I really really wanted to like this show as it was so highly anticipated for me, but it was kinda hit and miss if I'm being completely honest. The movie is one of my all time favorite animated movies, I remember seeing it at the cinema as a kid and I regularly watch it still, and it's probably one of my most listened to movie soundtracks.
The first act was incredible. When it opened with Deliver Us I was moved to tears, everything about the sequence was just beautiful, and the fact that it was pretty graphic (it showed an Egyptian soldier murdering a baby, with a red scarf billowing down to indicate the blood while the mother screamed) made me feel like they weren't going to hold back at all and I had really high hopes. Perhaps too high?
Some of the costumes felt a bit off - from my second row seat I could clearly see that Moses and Ramses were wearing white jeans and t-shirts that had embroidery added to them and it just felt a bit weird? With a setting of Ancient Egypt the costumes should of been spectacular, but they felt a bit tacky for the most part. The same with the set - it was very bare bones minimal, which works for some shows, but didn't work for me here. Often times throughout I felt like the story they were trying to tell was too big for the confines of the stage and set they were trying to keep it within. It mostly relied on projections with a few 'stones' that got moved about, and the ensemble created a lot of the scenery such as the river carrying the basket, or laying on the floor to create a well. Sometimes this worked, sometimes it didn't. The Nile turning to blood felt so anticlimactic as a bunch of dancers in red outfits jumped up out of the smoke and writhed around while someone shouted out "the Nile is turning to blood!" and it just felt a bit lame. I was expecting Moses to put his staff in the smoke and to have lighting effects make it look like the red was pooling out from it - I saw a similar effect used in Frozen with Elsa turning everything to ice so it's doable. The Plagues in general were very underwhelming, which is a shame as it's one of my favorite scenes in the movie. I kind of get why - it's not like they can bring a load of locusts in! But I think if I didn't already know what was happening then I'm not sure how much I would of gotten out of it, and I'm not sure how realistic it is to assume people are familiar with a religious story in today's age?
The second act in general is where most of it fell apart for me, and until the intermission I was really enjoying it. The characterization of Moses seemed a bit weird - which isn't a comment on the actor's performance, he was incredible, it's the writing and direction. During the plagues he's running around as if he has no idea what's going on and just seemed oblivious to everything, which just doesn't make sense when he's supposed to be a messenger and have full knowledge of everything that was happening and why. He spent most of it wandering around looking horrified, his body seeming to move beyond his control as if he's possessed. It almost felt like they were trying to take the religious aspects out of the story, which was a huge shame and directly contrasts the movie. Moses is a huge figure in three worldwide religions, why deny that? One of the things I always loved about the movie was how it humanized these characters in such a way that non-religious folk can enjoy it just for the story, so I don't know why they felt the need to take that away.
I also felt that they spent a bit too much time sympathizing the Egyptian characters. Apart from Deliver Us and the scene where Moses stops a guard from whipping a slave there isn't much depiction of what the Hebrews were going through. Which I get from the perspective that it's all pretty miserable, but they go to great lengths to show the Egyptians suffering from the plagues that Moses brought. Although the scene wasn't as graphic, there was a lot more time spent on the Egyptians losing their first born compared to the Hebrews and it just didn't feel very balanced.
Ramses was also no longer the villain and made much softer - it's all left to the High Priest Hotep to act as villain as the one pulling Ramses strings, which felt vaguely racist as he's the most Arab coded character. After the parting of the Red Sea, Ramses and Moses have a heart to heart and they specifically state how Ramses has a change of heart, changes his ways, and how Moses knows that he'll be the greatest Pharaoh who ever lived and I was just rolling my eyes so hard. He's supposed to grow more and more hardhearted and then get swallowed up by the Red Sea, which happens in the movie even if he does survive it - originally he's supposed to die. Obviously I don't think that it ought to be completely accurate but it just felt like they'd removed it a bit too far from the source and it was almost an entirely different story.
The choreography was insane, and probably the best I've ever seen in a show and absolutely the highlight of the whole thing. The performances all round were really strong, with Liam Tamne as Ramses, Christine Allado as Tzipporah and Mercedez Csampai as Yocheved stealing the show for me. Yocheved (Moses' mother) was just heartbreaking, and she keeps reappearing at poignant moments as a spirit to remind Moses of his mission. Tzipporah (Moses' wife) is already a strong character in the movie, but she's fleshed out even more and I just love her, she's an incredible character and Christine did her so much justice - she also kinda looked like a human version of the animation which was cool! I liked how Liam Tamne portrayed Ramses despite my criticisms of how he's been characterized - he seemed more naive than asshole-ish, and he had a real arrogant swagger about him that just suited the character perfectly.
Although I felt critical of the minimal set, there were elements of it that I did enjoy. When the Red Sea crashes down around the Egyptian soldiers the stage tips completely upwards which causes the soldiers to fall and roll into the orchestra pit which was a really neat effect. There were quite a few fire effects which were really well done too, and I didn't actually mind the projections, I just wish it hadn't relied on them so heavily instead of having more set.
The show ran for about three hours total, including intermission, which is pretty long for a show. I didn't mind it, but I've seen other people that were there say that they started to lose interest so I guess it's personal preference. It'll be interesting to see how it evolves, and I'm tempted to try and see it again at the end of the month after it's opened and out of previews!
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