The Prince of Egypt

[SurvivingWanderlust]

Posted: 2/9/22 at 3:51pm

We saw Prince of Egypt in it’s final performance in the West End and were so lucky to have Stephen Schwartz come on the stage at the end of the show and talk to the audience.

We are so sad that it has finished in London and heard that there may be plans for it to come to Broadway, has anyone heard this or has the failure to continue in London put an end to the chances of this?

I think it would absolutely smash it on Broadway. 

See our short review below.

Prince of Egypt Review - final London performance

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 2/9/22 at 6:21pm

The show was filmed in London. The plan may be just to release the filmed version and not bring the show to Broadway.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/9/22 at 6:37pm

It was a decent show but in no way demanded a Broadway transfer. I think the filmed version, which will be released for sale, would put a nail in any transfer rumors, but stranger things have happened. 

[binau]

Posted: 2/9/22 at 11:52pm

I personally hated the show and except for the great design and a couple of songs found it to be one of the worst things I've ever seen. Happy for fans of the show it was filmed though...clearly some people must 'believe'! 

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 2/10/22 at 9:20am

Some of the worst crap I've ever seen, the biggest evidence that nepotism doesn't do well in the arts. It would do only a little better than Diana on Broadway 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 2/10/22 at 10:24am

Some have speculated that this production was conceived with future licensing in mind, which would explain why it was done with minimal sets, and with a lot of ensemble activity. 

And if that’s the case, they don’t really need a Broadway transfer. I’m sure they would’ve transferred if the show had been a hit, but with the bad reception, I think Dreamworks is smartly hedging to set up for a lucrative future; they’ve had one major production to be seen as a legitimate musical, plus the cast recording, and now the pro-shot. 

They’ve gotten their foot in the door enough to “enter the canon,” and get all the visibility they need to sit back and profit off decades of licensing from schools, local theatres, church/synagogue theatre groups, etc. 

[Dolly80]

Posted: 2/10/22 at 5:46pm

It was crap. You’ve already suffered Diana, you don’t deserve this.

[SurvivingWanderlust]

Posted: 2/11/22 at 6:58am

Really interesting to hear that it was not well received by so many. I suppose this would be why it failed in the West End. We had avoided it just because we didn’t know much about it but friends were raving about it and we thought it was great. Not something you would see over and over again but we were impressed.

I guess it will, like others said; just be consigned to the history books…with a DVD copy available!

[JennH]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 11:52am

Like another user said recently...."this thread is my time to shine". This show is ATROCIOUS. I've commented on just about every thread about this and I adore this movie beyond words. It's pitch perfect, I literally cannot see anything wrong with it, the story is well paced, tight in terms of coherent narrative, screenplay isn't cliche or uses language that doesn't seem to fit...and I don't need to say much about the music. It's glorious and I've said for year that it's Schwartz's magnum opus. I will die on that hill. So when I heard that it would be a stage musical , I could barely contain myself since that movie screams for an epic, sweeping stage production. Then I saw Schwartz Jr. would be directing, and since Hunchback is also misguided as heck, I had to lower my expectations. I saw the world premiere production in California, and it was exactly what one could expect from Scotty. The only thing that I was happy about was that it didn't use their usual, awful story theatre format. I have no idea if that changed in London, but as I understand, it didn't for Tuachan or the Denmark production. 

I saw this production with my entire immediate family, we all love the movie so much. And even they, who don't really understand what makes good theatre work, didn't have much good to say about it and we watched the movie a few days later to cleanse our pallet. My brother thought the people playing chariots was ridiculous (among other things that the humans were 'playing' and though he has no idea about what a narrative through line is, the first thing he said was that Nefertiri's song, while lovely on its own, makes no sense because he noticed it had nothing to do with the main conflict...the boys. That just the least of what we all said. It's a damn shame this will seemingly never get the sweeping epic stage treatment it deserves. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 12:05pm

Interesting that people hated it as much as they did. I thought it was “fine”. I left the theater and didn’t even really think twice about it but wasn’t angry I had just seen it, like when I left “Be More Chill”. 

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 12:59pm

Someday we will all realize, musicals written for animated movies- are written to be movies from the inception of the idea, and so there will always be a wonkiness in transferring that to stage cause it was built from the ground up for that type of heightened realm. Something like "When You Believe" is so much bigger and more beautiful drawn with thousands of people caravaning across a literal desert. 

You put that on a broadway stage- it feels a little cheesier. It feels smaller. 

Also Hans Zimmer is just as much a contributing factor to why the film works as Stephen Schwartz is. 

[JennH]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 1:56pm

rattleNwoolypenguin said: "Someday we will all realize, musicals written for animated movies- are written to be movies from the inception of the idea, and so there will always be a wonkiness in transferring that to stage cause it was built from the ground up for that type of heightened realm. Something like "When You Believe" is so much bigger and more beautiful drawn with thousands of people caravaning across a literal desert.

You put that on a broadway stage- it feels a little cheesier. It feels smaller.

Also Hans Zimmer is just as much a contributing factor to why the film works as Stephen Schwartz is."

Totally see your point, and it does have a lot of validity. But if Beauty and the Beast and Lion King can work, so can PoE, it just needs actual vision and creativity...both of which Scotty lacks. Same with the German Hunchback production. It clearly worked. Others absolutely didn't. I still have no idea who thought Tarzan would work...

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 2:15pm

I think that original production of “Beauty and the Beast” at the Palace will forever be the gold standard of what an animated film could look like onstage. Even “The Lion King” doesn’t reach that height, outside it’s opening number.

Updated On: 2/14/22 at 02:15 PM

[SurvivingWanderlust]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 2:17pm

Fascinating to hear these perspectives! 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 2:55pm

JennH said: "Totally see your point, and it does have a lot of validity. But if Beauty and the Beast and Lion King can work, so can PoE, it just needs actual vision and creativity...both of which Scotty lacks. Same with the German Hunchback production. It clearly worked. Others absolutely didn't. I still have no idea who thought Tarzan would work..."

I liked Tarzan. It worked for me.

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 2/14/22 at 2:59pm

Beauty and the Beast worked cause they really conceived THAT movie as a broadway show when they made the animated film. Even moreso than The Little Mermaid. 

Everything about "Belle"  "Be Our Guest" and "Gaston" is animated like you could just throw it on a broadway stage.

But even there, there's a handful of genuinely filler numbers padding that little story in the broadway version.

I know people love "Home" but I have always found it a little overwrought. 

"Build higher walls around me, change every lock and key" I dunno, I think it comes off a little campy. 

 

Updated On: 2/14/22 at 02:59 PM

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 2/15/22 at 3:54am

I just hate that Hunchback never made it to Broadway. That score is perfection.