Colourful retelling of a Biblical classic
“Grow, baby brother, and come back someday. Come and deliver us, too.”
Miriam softly sings as her youngest brother, Moses is cast away along the river Nile. Their mother ‘Yocheved’ looks at her little bundle floating away from her. Her heart is torn, but her only consolation is that he is safe and the Pharaoh’s men can’t kill him.
The soft voices of the senior students of Ladies College Colombo 7 echo through the dimly lit halls of the school. The cast rehearsals for the ‘Prince of Egypt,’ a musical by Stephen Schwartz and Hans Zimmer are in progress as we enter.
As the routine continues some of the ladies from the troupe give us a sneak peek into their characters.
Diyaana Edirisuriya (18), who portrays ‘Yocheved’ taps into her own personal emotions it is only then that she begins to fully grasp the level of emotions felt by ‘Yocheved’ as she casts Moses away.
Aside from her role up onstage, Diyaana, together with Eshalini De Mel (18) are also helping out with the music for the show. Diyaana explains, the focus was to try and convey all the emotions from this very emotive setup, through the music itself.
“It’s how well you convey what the song means and that’s what the music is all about,” she adds.
We are introduced to ‘Moses’ who will be depicted by Jessica Jayasuriya(17). She begins by recalling her favourite moment from the production which is the drift between the two brothers.
“It’s not something that Moses ever wanted or thought would happen, because his brother was his everything,” she explains. In fact it’s the strong bond between the two at the onset that makes this divide in the musical all the more heart wrenching. Back in Egypt, he is absolutely dedicated to his brother and everything that has to do with Egypt. But Moses’ path changes, because God had a different plan for him. Our conversation dives into these different emotions that Moses’ has to battle with, throughout the musical. And as Jessica puts it, portraying these sentiments on stage are her biggest challenge.
According to her analysis, Moses is a “volatile character.” He feels that if he leaves the palace to be with his people, he disregards everything that has happened in his life. But if he stays, he will be lying to himself. “So it’s constant confusion and paradoxes.”
His adopted brother Ramses on the other hand fights a battle of his own.
Sanalya Hettiarachchi (15), who plays the younger Ramses and Nuthara Kuruppu(17), will portray the older Ramses.
This is Nuthara’s first time up onstage. Having been extremely nervous and reluctant for her first audition she recalls a friend convincing her otherwise and sooner, Nuthara was given the all-important role.
Suddenly a stomping of a dozen feet on stage begins. As the cast take their formations, we suddenly realise that they mean to resemble two chariots, complete with the horses and its two riders.
The scene is one from the chariot race between Moses and Ramses. As they begin their movements, one could only remain in awe because of the level of creativity put into it. And amidst the hue and cry from the rest of the cast, the race is brought to life.
Sanalya returns and we pick up from where we left off. She describes the younger Ramses to be a keen troublemaker. But just like any prince, he is also conscious about what his father, the pharaoh would think of him. Thereby her role is to portray the more playful side of Ramses, whereas Nuthara’s older character gets more serious.
As the story goes, Moses eventually does leave the comfort of the Palace, to embrace his true identity. His journey from thereon continues in the musical and ultimately, he returns before his brother who is now the Pharaoh.
The difference between them at present is a period of twenty years and two fully grown, serious adults. Their love for each other however still remains intact, till Moses requests his brother to free the slaves and it is denied.
Shortly after, the plagues follow.
“All the anger starts coming out between them at this point,” Sanalya says, to which Nuthara adds “I feel Ramses is so angry at Moses, because he feels that Moses left when he (Ramses) needed him the most.”
“He depended on Moses a lot and the fact that he left, broke his heart.” As we come to a close, it’s quite evident, “the Prince of Egypt” is not just a musical on deliverance, or one man’s journey in God’s promise. Rather it also brings to life the different sentiments felt by the characters and that’s what makes the production so relatable.
Catch ‘the Prince of Egypt,’ at the Ladies College, Colombo 7 auditorium from 7.00pm onwards. Tickets for the show are priced at Rs. 2000, Rs.1500, Rs.1300 and Rs.1000 (reserved) and will be available at the Ladies College office.
Pic by M. A. Pushpa Kumara
Pix by- M.A Pushpakumara