Did L.A. Critics Have Faith in Commandments?
Here is a sampling of what they had to say:
Charles Isherwood of The New York Times: "This bland, static, overproduced and underdirected musical all but submerges the famous episodes from Moses' life in an oily sea of pleasant but unremarkable pop music. The legendary journey unfolds here like a long, lumbering fancy-dress episode of American Idol... Audiences who have not recently reacquainted themselves with the popular legends about Moses' life will not be enlightened here. In this sung-through musical Ms. [Maribeth] Derry has eschewed lyrics serving the mundane functions of defining or even identifying characters, or delineating the basics of the plot. Comprehension would be aided by the use of name tags or, better yet, football jerseys... Mr. Kilmer comports himself with reasonable dignity. He is not a gifted singer, and sensibly chooses to declaim most of his songs. He does so in a gruffly earnest manner that matches his sincere if stolid acting."
Joel Hirschhorn of Variety: "Ads and billboards touting the U.S. premiere of this biblical extravaganza proudly proclaim, 'Val Kilmer is Moses!' Well, uh, not exactly. In this sung-through musical, Kilmer's passive Moses appears to be following the commandment 'Thou shalt not express passion,' since he responds with somnabulistic detachment to every situation, even underplaying in the face of killer plagues and the parting of the Red Sea… Maribeth Derry's lackluster lyrics often yank us from 3,300 years ago to the present with clunky modern lines that offer awkwardly rhymed clichés in place of plot development or character. Patrick Leonard who co-wrote Madonna's 'Like a Prayer' and collaborated with Elton John and Fleetwood Mac occasionally offers a listenable tune 'The Horns of Jericho', although the numbers rarely rise to any height of theatrical excitement and lean too heavily on ballads."
Mark Swed of The Los Angeles Times: "The Ten Commandments is such effective theater that, after 2 1/2 hours of cheesy stagecraft and innocuous, blaring upbeat music, we don't just understand Moses, don't just aspire to be Moses, we actually become Moses. That is to say, The Ten Commandments has the power to leave a epiphany-seeking theatergoer speechless… Despite aspects of staging ineptitude and disappointing special effects, The Ten Commandments has a slick polish and just enough punch and too few laughs to keep it from being one of those historical disasters that you just have to see… Kilmer is no Charlton Heston. Reduced only to song, which he sings in an earnest, breathy voice, he seems little more than a handsome stick figure."
Evan Henerson of The Los Angeles Daily News: "Anytime a production is calling this much attention to its technical gimmickry morphing Ramses' face into a hieroglyph, anyone? and away from its cast and music, you've got to wonder what's up. And if we're not giggling over the narrative bombast, the lyrics 'We think his God is real/You better make a deal,' 'This will be yesterday's news' will finish us off. There are some thrilling voices on display, many of which are permitted to go gospel. Adam Lambert, as an oppressed Israelite looking for a sign from God, tears into 'Is Anybody Listening,' upstaging Moses in the process. Whitaker on 'The Horns of Jericho' and petite Alisan Porter with 'Light of a New Day' upstage pretty much everybody. But it's hard to compete with a huge budget and spectacle of epic proportions. The Ten Commandments company--and Val Kilmer in particular--don't try."
Paul Hodgins of The Orange County Register: "[Kilmer's] Moses seems very relaxed for a guy who's trying to lead his people out of the wilderness. Even during the parting of the Red Sea the biggest disappointment in Giantito Burchiellaro's wildly uneven set design, his Moses exudes a Zen-like calm, as if he's conducting a deep-breathing exercise. The burning bush at Monday's performance it was a half-burning bush didn't seem to excite him. He's Moses on Xanax… This is a 3,300-seat house, Val. Sell Moses' pain! Kilmer's singing voice, though, is the bigger problem. He's surrounded by truly first-rate musical-theater talent. Kevin Earley's Ramses and Adam Lambert's Joshua are showstopping standouts; among the women, so are Luba Mason's Bithia and Nita Whitaker's Ziporrah. Against this heavy-duty vocal artillery, Kilmer's foggy, narrow-range baritone doesn't stand a chance… Its meditative Moses notwithstanding, The Ten Commandments has its charms and pleasures… Commandments is a crowd-pleasing spectacle in the old-fashioned sense. It's a big, noisy, emotion-fraught extravaganza with a message that everyone can get behind and one that's shouted out in the final number, 'A Prayer for Life': Love one another, for Pete's sake!"