Review: Moonlight’s ‘Prince of Egypt’ musical is well-sung, but uneven

by Pam Kragen

Back in the late 1990s, my kids nearly wore out our VHS copy of the Dreamworks animated musical film “The Prince of Egypt.”

The bibical tale of the Hebrews’ Exodus from Egypt had a terrific score, fast-moving story and well-crafted, often thrilling, animation. On Wednesday, a 2017 stage musical adaptation of the film made its regional premiere at Vista’s Moonlight Amphitheatre.

On the plus side, the musical feature some creative staging workarounds to re-create scenes from the film by director Larry Raben. There’s also some excellent full-cast dance scenes choreographed by Jimmy Locust and robust accompaniment by a 17-piece orchestra conducted by music director Elan McMahan. Also, the huge 43-member cast is filled with exceptional singers and dancers.

But the musical feels bloated. It runs nearly an hour longer than the movie, there are too many songs (probably a dozen or so more than in the film), and it suffers from an unevenness of tone. There’s an awkward mix of comic highjinks and violence, melodramatic moments, dead spots and repetition.

David Burnham as Moses, left, and Nicholas Alexader as Ramses in Moonlight Stage Productions' "The Prince of Egypt." (Karli Cadel) — David Burnham as Moses, left, and Nicholas Alexader as Ramses in Moonlight Stage Productions’ “The Prince of Egypt.” (Karli Cadel)

The stage version of “The Prince of Egypt” was co-written by composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz and bookwriter Philip LaZebnik. Their expanded tale deepens the relationships between the two central characters, adoptive brothers Moses and Ramses, and it expands the stories of minor characters like Ramses wife, Nefertari, and his father, Pharaoh Seti. While some of these changes are an improvement, most of the new songs are not.

David Burnham leads the cast as Moses. His affable performance grows as his character ages up from mischievous boy to mature and driven leader of the Hebrew slaves. Nicholas Alexander has a nice singing voice and presence as Ramses. singer/dancer Mäeva Feitelson brings authenticity and fire to the role of Moses’ wife Tzipporah. Janaya Mahealani Jones impresses as Nefertari, first with deadpan jokes in act one, and then with a well-sung emotional solo “Heartless” in act two.

Some of the show’s other vocal standouts are DeAndre Simmons as Seti, Lauren Patrice as Tuya, Brook Henderson as Miriam, E.Y. Washington as Jethro, Nole Jones as Hotep and Iris Manter as the Young Girl in the “When You Believe” finale.

The show’s temple-like scenic design by Andrew Hammer is greatly enhanced by Blake McCarty’s tapestry-like projection design of Egyptian temples, sculpture and locales. Jennifer Edwards designed lighting, Jordan Gray designed sound. Costume designer Chong Mi Land supplemented a large wardrobe of rented costumes.

As a repeat viewer of the original movie, I had no problem following the story onstage. But two people seated next to me at the Moonlight who never saw the film expressed confusion over some story elements and song lyrics. To best enjoy the musical at Moonlight, it would be a good investment of time to pre-watch the film (available on Netflix and for a fee on most streaming platforms), or read up on the story of Moses and the Exodus.