Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston struck gold with their recording of “When You Believe” off the motion picture soundtrack of The Prince of Egypt back in 1999. The song received the Best Original Song Oscar and sat atop the music charts for weeks. The music divas and the iconic song come to mind this week now that the sensational West End production of The Prince of Egypt: The Musical was made available to purchase or rent on digital. It is also available on BroadwayHD.

Featuring songs written by Grammy and Academy Award winner Stephen Schwartz, the legendary composer behind Wicked, Godspell, and Pippin, the powerful production is based on the classic DreamWorks Animation film. Filmed live at the West End’s Dominion Theatre, London, it boasts a cast and orchestra of 60 performers, making it one of the biggest musicals ever staged.

The Ancient Egypt-set story chronicles two young men who were raised together as brothers in privilege. Suddenly divided by a secret past, one becomes a Pharaoh, and the other rises up to free his true people. In a recent global press conference, Stephen Schwartz shared more in a compelling interview.

Bringing the Classic to Digital

Whether they realize it or not, audiences know Stephen Schwartz. In fact, many people have been humming or singing his tunes for years. In addition to musically mastering Wicked, Godspell, and Pippin, Schwartz contributed lyrics for many successful films, including Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Enchanted. The man won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics, four Grammy Awards, three Academy Awards, and has been nominated for six Tony Awards.

Related: 15 Best Movies From DreamWorks Animation, Ranked

Now, Schwartz is thrilled The Prince of Egypt: The Musical is being made available on digital for all audiences. “I’m so happy about this kind of new phenomenon,” he said. “With, you know, ticket prices being high and during the pandemic, the difficulty of people getting to live theater, this new thing of actually recording the live production and making it therefore much more accessible to a broader audience is a wonderful thing.

“I’m very proud to be part of this emerging genre,” he added, continuing:

“It’s nice that you can experience the spectacle of the show on the stage itself and get the feel for the live performance, but at the same time, because there’s a camera, it gets close-ups. You’re seeing from all different perspectives, not just from whichever seat you happen to be in. It’s a kind of wonderful amalgamation, and I enjoy it when I see other shows presented this way.”

The Backstory of When You Believe

Back in the 1990s, DreamWorks Animation was on the rise. As such, there was a great amount of thought and time put into the studio’s productions. The animated version of The Prince of Egypt took years to create. But when it came to creating the music, Stephen Schwartz shared a little-known story about the genesis of the soundtrack, and, in particular, writing the great original song, “When You Believe.”

“DreamWorks, as part of our research, arranged for the creative team to take a trip to Egypt and do research on the spot. A couple of songs emerged for me from that trip. But with “When You Believe,” we were actually in the Sinai Desert, and one of our directors, Steve Hickner, said that he felt we needed a kind of big anthemic musical moment when the Hebrew tribes finally secure their freedom and are going to be able to leave Egypt and get out of bondage.”

“So, I was thinking about that and had a little bit of a tune that came into my head,” continued Schwartz. “The next morning, we actually climbed Mount Sinai. We got up at like five o’clock in the morning when it was so dark and all of us clambered up Mount Sinai. We were at the summit for the sunrise and sitting there and looking out over the desert and thinking about what Stephen had asked, that was the beginning of where that song started.”

The Timeliness of the Current Production
Universal

The West End production is a creative tour du force with a book by Philip LaZebnik (Mulan, Pocahontas) and featuring 10 new songs written by Schwartz. Curiously, the composer’s son, Scott Schwartz, directed this stage version, which was choreographed by Sean Cheesman. Schwartz said that in the 1990s, the idea was first brought to him when DreamWorks was just starting as a studio and wanted to create animation and produced their project.

“Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg talked to me about the idea of doing this story,” Schwartz said. “It was Steven’s idea to view it from the perspective of a brother story, that it was about these two young men who love each other, and yet are torn apart by what their destinies are and their personal responsibilities. And then how can you deal with that? You have really significant differences. I found that idea to be very powerful — to use this ancient story that everybody knew. And clearly, it remains relevant now.”

Related: The 10 Catchiest Songs From Movie Musicals

Schwartz specifically referred to the current tragedies unfolding in the Middle East:

Because of the really terrible things that are happening right now in the Middle East, this obviously reflects the story of The Prince of Egypt with the conflict between Moses and the Hebrew tribes under the rule of his brother Ramses. There’s that conflict. These two brothers, who love each other, come into conflict because they represent these two different peoples, and ultimately find a way of reconciling with one another.

“And that’s obviously to be hoped for and the ultimate goal in the clearly terrible things happening right now,” he added. “So, if in some way this story gives both hope and perspective to what’s going on, then that’s a contemporary ramification of this show, which obviously was written and originally created from a story that was created thousands of years ago.”

The Big Lesson
Universal

Theater, film, and music have the ability to transform lives. Depending on the genre, these stories all hold a message of some kind, and something on which to ponder. When asked what lessons can be learned from The Prince of Egypt: The Musical, Schwartz was candid.

“In addition to love — empathy. I feel what’s happened in our society in contemporary times is a severe lack of empathy. Everyone is very busy looking from his or their own perspective, seeing things through the lens of their own grievances, all of which are valid, but the ability to put oneself in another person’s shoes, to try and think about what life, what the world, what a specific issue looks like through the way they see it… The more we can do that, I think then the better we’ll all function as a society.’

You can purchase or rent The Prince of Egypt: The Musical on digital. It is also available on BroadwayHD through the link below:

Watch on BroadwayHD