Elizabeth Forward to stage epic musical, ‘The Prince of Egypt’

“The Prince of Egypt: The Musical,” follows the life of Moses, the prince of Egypt, to his leading the children of Israel out of Egypt.

Elizabeth Forward High School students will go on a journey to ancient Egypt based 3,000 years ago to follow the destiny of a beloved prince.

“The Prince of Egypt: The Musical” will be staged at 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with a 2 p.m. matinee Sunday at Elizabeth Forward Middle School, 401 Rock Run Road, Elizabeth.

All tickets are $15 and can be found at https://efmusical. ludus.com/index.php.

The stage musical has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, a book by Philip LaZebnik and is based on the Book of Exodus with songs from the DreamWorks Animation 1998 film of the same name.

The musical follows the life of Moses as a prince of Egypt to his ultimate destiny of leading the children of Israel out of Egypt with the message of faith in the face of darkness.

EF senior Oliver Moore (Moses) said his character drifts down the Nile River, becoming a prince in Egypt who will eventually deliver ancient Egypt’s Hebrew slaves to freedom by parting the Red Sea.

“I don’t know about everyone, but I am religious, and this story is something I believe in, and that I care about,” Moore said. “This is God’s story. This is God’s word that we are portraying on stage. Even if somebody is not religious, and they don’t know the story very much, or maybe they don’t believe in God, it’s still an incredible message.”

Senior Dominic Sager (Hotep) is the main villain of this show. He added that there is a different ending to the show than what is portrayed in the Exodus story in the Bible.

Sager said he likes playing the villain, and the show tells an amazing, powerful story. He said “When You Believe” is the best song, and feels that theater tells stories in a bigger way and makes people who they are.

Junior Emerson Henry plays Miriam, Moses’ sister, and said her character has always believed Moses would bring the Hebrews to freedom.

“I think it’s a really important show to do now, especially with everything that is going on in the world, and I think it’s a very powerful story,” she added. “It’s really fulfilling.”

The show also follows Moses’ non-biological brother Ramses, who is played by senior Edward Denney, as they go through different challenges with their father. He added that there is a lot of music and choreography this year.

“It is a very emotional, heartfelt story … even if you are not familiar with the story of the Bible or anything, or you are not religious,” Denney said. “It is such an honor to be in this show because being here is like a family, and we want the community to be like a family to us, so having them here with us makes a very special show week for everybody. I really hope people can leave feeling inspired.”

Senior Macey Rankin, who plays Nefertari, has been involved with school musicals since her freshman year when a fire destroyed the high school auditorium in 2023. She said this group has come together as a family over the years following the fire.

“I have grown an absolutely personal connection with so many people here,” Moore said. “I’ve been doing this for four years in a row, and four years isn’t a short period of time. Everybody here loves each other, and are family.”

According to Moore, this show has a strong message of believing in oneself, and added that the visuals in this show are different than what they have done before — with back walls opening up and other visuals in the background of the stage, including set pieces from other shows the past few years.

“It’s powerful music,” Moore said. “You really feel the music. I am (on stage) in these scenes, and I get chills. I can’t imagine what it looks like from an audience perspective. The choreography is very artistic.”

Featured dancer and student choreographer Isabella Giffin said the dancing is different from anything they have ever done, and there is more contemporary dance rather than musical dancing.

Moore and director James Benedek said no other schools have tried doing this show in the area. Benedek added that Moses and Ramses sing the entire show.

They have been rehearsing since the first week of October with around 75 students working on the show between costumes, cast, the pit orchestra and more.

Benedek chose the show this year because it is a more difficult, and since he had some great performers coming back for their senior year, he wanted to try it out.

“I think that the majority of directors would tell you that this show is going to be an insane amount of work on this type of stage without having the fly systems,” Benedek said. “I thought over the summer in advance of how we could do it to make it work for this stage, and that is the only reason we are able to do it.”

Benedek reiterated that this show is very relevant to what is going on in the world, and while the show is culturally and historically significant with the anxiety, pain and separation going on today, the community should come to celebrate the accomplishments of the performers as well as the message.

“I think it’s very important for the community to come out and support all the kids. It’s more than just us and the musical,” Rankin said. “It’s the whole school. This is also a very good story that should be spread around the community. We have never done a show like this before, and it has a nice message.”

More about the musical can be found at https://www.efmusical. com.

Cast list

Cast members are: Oliver Moore (Moses), Edward Denney (Ramses), Dominic Sager (Hotep), Luke Holdren (Pharaoh Seti), Cashlin Harbour (Jethro), Anderson Miller (Aaron, featured dancer), Mollie Gregory (Tzipporah), Emerson Henry (Miriam), Macey Rankin (Nefertari), Chloe Axon (Queen Tuya, Featured Dancer), Nora Gregory (Yocheved, Keturah, (featured dancer, production assistant), Toni DeFonso (Young Miriam, featured dancer), Morgan Kauffman (Leah) and Jameson Miller (Young Aaron).

Additional featured dancers are: Alessa Cavalancia, Lily Giffin and Lauren Ruby. Isabella Giffin and Alizabeth Leezer, also featured dancers, are the student choreographers.

Ensemble cast members: Elijah Balint, Angelina Donovan, Maggie Dougleass, Jake Forbes, Joshua Gregory, Joey Guinta, Des Holden, Jacksyn Kelley-Jarsulic, Taelor Kennedy, Brookelynn McPherson, Emilia Sager, Raelyn Salazar, Lily Schimmel, Zoey Steligo, Dani Stinebaugh, Abigail Toth, Benjamin Waugaman and Abigale Withers.

Student leadership

Spencer Callaghan (student director), Alice Infante (lighting director), Elizabeth Leezer (social media liaison); Harry Faulk and Donovan Skaggs (stage managers); Olivia Guadalupe and Eden Mckenzie (costume directors); Ryan Cain and Nick Crossett (sound technicians).

Stage and tech crew

Maci Anthony, Marz Assenti, Ryan Cain, Spencer Callaghan, Killarney Cline, Nick Crossett, Chloe Donaldson, Dylan Dyer, Harry Faulk, JJ Foster, Madison Gumpher, Olivia Guadalupe, Alina Haubnei, Sullivan Holliday, Lily Kumar, Axel McGowan, Eden McKenzie, Brenna McPherson, Sienna Overly, Eric Paxon, Mia Rankin, Sophia Rodriguez, Alexei Schibik, Donovan Skaggs, Zoe Ulmer and Lee Williams.