Line #60 Theatre/ThePrinceOfEgypt


1	%%To avoid confusion regarding spelling Ramses' name, please use "Ramses," the spelling that is used in the script, over other spelling variants used for the historical figure.
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3	[[quoteright:261:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/poe_3.png]]
4	[[caption-width-right:261:''"Deliver us to the promised land..."'']]
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6	->''"How can I live\
7	Knowing my people anguish\
8	While only I am free?\
9	I saw a miracle\
10	And now it's up to me..."''
11	-->-- '''Moses'''
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13	''The Prince of Egypt'' is the ScreenToStageAdaptation of Creator/DreamWorksAnimation‘s [[WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt 1998 musical film of the same name]], itself based on Literature/TheBible's [[Literature/BookOfExodus Book of Exodus]]. The show features music and both returning and new songs by the original film’s songwriter Creator/StephenSchwartz, with its book written by Philip [=LaZebnik=].
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15	The stage show follows the events of the movie. In ancient times, the Hebrews live miserable lives as slaves in Egypt. Desperate to save her infant son from an Egyptian order to kill all newborn boys, Yocheved [[MosesInTheBullrushes puts him in a basket and spirits him down the river]], where he winds up in the care of the Egyptian royal family. Moses grows up a brother in all but blood to the crown prince, Ramses, but when events result in him learning his true identity as a Hebrew, Moses escapes into the desert. He realizes that it is his duty to lead the Hebrew people to liberation, even if it means going against Ramses.
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17	Following an international debut in Copenhagen, the show made its West End debut in February 2020. After the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic forced it to close after just six weeks of performances, productions resumed in 2021. It played its final London performance in January 2022.
18	----
19	!!Tropes specific to the stage musical:
20	* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: The conflict between Moses and Ramses ends on a more positive note than the film, with [[spoiler:the brothers making amends at the Red Sea and leaving each other on good terms. It is now Hotep who chases after the Hebrews with the army, and they're quickly wiped out while Ramses returns to his kingdom]].
21	* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade:
22	** Moses feels ''much'' guiltier about the plagues wiping out innocent people. He's in absolute despair by the time the firstborns are killed, and sings about how the tragic night will haunt him for the rest of his life.
23	** Once they reach the Red Sea, Tzipporah feels heartbroken about having to leave her family forever. Moses gives her the option to turn around and return to her people, but she opts to stay with him.
24	* AdaptationalContextChange: The royal banquet now serves as a celebration of Seti's victory over Midian, and it is he who presents Tzipporah as a "gift" to his sons.
25	* AdaptationalExplanation: The musical explains what happened to characters who just disappeared in the film:
26	** Seti obviously died offscreen due to Ramses becoming Pharaoh, but he dies onstage at the closing of the first act.
27	** Queen Tuya is still alive upon Moses' return, though resigned to her chambers, summoning Moses to her in the hope that he will patch up his rift with Ramses.
28	** Hotep, due to his expanded role, is [[spoiler:[[DeathByAdaptation killed in this adaptation]], drowning in the Red Sea alongside the soldiers]].
29	* AdaptationalHeroism:
30	** Here, Ramses actually demurs from attacking the Hebrews at the Red Sea. Hotep, on the other hand...
31	** Seti has a verse in "All I Ever Wanted" where he explains his actions regarding the massacre of the Hebrew babies, and while in the film he was somewhat regretful but dismissed the victims as "only slaves", here he definitively states that his actions, while necessary and part of [[TheChainsOfCommanding his responsibility as Pharaoh]], also "scarred his soul" and were not what he wanted.
32	* AdaptationalModesty: Animated Ramses was a WalkingShirtlessScene even after he became pharaoh, while the stage version wears royal white garments throughout the show. The same can be said for Moses, who never goes shirtless like in the beginning of the film.
33	* AdaptationalSlimness: Hotep is noticeably thinner here than he was in the animated film where he was quite obese.
34	* AdaptationalVillainy: Hotep goes from a comic relief character to TheDragon, using his power as the high priest to pressure Ramses into making drastic decisions. At the end, [[spoiler:he goes into full [[TheStarscream Starscream mode]] and takes control of the troops from an indecisive Ramses at the Red Sea]].
35	* AdaptationExpansion: The stage production has more time to flesh out certain characters and story elements, thanks in part to the additional songs.
36	** In the film, Moses and Tzipporah's relationship develops during "Through Heaven's Eyes", and the song ends with them getting married. Here, their love is given more time to grow, and they don't marry until the end of Act I.
37	** Nefertari is [[AscendedExtra a more established character now]] (keep in mind, she wasn't even ''named'' in the film), and her relationship with Ramses is expanded upon.
38	** Seti‘s death, and Ramses becoming the new pharaoh, are all shown onstage.
39	** A new scene has Moses informing the Hebrews that Ramses has agreed to set them free, and they all celebrate with the song "Simcha". Then Hotep storms in to announce that this isn't the case, and that their workload has ''doubled''. Angry and betrayed, the slaves berate Moses for giving them false hope.
40	* AdaptationNameChange: Amun, the son of Ramses, is now named Seti II, after his late grandfather.
41	* AdaptedOut:
42	** Hotep's buddy Huy from the film does not appear as a character here.
43	** Tzipporah only has two sisters now, instead of three.
44	** The first of God's wonders isn't the staff turning into a snake anymore; instead, it's Moses turning the Nile into blood. There is still a scene where Hotep pretends to perform this act, as a little MythologyGag.
45	** Moses' ring, which served as a symbol of his and Ramses' brotherly bond, is not included in the story.
46	** For pragmatic reasons, the fiery inferno that blockades the soldiers at the Red Sea is removed entirely.
47	* AgeLift: By the time Moses returns to Egypt, Ramses and Nefertari's son had just been born. In the animated film, the son is already an adolescent boy. This tragically means that [[spoiler:they lose their child to the plagues while he is still a baby]].
48	* ArtisticLicenseReligion:
49	** Young Miriam informs Queen Tuya that the name Moses means "deliverance." In fact, the Bible states that Tuya named him Moses as it meant "I drew him out" (of the Nile).
50	** The finale of Act II contains a reprise of "Footprints on the Sand," and both Ramses and Moses sing about how their deeds will live on after their bodies are gone. However, this would be a major affront to Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, which Ramses presumably still holds to -- the Egyptians considered the preservation of the body to be crucial to the soul's eternal life, so they went to great lengths to preserve them (hence mummies). Ramses II's corpse is still around in recognizable enough condition to deduce things like his hair color.
51	* AscendedExtra:
52	** Ramses' wife goes from a LivingProp to [[NominalImportance being a named character]] (Nefertari, her name in real life), who has lines and her own solo; "Heartless."
53	** Commensurate with Huy being AdaptedOut as per above, Hotep's role is significantly expanded into becoming Ramses' [[TheDragon Dragon]].
54	* BittersweetEnding: [[DownplayedTrope It's somewhat better than the original movie]]. [[spoiler:Moses has successfully delivered the Hebrews from the oppression of Egyptian slavery and he and his brother Ramses part on better terms, but Egypt is probably still wrecked from the Ten Plagues and the brothers will be separated for life to face their respective destinies. However, Moses makes the (correct) prediction that one day Ramses will be remembered throughout history as [[UsefulNotes/RamsesII the greatest pharaoh]] in Egyptian history]].
55	* CompositeCharacter: Hotep is the only high priest in this version, filling both his and Huy's roles from the film.
56	* DarkReprise:
57	** "Deliver Us" wasn't exactly a light song to begin with, but it goes from being a plea for God to save His people to Aaron and the Hebrews bitterly begging Moses to leave them alone and take his troublemaking behaviour with him.
58	** "The Plagues" contains a section from "Make It Right" (previously about Ramses vowing to cover up Moses' true self and help him stay as his brother in Egypt, while Moses sadly proclaims that "no power on Earth" can change the truth) to Moses pleading with Ramses to "make things right" by letting the Hebrews go and Ramses countering that "no power on Earth" will change his mind.
59	* DeathByAdaptation: In the original movie, [[spoiler:Huy and Hotep's]] final fates were [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse ambiguous]]. Here, [[spoiler:Hotep]] drowns in the Red Sea.
60	* DecompositeCharacter: Most of Ramses' more villainous traits are transferred to Hotep, who uses his position of power to influence the young pharaoh's decisions. He's also the one who [[spoiler:attempts to seize the Hebrews at the Red Sea]], an act led by Ramses in the movie.
61	* DemotedToExtra: Ramses and Nefertari's child is only a baby (portrayed by a prop) in this adaptation, so he isn't much of a character like in the movie.
62	* DistantDuet: Both Act I and Act II have Moses and Ramses singing from different places about their respective lives to come.
63	* DragonTheirFeet: At the end, in stark contrast to the 1998 film, [[spoiler:Ramses refuses to kill Moses or send his men after the Hebrews despite Hotep's goading, stating there's been too much death already. Hotep then seizes command of the army and attacks anyway, leading to him and the soldiers being drowned]].
64	* DramaticIrony: Moses' main solo, "Footprints on the Sand," has him muse to himself that as Pharaoh's second son, he won't be remembered, in contrast to his father and older brother. The audience, however, knows that Moses will end up becoming one of the most important figures in human history.
65	* EvilSoundsDeep: {{Zig Zagged\|Trope}}. Hotep, whose deep voice is provided by Ryan Knowles in Sag Harbor, Will Mann in Mountain View and Adam Pearce in the West End performance, is TheDragon to Ramses, the musical's primary antagonist. However, Ramses himself is a tenor and actually has a higher voice than Moses.
66	* FakeWizardry: Just like in the film, Hotep performs an assortment of illusions to pretend that he's empowered by the gods. He can't even let Seti ''die'' without putting on a show, using his "powers" to make the pharaoh's body vanish into thin air.
67	* GreekChorus: The ensemble acts as one, appearing in nearly every scene to portray either people (Hebrews, Midianites, the royal court), or the environment (statues, the Nile, the desert sands). They also come together to [[VoiceOfTheLegion simultaneously portray God]], symbolizing the omnipotence of the Almighty.
68	* GriefSong: Following the Tenth Plague, Moses and Nefertari have one of these, "For the Rest of My Life" and "Heartless" respectively.
69	* HopeSpot: Ramses promises to let the Hebrews go if Moses stays with him as a brother once more. The Hebrews throw a dance to celebrate, before learning that their troubles have only begun...
70	* MoreDespicableMinion: Pharaoh Ramses is the primary antagonist, but he's clearly a good man at heart and he's mostly defined by his profound love for his brother. Hotep, the high priest ostensibly subordinate to Ramses, is the truly evil one, doing his damnedest to stop Ramses from freeing the Hebrew slaves, and even outright [[spoiler:staging a coup and taking command of the army when Ramses refuses to kill Moses and pursue the leaving Hebrews]].
71	* MusicalNod: When Hotep pretends to turn water into blood, the melody for "You're Playing with the Big Boys Now" (his VillainSong from the film) is briefly played.
72	* PragmaticAdaptation:
73	** Tzipporah's sisters now fight off their harassers alongside Moses; in the movie, he shooed them away by freeing their camels.
74	** God no longer intercepts the pursuing soldiers with a flaming inferno, likely because the parted Red Sea is enough of a spectacle for the stage.
75	* RepriseMedley: Crossing over with MassiveMultiplayerEnsembleNumber, both Act I and II end on one of these, each with approximately five different medleys, the latter including several characters (Yocheved, Seti, Tuya) echoing lines from earlier.
76	* SavedByCanon: Since the biblical Pharaoh is UsefulNotes/RamsesII, he is naturally spared from the waves that drowned his army, this time it is because [[spoiler:he had a HeelFaceTurn and leaves rather than pursuing the Hebrews through the Red Sea. The musical goes one step further by having Moses predict that Ramses will become the greatest pharaoh that ever lived, implying that the ten plagues of Egypt would ultimately be nothing more than a meager footnote in Ramses II's historical legacy]].
77	* SpareToTheThrone: In "Footprints on the Sand" Moses muses about how lucky he is to be the king's second son since he can afford to goof around, but also knows that it means he won't amount to much historically.
78	* VoiceOfTheLegion: In contrast to the animated film and ''{{Film/The Ten Commandments\|1956}}'', where the voice of God is performed by the same actor as Moses (Creator/ValKilmer and Creator/CharltonHeston respectively), the stage version uses the entire ensemble. This makes it more clear to the audience that it is God who sings "The Plagues", as the ensemble's verses are still sung from His perspective.
79	* VillainSong:
80	** Though "You're Playing With the Big Boys Now" is omitted, the Egyptian god chant is still included as a recurring {{Leitmotif}} for Hotep. He also has a few smaller parts that still qualify, like an ominous prayer to the gods.
81	** Downplayed with Ramses, as most of his songs are intended to be sympathetic; however, his new verses in "The Plagues" count, as it's the first time he acts ''truly'' villainous.
82	--->'''Moses:''' This isn't about you, Ramses!\
83	'''Ramses:''' Everything is about me! I am Pharaoh!\
84	''Like Menkeperre Thutmose, Horemheb the Warrior, Menmaatre Seti. Did you think I would not be as strong? Some weak link, now you see you are wrong!''

Context Theatre / ThePrinceOfEgypt