‘The Prince Of Egypt’ Parts Waters For Splashy West End Debut — Is Broadway Next?

‘The Prince Of Egypt’ won an Oscar for Best Song — will it head to Broadway? Image by youtube
Many nights we prayed with no proof anyone could hear — but now, faithful fans of the 1998 DreamWorks movie “The Prince Of Egypt,” may soon get proof that miracles happen when you believe.
The animated musical telling of the exodus story soared on screen (and then tape, CD, iTunes, and Spotify) thanks to the masterful music and lyrics of Stephen Schwartz, who went on to write “Wicked.” The hit movie — hummable, heavy on effects, and beloved by fans of The Good Book — scream-sings for a Broadway adaptation.
At last, fans will be able to see “Prince” in its full biblical proportions as a live stage musical, Playbill reports — in London, that is, on the West End. That’s Europe’s Broadway, which often feeds successful productions to New York, and vice-versa. The stage production of “The Prince Of Egypt” had its American premiere at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, an acclaimed regional theater in Southern California. But the West End production, set to open February 2020, moves the musical to a new frontier. “You’re playing with the big boys now,” one might say. The show will be up for Olivier Awards (Britain’s highest theater awards,) will spawn a cast album, and will, of course, tempt producers looking to build pyramids out of Broadway profits.
Broadway loves to play it safe — a successful transfer of a beloved movie-musical that devout out-of-town-ers will shell out for seems like an obvious slam dunk. I mean, could it possibly fare worse than the “Beetlejuice” musical, the “Tootsie” musical, or the “Waitress” musical, all currently playing on the Great White Way?
Sing it like Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston did: There can be miracles when you believe…when you believe in the opaque business of live musical theater production. Be’ezrat hashem — if God wills it — perhaps Passover 2021 will “Deliver Us” a “Prince” production on Broadway. Or perhaps, we’ll be continue on with Broadway’s Ten Plagues — the half-baked movie adaptation, the jukebox musical, the star vehicle, the death of the indie musical after first previews, to name a few.
“The Prince Of Egypt” is one of the most successful modern attempts to convey Torah stories on a grand scale, and Broadway seems like its natural next stop. We’ll try to look at the situation through heaven’s eyes.
Jenny Singer is the deputy life/features editor for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture I have seen the future of America — in a pastrami sandwich in Queens
-
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.