![]() Some people mistakenly believed that the cast for the reading was not diverse, when in fact it absolutely was. (Photo by Kevin Berne)ĭid the controversy around an earlier Prince of Egypt reading, and its alleged lack of diversity, influence the way you cast the show?Īctually, that controversy was based on misinformation. Diluckshan Jeyaratnam as Moses in “The Prince of Egypt” by Stephen Schwartz and Philip LaZebnik at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. I want each audience member to come to the show on his or her own terms and take from it what he or she will, and not be distracted by the extent to which their beliefs line up with mine. I never answer, and here’s the reason why: I don’t want people’s response to my work to be based on the extent to which they personally agree or disagree with my own beliefs. Are you?īecause I’ve dealt with a lot of stories that are based on the Bible, I get asked about this frequently. I try to do a little anecdotal research by asking people, “What is it that your kids really like about this movie?” One of the interesting answers I hear is that they like the reality of it they like that bad things happen and real people deal with them-that it doesn’t feel like a fairy tale.īetween this and Godspell, people might assume you’re religious. Why do you think people wanted a stage version so badly?Īctually it has been quite surprising to me to hear as frequently as I do from people who loved the movie when they were kids, or now their kids love it, because it never seemed like a kids’ movie to me. There are other characters who have been expanded, such as Moses’ eventual wife, Tzipporah and her father Jethro the Pharaoh and his wife, Miriam Aaron-all of those roles have increased and have more depth to them. On the other hand, the roles of the Egyptian priests, Hotep and Hoy, have been made into one, and poor Hoy has been left behind. For instance Ramses’s wife, Nefertari, and his relationship with her are not in the movie at all. In this show, there are even characters who aren’t in the movie at all. There of course will have to be more songs than the comparatively few in the movie, and this gives the chance to explore characters and situations further. How will the musical be different from the movie?Ī stage musical can be longer, and thus have more depth and nuance than an animated feature. Every now and then, people have done illegal stage adaptations-I actually saw one, believe it or not, in Sweden! I think finally DreamWorks decided that rather than have people doing their own stage versions of The Prince of Egypt, we should try to come up with our definitive version. Over the years there have been a number of requests that have come into DreamWorks for stage rights. Why did you decide to adapt the movie for the stage? Philip LaZebnik wrote the book and Schwartz’s son Scott will direct. It will be presented at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. ![]() 5), in collaboration with the Fredericia Teater in Denmark. This month, a stage version of that film will premiere at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, Calif. Stephen Schwartz, Tony-winning composer of Wicked, Pippin, and Godspell, has also received multiple Oscars, including one for the song “When You Believe” from The Prince of Egypt.
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