The Prince of Egypt

Based on the 1998 DreamWorks film, The Prince of Egypt tells the story of Moses, the child of a slave, who is adopted by Pharaoh, of how he discovers his heritage and leaves to seek his new purpose in life. After a divine visitation his mission is to free the enslaved Hebrews and deliver them to a promised land. Woven into this epic tale is the relationship of two brothers, Ramses and Moses, and a reconciliation not mentioned in the biblical telling but that makes for a good theatrical ending. The songs from the animated film version including the Oscar winning “When You Believe” are included in the production with an additional ten songs written for the stage musical.  Having read so many accounts online from people who saw this production, I worried that I would have enough superlatives that hadn’t already been used but suffice to say I thoroughly enjoyed the production.

Accompaniment was provided by a 15 strong orchestra, and the sound was nothing less than professional in every aspect and a highlight of this production as their sound resonated through the auditorium, simply stunning,

Costumes were provided by the society and looked authentic, full of detail and the royal family costumes were absolutely stunning, there was no expense spared as these characters wore different costumes at every entrance.

The stage looked spectacular with a huge media wall that was used to take us to the various locations and create beautiful backdrops, portals depicting Egyptian art surrounded the stage and a sand-coloured floor complimented the action perfectly. The additional scenery and props were provided in the main by the movement of the ensemble. The physical choreography used to depict sand, water and structures was visually spectacular, had clearly taken a lot of work to perfect and mirrored the west end production, The hard work and talent of the entire ensemble and dancers is to be congratulated as they successfully carried this off to great effect; the chariot race was especially impressive; huge congratulations to all involved. The ensemble singing was also exquisite; singing not only in English but also in Hebrew and Egyptian, they created a full, beautiful sound with perfect harmonies, an absolute treat for the ears.

The large principal cast were exceptional and carried off their roles perfectly. Jenni-Mae Wardman as Jocheved, Moses’ birth mother sang beautifully and showed great emotion. The young performers playing the young Miriams, Aarons and Seti II played by Matilda, Amelie, Samuel, Rupert, Ethan and Joshua, had confidence and natural performance ability. Paul Maddison as Jethro brought warmth to his engaging portrayal of Tzipporah’s father, “Through Heaven’s Eyes” was superb. As Aaron, David Wallace was able to showcase his strong vocals especially in the “Deliver Us” reprise. Alan Reiss was perfect as Hotep the High Priest, he commanded the stage in all of his scenes, portrayed great power and his characterisation was excellent. As Nefertari, Erin Stabler looked stunning, every inch the Egyptian queen, her song “Heartless” was literally heartbreaking as she portrayed a grieving mother and left the audience in tears, a superb performance. With Anthony Smith as Pharaoh Seti and Anne Taylor as Queen Tuya the roles of the perfect power couple were in the best hands and both gave strong, engaging performances throughout. Miriam, Moses’ Hebrew Sister was played by Ellie Dawson; Ellie has the most beautiful rich vocals, her singing quite simply gave me goosebumps and together with Tzipporah played by Holly Rogerson led the beautiful “When You Believe”. Holly’s first entrance as the gutsy, captured slave girl was stunning, her “Dance to the Day” number was thrilling to watch, a first leading role for her at DMTC but I’m sure it won’t be her last.  Steven Berry as Ramses gave splendid vocal performances and his character developed from the self-doubt as the young prince to a powerful leader determined not to look weak when he became Pharaoh, the highlights musically were many but duets “His Son and Heir” and “Make it Right” with Luke were excellent. The lead role of Moses was in the very capable hands of Luke McGary. This role is huge as Moses barely left the stage, but he kept up the energy and believability of his character and as always Luke’s vocal performance was exceptional. The portrayal grew throughout the storytelling, and he successfully took on the challenges moving from playful prince to a man leading his people to safety; “Footprints in the Sand” and “For the Rest of My Life” were simply superb.

This was a beautiful piece of theatre and the months of hard work certainly paid off judging by the audience reaction to your production. Congratulations to Andrew, Kathleen and Malcolm for putting together a first-class piece of theatre in which every aspect was outstanding.

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