Rent or Buy The Prince of Egypt: The Musical & Giveaway

Disclosure: Many thanks to NBC Universal for providing a sample of the product for this review. My opinions are 100% my own.

Growing up as an adopted child, I loved few stories more than The Prince of Egypt. The ultimate rags to philosophical riches story ever told. The Prince of Egypt: The Musical, is told from the point-of-view of the ultimate onlooker, viewing an Egyptian queen, widowed, and much in need of a personal blessing, who finds a child in a humble reed basket along the Nile River.

Believing her prayers were answered by the God of the River, Hapi, the god of the Nile, said to bless both valleys and women, with the annual river floods. Moses, the child placed in the wild river beds by his Hebreic slave mother, Jochebed, wife of Amram, and mother of Miriam, the older sister of both Moses, himself, and Aaron, the future leader of the Hebrew people. Found by his sister and servant of Pharoh’s daughter, Tuya, while she bathed in the river. Calmed the cries of the besotten queen who miraculously acquired a son, striking down an edict of her father, who decreed that all first-born Hebreic sons must be put to death to circumvent the prophecy of the yet-to-be-born slave prince, destined to lead Egyptian slaves to freedom.

Moses’ magnificence was first seen by his favored father figure, Pharoh, and an even closer bond with his Egyptian brother, Ramses, whose connection was forged stronger than that of his Hebric past. Despite his upbringing, the highly-favored prince kills an Egyptian guard, who mercilessly attacks an unarmed slave. To avoid being seen as a murderer, Moses is banished from Egypt.

Moses, cast out as a murderer, finds solace, safety, and community in the family of nomads. Marrying Zipporah, daughter of Moses employer and friend, Jethro, despite their religious differences. They marry and have two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. Later, after G-d speaks to Moses through a burning bush, Moses sets out with his family to return to Egypt-freeing his people from slavery.

After returning to Egypt, Moses is unsuccess in convincing both his brother, Pharoh Ramses, and Egyptian High Priest, Hotep, to free the Hebric people. Later, G-d sets forth a series of ten catastrophic plagues upon the people of Egypt-slaves and masters alike. Nothing moves the heart of Pharoh until the tenth and final plague, killing his firstborn son, Amun-her-khepeshef. A devastated Ramses curses both the Hebrew slaves and the death of his son. Then, despite the previous warning’s Pharoah father figure, Seti, that the political chain forged over his reign, linking the throne with the power of the army, nobility, and priest-class, Ramses lack of political sophistication, begrudgingly agrees to pardon his slaves-culminating in their exodus from Egypt.

Following the Hebric exodus, a faliled recapturing of their Hebrew slaves by Pharoh, a mismanagement of the blessings of G-d, and the following of false gods, God’s people are made to wander the desert for forty years. Following this, the chosen people are presented with the Ten Commandments, and after Moses inflicts wrath upon the Hebrew nations, for worshipping false Gods while Moses sojourned with G-d on Mount Sinai, he is punished by being prohibited from entering the promised land.

Culminating in the tribes of Isreal reaching the promised land by Moses’s brother, Aaron., ends in the bittersweet reality that it is Moses, the son of slaves, and prince of Egypt, responsible for forging both his people’s freedom from Egypt and his ultimate barring from the lands of Milk and Honey-simultaneously forsaken and favored, by G-d.

A scene from The Prince Of Egypt by Stephen Schwartz and Philip LaZebnik @ Dominion Theatre.

While this stage performance is both awe-inspiring and Biblically accurate, with its choreographed design, we the audience are privy to the story’s propensity for staged innuendo reigns supreme. Seen in the opening of the show- featuring a dance illustrating the killing of the firstborn Hebrews and a doll slashed with a knife and red ribbons signifying blood, the killing of the Egyptian guard is both distant and demanding. As are the depiction of both plagues and the parting of the Red Sea. Sweeping stage projections of death and destruction. Both staged and choreographed fights convey the pain felt all of Moses’s life.

While numerous productions have portrayed the biblical story of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, The Prince of Egypt: The Musical, rises above previous productions-film and stage alike. This enjoyable production bases its view of Moses’ tale, as seen in the 1998 animated Dreamworks film, The Prince of Egypt, from both a biblical and political humanistic view.

Featuring time-honored tracks from composer Stephen Schwartz’s namesake songs, including “Deliver Us,” “All I Ever Wanted,” the Oscar-winner, “When You Believe, ” and ten new-to-viewers score tracks.

A scene from The Prince Of Egypt by Stephen Schwartz and Philip LaZebnik @ Dominion Theatre.

If you loved the 1998 Prince of Egypt movie, you’ll likely enjoy this live production of The Prince of Egypt: The Musical, filmed live at the West End’s Dominion Theatre, London. Featuring a cast and orchestra of 60 performers, making it one of the biggest musicals ever
staged. From its talented cast to its musical score, this stage play is worthy of all the praise its casting and orchestral departments have thus far received. Timely in its modern-day evaluation of two brothers, from opposing worldviews, who ultimately find a way through societal turmoi, through G-d’s uniquely positioned power to move humanity towards a better future.

While G-d’s power is a part of the equation here, the direction is less evident in its usage of set design and theatrics that leave much of the production’s backstory to innuendo and chance. A dichotomy some secular viewers may find disheartening. Overall, I like The Prince of Egypt: The Musical– I think you will, too.

For those looking to see this production of The Prince of Egypt: The Musical digitally, the perfect musical to watch with your kids this season A film adaptation sure to spark priceless family conversations about Moses and the Old Testament, practical information from a biblical worldview, can buy or rent this production starting December 5th!

Plus, thanks to Momentum Media, you can enter to win a $10.00 Amazon gift card. To enter, leave a comment, here, or on social media, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, sharing why you want to watch the The Prince of Egypt: The Musical. Please note, that this giveaway is limited to winners in the United States, only. This giveaway ends 12/5/23 at 11:59 p.m. CST. Good luck!

Now, I have to ask: Why do you most want to see The Prince of Egypt: The Musical? Leave your thoughts below.

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