Theatre Trip: Prince of Egypt

PRINCE OF EGYPT

Dominion Theatre

Date: 7 March (Saturday), 2:30pm

Seats: Stalls Row V Seats 10-12

(Seen with Jess and Karla!)

Young Miriam, Leah and Hebrew Girl played by Mia Lahka.

Young Aaron, Young Egyptian Boy and Young Midian Boy played by Taylor Jenkins.

After last night at Endgame, we met up again at midday (just over 12 hours later!) for our next show! Karla was really pleased that we could fit in 3 shows over the two weeks she was here, as she only had 1 planned when she left! We started with a little Primark shopping trip and lunch before heading just to the Dominion Theatre. For what is I think the first time ever, we had to pay to check bags as we had bought a little too much!

I knew barely anything about this show. I obviously did know that it was a animated movie back in the late 90s, and I'm sure I saw it at the time, but I don't remember anything about the rest of it. I was also familiar with the story, as it is the story of Moses - to be fair, I didn't know that story well until my last job when I had to teach it! I learnt it well then, that's for sure, so I knew what the plot was going to be. But unusually for me, I didn't know any of the music or any of the performers going in.

Or so I thought. It turns out that both of the leading ladies in this show I knew of. Tzipporah, Moses' wife was played by Christine Allado, who had originally played Peggy/Maria in Hamilton in the first West End cast, and Miriam, Moses' sister was played by Alexia Khadime, who I had actually seen as Elphaba way back in 2008! So that was a nice surprise. Both women were spectacular, but I think the star of the show for me was Christine Allado - she was sensual and raw and so very strong. I really really loved their performances.

The leading men were good, however I wasn't as wowed as I was by the women. Liam Tamne played Ramses and he was very strong, showing a good progression of his emotions throughout the show. Luke Brady played Moses and I thought he was very good too - he definitely grew on me throughout the show.

I do think though, that the best thing about this show was the show itself. The music was really great! Composed by Stephen Schwartz, who also wrote Wicked, I could tell that but only in a couple of moments during the whole show as generally the music was extremely strong. I also appreciated that the score incorporated the use of Hebrew into the vocal parts for when the Hebrews were singing (and I was a bit embarrassed that it took me so long to realise what that was!)

The stage craft was by far the stand out. Throughout the show, there are quite a few 'magic' tricks which the High Priest and Moses do during the show which was really cool. The choreo was amazing, using people to replicate water, sand and the burning bush as well as having them dancing during actual dancing scenes. The dancers were all fantastic and they worked so well together in sequence to form the things they had to form. And even the stage got in on the act! At interval when I went to look at the orchestra pit, I noticed there were some crash mats underneath the edge of the stage. I figured they were for just in case, given during Act 1 some of the characters were sitting right on the front edge of the stage, but it turns out the whole thing moves! I won't say how or when because I don't want to completely ruin the surprise, but it is a genius piece of stagecraft and I loved that about it.

At the end, I commented that it felt like I was watching a movie. It felt lush and full and it was so new and complex in the staging, that it was a really cool experience. I'm so glad I saw it, although I don't think I've fallen in love with it the same way I have with Wicked or Waitress. And I don't feel the need to see it again super soon, but if I had a friend who asked, I definitely wouldn't say no! I really would like to see that stagecraft again, and I'd pay even more attention to the background details next time.