You know when you see a show you’re glad you saw but you have no desire to see again? That is The Prince of Egypt for me. I put it off for so long. There were always other shows I wanted to see more. But after getting a TodayTix voucher refund, it felt like a good time to try for day seats.

I’m happy to say that I don’t regret the purchase. It’s a weird one because I didn’t think the show was amazing, but it was worth seeing for a few spectacular moments. My rating is based purely off the fact I don’t think this story adapted well to the stage, which is a real shame because you can see the effort put in by the creative team to try and make it work.

The show

Based on the 1998 DreamWorks animated movie, The Prince of Egypt is one of the latest movies to be adapted for the stage. Sadly, it hasn’t been the smash hit they expected. Extremely long, mediocre solos, and a bizarre chariot race – and that’s just the first act! Maybe that was harsh, but you really feel the first act dragging. Why didn’t they cut it down? There were definitely scenes that didn’t need to be there, or dialogue that lasted too long. The pace picked up a lot during the second act and was much more gripping and enjoyable from there onwards.

The story follows two princes of Egypt, one with royal blood and the other adopted with a dark and secret past he has yet to learn about. Moses eventually becomes aware of his true identity and his destiny to lead the Hebrew people out of slavery. We knew they would definitely keep the Oscar winning song ‘When You Believe’, but it was great to see them also including songs like ‘Deliver Us’ and ‘All I Ever Wanted’ to appease fans of the movie.

The cast and creatives

I got to see the absolutely magnificent Adam Filipe understudying the role of Moses. Here on this blog, we love and celebrate seeing understudies. One of the best parts about live theatre is that you can have the opportunity to see multiple people in the same role. His shining moment came during Moses’ 11’o’clock number “For The Rest Of My Life” where he used his beautiful vocals to showcase both grief and inner conflict. Despite my very mediocre rating of the show, this is not reflective of some of the cast whose performances I really enjoyed.

A huge reason I feel like the show dragged was the book. Some of the scenes felt forced and unnecessary. But if you are going to see this show for anything, it should be for Sean Cheesman’s magnificent choreography that is woven throughout the musical. The ensemble is mesmerizing.

What moments were a highlight?

Quite often when I see shows relying heavily on projections I think it can look quite cheap. Prince of Egypt, however, is only complimented by it. It’s wonderful how they utilise the projections to enhance the story. The pinnacle moment where Moses parts the Dead Sea was also worth the long wait to get there. This was obviously a very difficult scene to portray on stage but I think that the creative team did the best they could, even bringing the sea out into the auditorium.

Whilst I thought the ten plagues of Egypt was a jumbled and confusing scene to anyone who doesn’t know them all (me), the final plague was shown in a really heartbreaking way. It’s like they put all their attention into this final one and left none for the others. Of course this was never going to be an easy task, but I really did crave more clarity during this sequence overall.

Final thoughts…

The projections and the choreography is a pleasing distraction to what is ultimately not a great show. When that is the only redeeming two points, you can understand why this show announced a closing date for next year. The cast does the best they can with a bland script, but not even they could save this sinking boat.

As I said at the beginning, I’m glad I saw the show. Was it good? Not really. But I didn’t have a bad time, it’s just one of those you don’t want to see again. So I would definitely encourage anyone who hasn’t seen it yet to get down to the Dominion Theatre before the show closes early January 2022.

Have you seen The Prince of Egypt? Let me know what you thought in the comments below!