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Michael Holloway
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Music Times
CibbuanoTen Commandments: The Musical - DVD Review
March 12th 2008 13:52
Hello Music Lovers
I'm Michael Holloway, a South Australian postgraduate student writing a thesis about inspirational women in music, and the general theme of music as a magical power. Once I'm finished, I'm eager to find a career in music reviewing and writing articles about music for newspapers/magazines/online publications.
I have become a huge fan of Val Kilmer's 2006 stage production of The Ten Commandments: The Musical, filmed live at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre and available on DVD. It is a rock-opera performed entirely in song and dance and my unabashed verdict is I LOVE it and have seen it several times now. Val plays Moses, while Lauren Kennedy plays Nefertari, Michelle Pereira plays Yokebed, Luba Mason plays Bithia, and Nita Whitaker plays Zipporah.
Also notable in the cast of this well-crafted musical are Kevin Earley as Rameses, Alisan Porter as Miriam, Aharon Ipale as Seti, Nicholas Rodriguez as Aaron, and Adam Lambert as Joshua.
Val Kilmer sings beautifully and soulfully in this production as do the rest of the cast. I love how the whole ensemble come together at the end to sing A Prayer For Life - this is one song that Val MUST consider doing a solo version of as well! I also love Val's Key To The Kingdom, Lauren Kennedy's scorching Could You Do That For Me, and A Love That Never Was (Lauren and Val). Also awesome are Val's and Kevin Earley's magnificently forceful battle of wills played out in song (Glory Of Ra/Let My People Go) as well as their earlier more friendly song banter to When We Rule The World in which Lauren also performs a segment of.
More beauty comes from Nita Whitaker's realisation that Val is indeed The One, and a hauntingly beautiful song called Where We Belong performed by Nita Whitaker, Luba Mason, and Michelle Pereira, which is my favourite song in the score.
Also great are Alisan Porter's Light Of A New Day, Luba's and Michelle's If I Can Let You Go/If I Can Make You Mine right at the beginning of the play, Cast Your Fears Into The Deep (another great song performed by Val during the parting of The Red Sea), and Shadow On This House performed by Lauren, Kevin, and Luba. Also heartrending is Val's and Kevin's song of reaffirmation of their bond of brotherly love even in the face of Rameses defeat, Brothers Still (How Can This Be...). Val's other songs are great as well, in particular the one performed near the burning bush (Why Me) and the one performed on Mount Sinai (Back In Egypt/Land Of Milk And Honey).
Admittedly, other cast members like Adam Lambert, Kevin Earley and Alisan Porter do tend to "over-sing" at times. However, the haunting soprano voices of Luba Mason and Michelle Pereira, the sultry and soulful Nita Whitaker, and the always sassy and scorchingly sexy Lauren Kennedy make up for that. Val is amazing as a singer - his voice is definitely suited for a rock-style musical. His emotional range is extraordinary, as when Moses is happy, Val glows accordingly, and when he's sad or angry, it really shows in his eyes and voice, and the tears are real.
Where We Belong, performed by Luba, Michelle, and Nita is absolutely divine - I cannot [no pun intended] sing the praises of that song enough.
The message of the show is all about universal love and acceptance of all types of people - it is neither overtly preachy nor disrespectful to the source material, and is very inspiring. The "making of/behind the scenes" documentary that is also featured on the DVD is also commendable, especially for the banter between Val and his castmates. He has a very cheeky sense of humour, I especially loved when Nita Whitaker complemented Val's professionalism and generosity, and Val tells us (the audience at home) with a slightly imperceptible wink not to believe Nita because "Just so you people know, she's a psychotic liar", causing Nita to crack up laughing, and the rest of the cast were interviewed and everyone loved working with Val.
However, if you can ignore the fact that Alisan Porter (Miriam) in reality is considerably younger than Val Kilmer, and yet plays his *older* sister in the show - remember, when Val was playing Jim Morrison in The Doors, Alisan had only a few years earlier played little Curly Sue in the movie by that name - you will enjoy the music and the performances.
Watch out for Kevin Earley as Rameses *chewing gum* while singing his first song...
Also, Lauren Kennedy , Luba Mason, Michelle Pereira, and Nita Whitaker are also recording artists in their own right whose discographies I am also adding to my collection based on the strength and inspirational quality that their performances on the DVD evoke for me. Look out for some reviews of these albums soon.
Cheers, Michael
I'm Michael Holloway, a South Australian postgraduate student writing a thesis about inspirational women in music, and the general theme of music as a magical power. Once I'm finished, I'm eager to find a career in music reviewing and writing articles about music for newspapers/magazines/online publications.
I have become a huge fan of Val Kilmer's 2006 stage production of The Ten Commandments: The Musical, filmed live at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre and available on DVD. It is a rock-opera performed entirely in song and dance and my unabashed verdict is I LOVE it and have seen it several times now. Val plays Moses, while Lauren Kennedy plays Nefertari, Michelle Pereira plays Yokebed, Luba Mason plays Bithia, and Nita Whitaker plays Zipporah.
An inspirational story of love and hope for all humanity.
Also notable in the cast of this well-crafted musical are Kevin Earley as Rameses, Alisan Porter as Miriam, Aharon Ipale as Seti, Nicholas Rodriguez as Aaron, and Adam Lambert as Joshua.
Val Kilmer sings beautifully and soulfully in this production as do the rest of the cast. I love how the whole ensemble come together at the end to sing A Prayer For Life - this is one song that Val MUST consider doing a solo version of as well! I also love Val's Key To The Kingdom, Lauren Kennedy's scorching Could You Do That For Me, and A Love That Never Was (Lauren and Val). Also awesome are Val's and Kevin Earley's magnificently forceful battle of wills played out in song (Glory Of Ra/Let My People Go) as well as their earlier more friendly song banter to When We Rule The World in which Lauren also performs a segment of.
Val Kilmer as Moses and Lauren Kennedy as Nefertari take their bows.
More beauty comes from Nita Whitaker's realisation that Val is indeed The One, and a hauntingly beautiful song called Where We Belong performed by Nita Whitaker, Luba Mason, and Michelle Pereira, which is my favourite song in the score.
Also great are Alisan Porter's Light Of A New Day, Luba's and Michelle's If I Can Let You Go/If I Can Make You Mine right at the beginning of the play, Cast Your Fears Into The Deep (another great song performed by Val during the parting of The Red Sea), and Shadow On This House performed by Lauren, Kevin, and Luba. Also heartrending is Val's and Kevin's song of reaffirmation of their bond of brotherly love even in the face of Rameses defeat, Brothers Still (How Can This Be...). Val's other songs are great as well, in particular the one performed near the burning bush (Why Me) and the one performed on Mount Sinai (Back In Egypt/Land Of Milk And Honey).
Admittedly, other cast members like Adam Lambert, Kevin Earley and Alisan Porter do tend to "over-sing" at times. However, the haunting soprano voices of Luba Mason and Michelle Pereira, the sultry and soulful Nita Whitaker, and the always sassy and scorchingly sexy Lauren Kennedy make up for that. Val is amazing as a singer - his voice is definitely suited for a rock-style musical. His emotional range is extraordinary, as when Moses is happy, Val glows accordingly, and when he's sad or angry, it really shows in his eyes and voice, and the tears are real.
Where We Belong, performed by Luba, Michelle, and Nita is absolutely divine - I cannot [no pun intended] sing the praises of that song enough.
The message of the show is all about universal love and acceptance of all types of people - it is neither overtly preachy nor disrespectful to the source material, and is very inspiring. The "making of/behind the scenes" documentary that is also featured on the DVD is also commendable, especially for the banter between Val and his castmates. He has a very cheeky sense of humour, I especially loved when Nita Whitaker complemented Val's professionalism and generosity, and Val tells us (the audience at home) with a slightly imperceptible wink not to believe Nita because "Just so you people know, she's a psychotic liar", causing Nita to crack up laughing, and the rest of the cast were interviewed and everyone loved working with Val.
However, if you can ignore the fact that Alisan Porter (Miriam) in reality is considerably younger than Val Kilmer, and yet plays his *older* sister in the show - remember, when Val was playing Jim Morrison in The Doors, Alisan had only a few years earlier played little Curly Sue in the movie by that name - you will enjoy the music and the performances.
Watch out for Kevin Earley as Rameses *chewing gum* while singing his first song...
Also, Lauren Kennedy , Luba Mason, Michelle Pereira, and Nita Whitaker are also recording artists in their own right whose discographies I am also adding to my collection based on the strength and inspirational quality that their performances on the DVD evoke for me. Look out for some reviews of these albums soon.
Cheers, Michael
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Comment by Harry
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Comment by Michael Holloway
I'm not sure if it is available in stores here in Australia, but I bought mine from Amazon.com.
Your text goes here
I can never remember which region code Australian DVDs are, but if you have a region free player like I do, you'll be fine.
It really is brilliant, and the only thing that could make it better is a CD soundtrack, which sadly, hasn't been released.
If you're interested, I truly recommend the albums released by cast members Lauren Kennedy ("Songs Of Jason Robert Brown" and "Here And Now"), Nita Whitaker ("Nita Whitaker", "One Voice", and "Life Stories"), Luba Mason ("Collage"), and Michelle Pereira ("In My Life").
They're all great, and I can't wait for Val Kilmer's debut CD whenever that is released. His demo CD is great though. Also, Luba Mason is releasing her second album sometime this year, it will be titled "Krazy Love".
Cheers, Michael