I remember when this show was announced several years ago, and all of the stops on the tour were laid out, I was wondering why any one would try to do a show like this when similar shows, Ben Hur and even Elton John's Aida met with mixed results. I also couldn't understand why they would have cast Val Kilmer in the lead. Then the tour collapsed and the show came out on DVD, and out of pure curiosity I got the disc and popped it in.
This large budgeted stage version of the biblical tale has Val Kilmer (who isn't bad) as Moses. You can tell they spent a chunk of change on the show with its fancy sets, nice costumes and lots of dancers. I wish I could report that other than looking good the show worked, but I can't. The music is mostly strung together power ballads which seem to have been delivered on a huge stage with just one or two people belting to the back wall. The songs are at best passable but the real sin is they all sound the same. Well most of them do. Its awful because it sounds like you're listening to the same song for two hours. It doesn't help that most of the cast seems to be trying to hard and seem to be trying to win over the American Idol judges, nor does it help that the game dancers are thwarted by a choreographer with no sense of style which making watching the action during the songs painful. Its an over sized production of what might have been a small scale show. I can't really recommend the show, but at the same time I don't think you'll pluck your eyes out of you see it. I've seen worse, which maybe why I don't completely dislike the show. I think the best I can say is if you must see it, don't pay for the "privilege"
This large budgeted stage version of the biblical tale has Val Kilmer (who isn't bad) as Moses. You can tell they spent a chunk of change on the show with its fancy sets, nice costumes and lots of dancers. I wish I could report that other than looking good the show worked, but I can't. The music is mostly strung together power ballads which seem to have been delivered on a huge stage with just one or two people belting to the back wall. The songs are at best passable but the real sin is they all sound the same. Well most of them do. Its awful because it sounds like you're listening to the same song for two hours. It doesn't help that most of the cast seems to be trying to hard and seem to be trying to win over the American Idol judges, nor does it help that the game dancers are thwarted by a choreographer with no sense of style which making watching the action during the songs painful. Its an over sized production of what might have been a small scale show. I can't really recommend the show, but at the same time I don't think you'll pluck your eyes out of you see it. I've seen worse, which maybe why I don't completely dislike the show. I think the best I can say is if you must see it, don't pay for the "privilege"