Prince of Egypt

[bradwds]

Posted: 4/6/13 at 10:30am

Given all of the hype with the Bible miniseries, I recently rewatched the Dreamworks animated film and it really holds up well. The animation is beautiful and some of the songs by Stephen Schwartz are lovely. Han Zimmer's score is one of his best. The shot of the freed slaves walking through the parted Red Sea where the shadows of the whales are illuminated by the lightning is breathtaking. Also, the burning bush scene is majestic. I know it takes liberties with "history" and the magicians are hokey, but it is high up on my list of favorites. Thoughts?

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 4/6/13 at 11:32am

It's a beautiful piece of work, and they handled the subject matter magnificently. It's also *very* stage-worthy and could make the leap quite easily, in the hands of the right director. And if you want to see a real contrast, look around for the stage musical THE TEN COMMANDMENTS with Val Kilmer and compare the two. Oy.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/6/13 at 11:49am

I haven't seen this since it came out but my two big impressions were--one, as SM said, they handled the subject matter so well. I went with my high school group of religion hating freaks--and I think we all liked it.

And 2 the amazing hieroglyphs dream scene.

I think it did well enough--but it's too bad everyone soured on traditional animation shortly after. I've never seen the direct to DVD Joseph "spin-off" but didn't realize Schwartz was connected.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/6/13 at 12:05pm

I had forgotten how powerful I find the opening until this thread. Absolutely awesome. (I sorta have a weird association with it, because the first time I played Miles in Forum our director played the Prince of Egypt soundtrack all during tech....) In a way it reminds me of Disney's Notre Dame from a few years earlier--both set up their movies SO well, it's kinda frustrating (though more with Disney) that they could not keep up that momentum

Notre Dame:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cOjbiuxYUQ

Egypt:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2A3LaYDlHM

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 4/6/13 at 7:59pm

It's funny (or sad, depending on how you look at it), but this really is the kind of brilliant opening number we have not seen in Broadway in, like, years. In eight minutes, you learn everything you need to know about Moses and the slaves of Egypt and the emotional and physical toll it put on the Israelites. Incredibly well constructed and directed. I was trying to think of an opening number this beautifully layered, and I had to go all the way back to the 1930s, to an obscure little show called PICKLES. Lots of shows have similar things, but they use them as a first act finale, like WEST SIDE or NIGHT MUSIC. Not many send you out of the gate with this kind of long-form production number. Pity.

Oh, and Eric? The direct-to-disc JOSEPH? Not as good.They also did a weird little thing about Jesus and the animals, which was even less successful.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/6/13 at 8:09pm

I found some clips of Joseph online--it doesn't look as awful as the Disney direct to DVD abominations, but yeah...

That's a really good point about opening numbers. I think part of the credit goes to Howard Ashman and Belle from Beauty and the Beast (and before that Skid Row from Little Shop)--everything is perfectly set up. You saw a lot of animated features of that era ape that element--some not so well (the opening song from Swan Princess,) some fairly well (Rumour in St Petersburg from Anastacia) and some perhaps better than BatB did (Deliver Us.)

The only opening song I can think of in a live musical that comes close is Ragtime's.