The Prince Of Egypt (2023)

Set in Ancient Egypt, the Pharaoh's wife (Debbie Kurup) finds a baby floating in the Nile and adopts it as her own and raises him with her other son. As young men, Moses (Luke Brady) and Ramses (Liam Tamne) are a rowdy pair of brothers, always getting into mischief but very close. But when Moses discovers he is Hebrew, a rift between the brothers occur as Moses follows his own path. Based on the 1998 Dreamworks animated film and directed by Scott Schwartz and Brett Sullivan. Ghastly! Someone thought it would be a good idea to adapt the 1998 animated film into a stage musical. Well, it had a successful run in London's West End in 2020 until Covid forced the closure of London's theatres. Fortunately (so far), it hasn't been inflicted on Broadway audiences (yet!). The songs by Stephen Schwartz (WICKED, GODSPELL) are a heavy handed collection of power ballads and the choreography by Sean Cheesman substitutes writhing calisthenics for dancing. At 2 1/2 hours, it's a heavy sit through but there is one decent song out of over 20, For The Rest Of My Life (not in the 1998 film) wherein Moses confesses his guilt over his complicity in massacring the children of the Egyptians. If only the rest of Schwartz's songs matched its power, it might have been quite a different show. Some of the stage effects like the parting of the Red Sea are impressive. With Christine Allado, Alexia Khadime and Nardia Ruth.