 7AQ (Tube: Tottenham Court Road) Index of reviewed shows still running , REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
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