The Prince Of Egypt - A movie fan's perspective

Stephen Schwartz's musical The Prince of Egypt, a stage show based upon Dreamworks' acclaimed animation opened in London last week to mixed reviews.

The 1998 movie, the studios' first animated feature, had seen its Hans Zimmer score being Oscar nominated with Stephen Schwartz's song When You Believe, going on to win the Oscar for Best Original Song.

Replete with its star-studded vocal cast, The Prince of Egypt movie has formed part of the backdrop of many childrens' formative years, commanding their love and adoration for a strong Bible story, beautifully told.

So what went wrong that has led to such a much-loved movie, being so slated by the critics on its transformation into a West End show?

I invited teenager Emmeline Liddle, a self-confessed fan of the film, to offer her thoughts...

Emmeline Liddle

If I had to choose one word to describe this production it would probably be “unnecessary”.

Unnecessary dialogue, unnecessary songs and unnecessary scenes manage to turn (in my opinion) one of the best animated films of all time into a boring biblical ‘bromance’. So much time is dedicated to the brothers’ relationship that the whole play drags and uncomfortably, feels ever so slightly homoerotic. We don’t need ten extra numbers depicting Moses’ frustration with and yet love for Ramses. In just a few minutes of dialogue the film manages to establish a powerful emotional connection between the two. There would be nothing wrong with this if a love story was what Schwartz had in mind - it might even have made for an interesting and original twist.

What is necessary, however, is a better set. Polystyrene blocks that wobble unsteadily and clip art of the Nile, or a sunset stock image projected onto the background just doesn’t cut it for a West End production. Having slaves portray water to carry the infant’s basket was a nice idea but looked rather clumsy at times, as was sadly often the case throughout the play. Moses almost slipped off his polystyrene seat, a ‘limestone’ block would be nudged out of place by a stray foot - it all felt amateur and cheap.

The costumes were also off. Moses would occasionally enter wearing what looked like a tank top and pajama bottoms, and I’m not sure what they were thinking dressing the Pharaoh as a Napoleonic admiral. An interesting choice, but I’m pretty sure white suits and epaulettes weren’t invented for a few thousand years.

The performance also lacked comedy. There were a few laughs, but only at the jokes which had been directly lifted from the film. In the animation the priests Hotep and Huy were an effective comedy duo, but Schwartz chose to make Hotep (Adam Pearce) the solo villain of the piece. It was also a mistake to excise the song You’re Playing With The Big Boys Now which functioned in the film to combine humour with villainy, whilst still invoking fear and awe. Despite this, Pearce was certainly the best of the male actors, bringing real malice to the stage and a welcome contrast with the overwhelmingly schmaltzy and tiresome discourse.

Overall, however, the women of the production easily outshone the men. Miriam (Alexia Khadime) was both believable and likeable - she sounded as though she meant what she said, not doing a turn at the local pantomime. Christine Allado played Tzipporah with passion, but was let down by a confused script and direction. Isn’t it rather contradictory to sing a song about how she is not an object to be owned or controlled by anyone, whilst performing an overtly sexual dance for the Pharaoh and his sons? In fact, the whole production felt confused, seemingly unable to decide whether aimed at kids, with bright colours, upbeat numbers and cartoonish backgrounds, or adults, with an overly contemplative script.

That said, Schwartz does well to address some hitherto unanswered questions. For example, we have a scene between Moses and Queen Tuya which acknowledges that if your adoptive child returned, destroyed your kingdom and killed your grandson, you’d probably be quite upset! There was probably a song about this, too. I can’t remember. Which is rather the problem. There is so much focus on having the songs be reminiscent of ancient Egypt that the same cadences are used throughout and meld into one another. The only memorable songs were the original ones.

No Power On Earth was an overused, weak new song. When the plagues descend, rather than use the original chorus Let My People Go - which drives home the main point of the story right at the climax - we have the mawkish new number instead, accompanied by cheap CGI fireballs. It has nowhere near the impact, but Schwartz has seemed set on making this song the theme of the entire production.

This brings me to my main gripe with the production. A powerful biblical tale of Hebrew emancipation is overshadowed by a preoccupation with the emotions of and relationship between two brothers. I suppose this brings the story up to date - reflecting our contemporary obsession with personal ‘journeys’. What a waste. If a story about God, betrayal, hope and miracles that has endured for millenia isn’t enough to make an exciting production out of, then I don’t know what is.

Written by Emmeline Liddle

The Prince of Egypt - Review

Dominion Theatre, London

**

Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz

Book by Philip LaZebnik

Directed by Scott Schwartz

Luke Brady

The Bible has not always had an easy relationship with musical theatre. Two notable exceptions being Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ, Superstar and that  perennial favourite Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. Each of these casts a contemporary take on the scripture and features a through-sung score. A modern oratorio. At about the same time US composer Stephen Schwartz gave us Godspell, a whimsical take on the Gospels that proved just as successful and gave us memorable hits such as God Save The People and Day By Day. What Godspell lacked was staying power and major revivals have been few and far between. His musical Children Of Eden, also based on episodes from the Bible, failed to take off in 1991, despite development from the RSC.

A few years later, Schwartz scored a  hit with an animated version of the story of Moses from DreamWorks Animation, The Prince Of Egypt. It’s probably nowhere near the classic movie that the publicity would have you think, despite the noble line-up of actors providing the voices.  However Schwartz hit pay-dirt with the Academy-award winning anthem When You Believe, recorded for popular release by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston.

Move forward another 20 years and Schwartz has shifted the story to the stage, adding further musical numbers to the score and a book by the author of the original screenplay Philip Lazebnik. All the familiar key points are in place. There are bulrushes, a baby in the basket and a burning bush. Lazebnik’s storytelling technique manages to cram many plot points into a relatively short running time. Yet for all this speed it still manages to drag, only ever really springing to life in the musical numbers. And boy, do we pray for some of the whimsy that made Godspell so appealing in its day. Instead we get a story that’s both too leaden for family audiences and too simplistic for adults.

Kevin Depinet’s set design works on certain levels, with the projections and variegated screens capturing the burning desert or the majestic temples of the Nile with some sense of scale. However bearing in mind that this is a story steeped in mysticism and miracles, there’s very little magic on show. Sean Cheesman’s relentless choreography offers us the Twelve Plagues of Egypt via interpretative dance, which would be fine if this was Sadler's Wells or the Union Theatre. I personally want a little spectacle from a West End production, especially as the hand of God was supposed to be behind it. Instead we get polystyrene building blocks and a couple of magic tricks that wouldn’t impress a ten-year old, let alone a Pharaoh. To add to the disconcerting simplicity of the special effects and set, Ann Hould-Ward's costumes managed to look both cheap and unsettlingly anachronistic.

Schwartz has padded out the original with ten additional numbers, none of which really have the impact of When You Believe. The song Dance To The Day is given to Christine Allado's Tzipporah the captured Midian to establish her pride and independence. This turns out to be one of the best numbers in the show, proving a highlight for Allado and a shoo-in for this year’s Eurovision entry. Thankfully a woefully underused Alexia Khadime as Miriam and Allado do justice to When You Believe but it’s a long wait for this edifying anthem.

It’s good to see Gary Wilmot back in the West End in trousers, rather than his regular star turn as Dame at the Palladium panto. Wilmot has a natural warmth on stage and his musical number as Jethro, offers a little light relief from the rather worthy, soul-searching anthems that populate the score. The focus of Lazebnik’s story is, understandably, Moses played by Luke Brady and more pointedly his relationship with Rameses, the boy who would be Pharaoh, played by Liam Tamne. There’s oddly little chemistry between the two, although this may be down to Lazebnik’s script, which struggles to fashion a credible tone and ends up as conflicted bromance. Brady and Tamne each get to strut their stuff vocally, both proving they have quality singing voices but there’s little here to help establish them as West End leading men.

Schwartz appears to have added to his collection of problematic Bible-based musicals with The Prince Of Egypt, but director Scott Schwartz’s cheap and often confused looking production doesn’t actually help matters. It cuts too many corners, dumbs down Moses’ relationship with God and beefs up the one with Rameses. Who knows, in years to come a fringe theatre may manage to hit the right tone. In the meantime, this production could do with a little more creative flair and re-write.

Booking until 31st October

Reviewed by Paul Vale

Photo credit: Matt Crockett

The Distance You Have Come - Review

Cockpit Theatre, London


****


Music, lyrics and directed by Scott Alan

There is a parable of a jeweller who was given a magnificent diamond to work on but which had nonetheless sustained a deep scratch. The craftsman set to work on the gem and atop the blemish he carved a rosebud, using the scratch as the flower’s stem and delivering a diamond of unparalleled beauty.

So it is with Scott Alan’s The Distance You Have Come, a song cycle drawn from Alan’s work to date. The writer has been magnificently brave over the years in speaking openly of his battles with depression and there are songs here that have been written from his darkest depths. And yet, fashioned together in this two hour gig, they meld to create an event of uplifting beauty and hope.

Set in the round the scenery is simple yet stylish. Suspended branches overhang a park bench, a swing and, ingeniously, a pond too. It says much for Alan’s reputation that he has drawn a cast from amongst the finest musical theatre performers who all leave their own distinctive imprimaturs on the writer’s work, both old established numbers as well as his newer compositions. Alexia Khadime offers up a gorgeous re-working of Anything Worth Holding On To, as Emma Hatton takes At All, a song composed by Alan for a leading lady, with Hatton passionately claiming the work in a re-written, re-imagined style. The writer’s devotees will be pleased with inclusion of old favourites such as Kiss The Air, I’m A Star and of course, Never Neverland (Fly Away).

Alan directs with a soft sensitivity and credit to Sarah Evans and Krystal Lee for having the vision to produce the project. The Distance You Have Come makes for a moving and thoughtful evening. 

Runs until October 28th

Sleeping Beauty - Review

Hackney Empire, London

****

Written and directed by Susie McKenna

The cast of Sleeping Beauty

Hackney Empire's award-winning Susie McKenna has created a brand new take on the fairy-tale story of Sleeping Beauty, bringing the classic yarn up to date for this year's pantomime.

Set in the enchanted land of Hackneytonia, the kingdom is celebrating the birth of their King and Queen's new child, Princess Tahlia. However, the evil fairy Carabosse is to cast an evil spell over the Princess that will change her life forever. The show's set design (great work from Lottie Collett) is vibrantly colourful, almost resembling a children’s picture book and compliments this high energy performance every step of the way. 

Sharon D Clarke's Carabosse is devilishly brilliant as she plays the part with a wonderful Caribbean feel, her voice dripping with soul. Clarke brings a sassy fire to the performance and despite playing the classic panto villain, she cannot help but be entirely loved. The smooth velvety tones of Prince Gabriel (Wayne Perrey) are a joy to listen to as he plays the role with an appropriate and princely intensity.

Unsurprisingly, Alexia Khadime’s performance as Princess Tahlia is, much like her voice, powerful and soaring. Khadime brings a lovely balance between the generic ‘Princessiness’ of the genre, and the tomboyish nature of her reinvented character. Flipping some of the traditional panto expectations, Thalia desperately wants to be a warrior. She challenges her gender stereotype, showing that there is more than enough room in a traditional panto for an all ‘Girl Power’ Damsel waiting to unleash her inner hero.

The show is stolen however by Gavin Spokes' Dame Nanny Nora. From the moment he first enters, on a mobility scooter and singing A Spoonful Of Sugar, Spokes has the audience eating from the palm of his hand. Just rude enough, clever, funny and a hell of a voice. There were a fair few topical jokes in the show, a highlight being the duet between Spokes and Tony Whittle's King entitled Never Ask The People What They Think .... nuff said!

Carl Paris' choreography is tight, with a well drilled ensemble as is Mark Dickman's musical handling of Steve Edis' score, as yet again McKenna and her team at Hackney give London a festive feast of a panto with all the trimmings. Oh yes they do!

Runs until 8th January 2017

Reviewed by Charlotte Darcy

Photo credit: Bob Workman

Kerry Ellis In Concert

London Palladium

*****

Sunday nights these days seem to be full of London’s musical theatre performers occupying various cabaret venues to showcase their (not unremarkable) talents, accompanied by a whizz of a Musical Director and maybe a guest or two thrown in. The evenings are invariably lovely and the talent on offer is always choice.

It takes a rather special star however to display not just talent, but awesome showmanship and thus it was this Sunday night at the London Palladium where Kerry Ellis, onstage for the best part of two hours and accompanied by some outstanding guests wowed a packed house.

Ellis' set had been preceded by Woman The Band, who warmed up the evening with 30 minutes of chic chick rock that included clever covers of I Don’t Wanna Talk About It as well as Sweet Child Of Mine. Lead singer Mazz Murray (who like Ellis has significant previous from We Will Rock You) fronted the trio well and they set the crowd up nicely, with just the right tone for the show to follow.

The curtain rose and sparkling in a black evening dress and with heels that were either to die for or to be killed by, Ellis strode to centre stage, commanding the vast auditorium with John Barry and Don Black’s Diamonds Are Forever in the arrangement from her album Anthems. Adele’s Skyfall (arguably the best part of that particular Bond)  was the next number and again, Ellis made it her own. As the Bond medley segued into Live And Let Die mixed with Goldfinger, many in the audience were perhaps hoping that Barbara Broccoli might ask Kerry to record a future Bond theme. Ellis may not (yet) be a global rock star but her vocal presence is more than a match for the demands of the 007 franchise. Eon Productions, please take note. Lyricist Black is clearly an inspiration to Miss Ellis. As her set went on to include his I Can’t Be Your Friend from Anthems, together with a later brace of Tell Me On A Sunday classics, the evening almost verged on being a modest tribute to the writer who was sat amongst the Palladium throng.

Ellis’s vocal power and presence at times strongly suggested the potential of an English Streisand and the arrangements for her concert prepared by talented MD Craig Adams, were innovative and refreshing. In a nod to her My Fair Lady roots, she tackled the song that was never hers in the show, On The Street Where You Live and the tender rock beat that Adams had infused into the melody was an inspired touch. I Could Have Danced All Night similarly had a rock pulse to it that invigorated a very familiar and comfortable showtune.  When her orchestra then oh-so gently released the intro to Sondheim’s Losing My Mind, spines tingled in anticipation awaiting her treatment of the spectacular song and again, Ellis did not disappoint. As Long As He Needs Me was given an authentic "mockney" treatment that served the number well and as her first hour drew to a close she sang I Dreamed A Dream, again with a distinctive sound that set it apart from the original. As she tackled the massive middle 8 of that modern classic, she sent the crowd into their first frenzy of the night.

Passions ran so high that a Doctor needed to be sent for and slipping quietly onto the stage the bobbing mass of silver hair that is Dr Brian May, Queen legend and who if he wasn’t so damned wholesome could easily be mistaken for Ellis’ Svengali, took his place beside her. In 2002 May recognised the singer’s potential when he was putting together We Will Rock You and since then he has been visionary in guiding the younger woman to critical acclaim. In an acoustic treat her voice and his guitar created a remarkable version of I Who Have Nothing. The Streisand suggestion that had emerged earlier in the evening was sealed when with May and the strings of the Bergersen Quartet, Ellis tackled the diva’s signature tune, The Way We Were. The clarity and beauty of the modern harmonies was rare and not for the first time, an oh-so familiar song was given a completely fresh interpretation. The second frenzy of the night came soon after, as with acoustic replaced by electric, May led her and the audience in Crazy Little Thing Called Love. The Queen man then magnanimously exited and in a nice touch, a modest medley of Michael Jackson numbers was Ellis' tribute to the King of Pop, Billie Jean proving the most inspired of the selection.

With the stage bathed in a green floodlit wash, there could be but one finale and as the opening chords of Defying Gravity sounded and free of the constraints of having to sit quietly in the Apollo Victoria, nearly every man woman and child in the Palladium whooped their appreciation. The screaming only increased as one by one, Ellis was joined by Alexia Khadime, Rachel Turner, and Louise Dearman (a former Glinda no less, and the sole actress to have ever played both of Wicked's witches), for what can only be described as the most spellbinding and talented British coven ever to grace a London stage. These four Elphabas gave a unique performance, that as well as celebrating Ellis’ stardom on the night, also recognised equally the talents of these three enchanting sisters of sorcery.

Of the several encores that the over-running show stretched to and with Ellis accompanied by May and the heavenly voiced Arts Ed Choir, No One But You (Only The Good Die Young) proved a moving yet profoundly inspirational end to an outstanding evening.

There is talk of this concert touring the UK and such talk should be fuelled and encouraged. It is simply a privilege to hear the talent that is Kerry Ellis and in the event that her gig does pitch up in a town near you sometime in the future, go buy the best tickets you can afford. You will not be disappointed.

The In Between - CD Review

*****

Music, Lyrics and Book by Laura Tisdall

The In Between is a new musical by accomplished young musician Laura Tisdall, and it is quite simply an extraordinary composition. Writing music, lyrics and book, Tisdall has released a concept album of 7 songs from her show, extracts of which were recently performed at London’s West End Live 2012.

Venturing into Philip Pullman territory , Tisdall’s In Between of the title,  is the space between two parallel worlds, into which her protagonist Flick Wimple steps. Orphaned at 8, and guided to early adulthood by her well meaning sister Alice who is 11 years her  senior, the story finds Flick at 19. The album opens with the song She’s My Sister, in which Flick as a young woman on the verge of adulthood, describes the typical frustrations that adolescents feel towards the parent/guardian figure in their life. The song echoes aspects of Miracle from Tim Minchin’s Matilda, not just because both shows inhabit fictitious worlds that spin on slightly different axes , but rather because both songs brilliantly define their story’s key character. Through a range of tempos and styles, Ms Tisdall’s lyrics are witty, and her musical composition is both clever and refreshing on the ear. For this song , the sisters’ roles are sung by Dianne Pilkington and Cassandra Compton, and these two talented vocalists set the excellent standard that is upheld throughout the album.

In Never Expect, Sabrina Aloueche sings of Flick’s being an outsider, not a part of the cliques of life and when she sings the line “I’m not a golden girl” one is reminded of Elphaba’s inability to fit in, in Stephen Schwartz’s Wicked. Tisdall’s song is more upbeat than say, I’m Not That Girl, from Schwartz’s composition, and within that context serves to define Flick’s character in a positive, rather than introspective manner, with no hint of self-pity.

Most musicals feature the human conditions of love and desire, often against challenging odds. The In Between introduces Flick to Guide Calicus, a young man who is a part of that space between the worlds, and with whom it is suggested, Flick establishes a relationship. On the concept CD, two of Calicus’ solo numbers are included, Out Of Your World, performed by Daniel Boys and Beyond the Door, sung by Hadley Fraser. Both of these songs have a resonance that could truly fill a large stage. Boys encourages the cautious Flick to consider venturing from her world whilst Fraser decribes in a soaring performance, the world that he wants Flick to make her own.

Alice’s character is given a further song on the CD, and Julie Atherton’s version of When I Was 19, is a poignant look back from an elder sibling, at the challenges her sister has faced. It is pleasing to hear Atherton away from a comic performance, and to be reminded just how versatile, perceptive and above all, moving her delivery can be.

 Flick’s biggest number on the concept recording is Someone You’ll Be Proud Of . A song that opens peacefully, addressed to her dead parents and then evolves into a wave of voice and music as Flick celebrates her growth into maturity. Lauren Samuels has been tasked with performing this number and she does not disappoint. Past the middle-eight, her singing is positively spine-tingling.

Alexia Khadime and Liam Tamne perform Not Alone, and they deliver what is the CD’s only duet of Flick and Calicus, with impressive strength and harmony.

This concept release is virtually faultless. Tisdall has crafted a modern musical that echoes contemporary themes of story telling yet weaves traditional journeys of love and self discovery, into 25 minutes of sheer listening pleasure. Based upon these 7 songs alone, the entire show should be outstanding. Buy this recording and support the work. The In Between deserves a staging soon and has the potential to become a major West End hit.

@jaybeegee63