Picture: Lidia Crisafulli
Go! The Musical continues at Upstairs at the Gatehouse, London until 28 July 2024.
Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩
Thirteen years may be less than the 40 years the Israelites spent wandering the desert, but it is still a long time for the creation of a new musical. Since Adam and Mikhal Taylor began work on their Exodus-retelling Go! The Musical, we have seen both the premiere of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s game-changing Hamilton – which itself took seven years to write – and the London premiere of the also Exodus-based show, Stephen Schwartz’s The Prince of Egypt.
It may be premiering in a less glamorous venue than those West End blockbusters, but Upstairs at the Gatehouse has been consistently delivering some of my favourite theatrical experiences of late, and with an extremely talented team of cast and creatives onboard, Go! The Musical finally arrives in London with just as much potential. But does the material reflect the time and effort put into the piece, or is the long road to premiere a sign of a difficult show?
The writers do a good job of justifying the existence of this piece alongside The Prince of Egypt and the countless other biblical adaptations to have hit the London stage recently. They have focused on what they describe as the ‘messy’ parts of the book and employ a dual narrative to contrast life in Egypt and life in the desert. Those familiar with the original story will recognise a lot of characters and events. Any changes – such as casting Pharaoh as a woman to add a Freudian mother-son tension to Moses’ arc – are all perfectly justified artistically.
When a show has had this much time in the oven, it is at risk of becoming needlessly complex. A perfectly serviceable plot might become boring to the authors after the first couple of years, leading to the temptation to over-egg the narrative pudding. Fortunately, the show remains relatively easy to engage with, though plot admin does sometimes take precedence over character development.
Still, the phenomenal cast goes a long way to positioning these characters firmly as human and relatable, rather than distant myths. Alexandra Doar is positively scene-stealing as Pharaoh, though she faces some stiff competition when Harel Glazer’s Moses and Ayesha Patel’s Zipporah are allowed to let rip with their stunning voices. Rushand Chambers is a standout as Korach. He is given some truly intense moments of acting and allowed to fully explore the room-shaking depths of his bass register.
Maya Heritage’s set initially suggests a charmingly minimalist Egypt, but it comes alive when combined with Daniel Taylor’s fantastic lighting work. Director Nick Bond has a dream team at his disposal, and he has done a superb job of marshalling the disparate theatrical elements into an effective whole. Particularly impressive is Sinead Donnelly’s choreography, which is remarkably full-on for a production of this size.
Some authorial choices do hold the show back. Firstly, there is surprisingly little of God Himself in this telling of Exodus. A more human look at biblical stories is usually fascinating, but in the case of this story, glossing over that pretty darn significant character turns down the dial on both epicness and comprehensibility. Contrasting the plight of these ancient peoples with modern debates around cultural identity and immigration is interesting, but depending on your taste, the cavalcade of lines like “Get Exodus Done!” might be a bit on-the-nose, detracting from the serious themes at play.
Go! The Musical’s standout feature must be its score. Adam Taylor’s songs evoke both the accessible silliness and the raw power of Lloyd Webber’s best early work, with both catchy melodies and plenty of musical sophistication. Thirteen years with a rhyming dictionary might work against the songs in places – good lyrics are about more than quantity of rhymes – but the music itself remains a treat. Musical director Ben Barrow’s three-piece band is incredibly tight throughout, and the choice of tasteful cello lines (Halcyon Sheen) and precise-yet-rocking stadium drums (Tasha Fish) to supplement Barrow’s keyboard is perfect.
Every new musical that makes it to the stage is an admirable feat of creativity and fortitude. In this case, the long gestation period may have proven a negative in some areas, but in others – particularly the score – it has provided some saving graces. All great composers have stories about how the best parts of a show only fell into place after out-of-town try-outs, when finally seeing the piece in front of an audience shines a light on its strengths and weaknesses. It’s not hard to imagine Go! The Musical becoming a truly epic show, even if making yet more tweaks is the last thing the writers want to do after 13 years wandering in the development wilderness.
Ian Bowkett
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