The Prince of Egypt Stage Musical and Movies

The Prince of Egypt as a Stage Musical: Film Version and Licensing

Update 2023 - The Prince of Egypt Stage Musical on Film

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has released The Prince of Egypt: The Musical on leading digital platforms, following its early arrival on BroadwayHD. The epic production directed by Scott Schwartz features a diverse original London cast and orchestra of more than 60 artists, an expansive Stephen Schwartz score, raved-about choreography, special effects, dazzling costumes, and a powerful story, with book penned by the original screenwriter Philip LaZebnik.

This new 2023 film, shot in December 2021 before the show closed in London, captures the full drama with close ups and wide shots that include the stage production's special effects. Find out where to stream it here (for the US). https://us.theprinceofegyptmusicalfilm.com/

ESSENTIAL BOOK: The Revised and Updated Second Edition of the Stephen Schwartz biography Defying Gravity includes 11 pages covering the new stage musical's development. This is a must-read for fans of the movie and evolving show. SEE Defying Gravity - Updated Edition with The Prince of Egypt details

Find out about the writers' approach to adaptating the popular DreamWorks film.

Licensing: Musical Theatre International. For theater companies considering licensing the musical for their own productions, see this page: https://www.mtishows.com/the-prince-of-egypt

CAST RECORDING: The Prince of Egypt Original Cast Recording can be found on Apple Music and elsewhere.

The complete track list includes: 1. Deliver Us, 2. Faster, 3. One Weak Link, 4. Footprints on the Sand, 5. Seti’s Return, 6. Dance to the Day, 7. All I Ever Wanted, 8. Make it Right, 9. Moses in the Desert, 10. Through Heaven’s Eyes, 11. Faster (Reprise), 12. Never in a Million Years, 13. Act I Finale; 14. Return to Egypt, 15. Always on Your Side, 16. Simcha, 17. Deliver Us (Reprise), 18. The Plagues, 19. For the Rest of My Life, 20. Heartless, 21. When You Believe, 22. Never in a Million Years (Reprise), 23. Act II Finale

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Prince of Egypt Soundtrack and "When You Believe" Recordings

BUY IN USA: 1998 soundtrack for The Prince of Egypt

BUY IN EUROPE: The Prince of Egypt Ost

Includes When You Believe, Deliver Us/River Lullaby, All I Ever Wanted, Through Heaven's Eyes, Playing with the Big Boys, The Plagues

Mp3s of Prince of Egypt songs - Enjoy many versions of popular songs "When You Believe," "Through Heaven's Eyes" and other songs.

Celtic Woman sings "When You Believe" - music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz Songs From The Heart  

Mariah Carey 1's - Includes "When You Believe"

Leon Jackson - Xfactor When You Believe 

"When You Believe" KARAOKE Accompanying tracks

Sing The Hits Of Whitney Houston (Karaoke)

This Whitney Houston accompaniment track recording produced by Pocketsongs includes "When You Believe." It's 4 minutes and 36 seconds long and starts in the key of D and then shifts to F#

British diva Alison Jiear offers a most beautiful rendition of this moving song from The Prince of Egypt on her album, which also includes Schwartz songs "Forgiveness' Embrace."

DVD for The Prince of Egypt - DVD DreamWorks, 1999

USA and Canada: DVD Buy The Prince of Egypt or in EUROPE: The Prince Of Egypt DVD

Don't miss the extra DVD features

The DVD of The Prince of Egypt, has a couple of incredible extras. The multi-language performance of "When You Believe" brought tears to my eyes. It goes through the whole song with dubbed in vocals in many languages.

The feature on "The Making of The Prince of Egypt" is videotaped or filmed spots with many of the people involved including Speilberg, Katzenberg, Val Kilmer, and all the other stars plus animators, Hans Zimmer, etc. It has a fairly long section (well, maybe 4 minutes) with Stephen Schwartz, where he makes comments on some of his original songs, plays the piano, and talks to performers. We also see a few seconds with him in Egypt during his November 1995 trip to the region with Katzenberg and about a dozen others.

This segment on him shows what I might call the "focused" Stephen, so it's only a tiny window on the guy and his work but I think it gives people who have never met him a little bit of a sense of who he is, in the context of one of his favorite projects. We also see Steve Hickner and others explaining the significance of Stephen's contribution to the film. The whole feature will really add to your awe of what is already an awe-inspiring film.--Carol de Giere, webmaster

Sheet Music for The Prince of Egypt 

Prince of Egypt Songbooks and Individual Sheet Music

The best source for printed music for The Prince of Egypt is Sheet Music Plus: Sheet Music Plus [new browser window] (opens new browser window) for piano/vocal; concert band, When You Believe for concert band and choir, "WhenYou Believe" Scored For: SAT Choir, etc. Also available from them: A showtrax CD for "When You Believe."

You can also find Instand Downloadable Digital files at the prince of egypt

 

"When You Believe" Lyrics

Lyrics to "When You Believe" below. Press here for "Through Heaven's Eyes"

"When You Believe" Animated Film Version Lyrics:

"When you believe"

Many nights we've prayed
with no proof anyone could hear-
In our hearts a hopeful song
We barely understood.
Now we are not afraid-
Although we know there's much to fear.
We were moving mountains long before we knew we could!

There can be miracles
When you believe-
Though hope is frail, it's hard to kill.
Who knows what miracles
You can achieve
When you believe
Somehow you will,
You will when you believe.

In this time of fear,
When prayer so often proved in vain,
Hope seemed like the summer birds
Too swiftly flown away.
Yet now I'm standing here
with heart so full Ii can't explain,
Seeking faith and speaking words
I never thought I'd say.

There can be miracles
When you believe-
Though hope is frail,
It's hard to kill.
Who knows what miracles
You can achieve
When you believe
Somehow you will,
You will when you believe.

A~shi~ra i'a~don~ai ki ga~oh ga~ah
(i will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously)

A~shi~ra l'a~don~ai ki ga~oh ga~ah
(i will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously)

Mi~cha~mo~cha ba~elim adonai
(who is like you, oh Lord, among the celestial)

Mi~ka~mo~cha ne~dar~ ba~ko~desh
(who is like you, majestic in holiness)

Na~chi~tah v'~chas~d'~cha am zu ga~al~ta
(in your love, you lead the people you redeemed)

Na~chi~tah v'~chas~d~cha am zu ga~al~ca
(on your love, you lead the people you redeemed)

A~shi~ra, a~shi~ra, a-shi~ra...
(i will sing, i will sing, i will sing...)

There can be miracles
When you believe-
Though hope is frail,
It's hard to kill.
Who knows what miracles
You can achieve
When you believe
Somehow you will-
Now you will,
You will when you believe.
You will when you believe.

Pop single bridge lyrics

They don't always happen when you ask.
And it's easy to give in to your fear.
But when you're blinded by your pain,
Can't see your way clear through the rain
A small, but still resilient voice
Says help is very near.

Pop version has additional music by "Babyface" Edmonds.

WHEN YOU BELIEVE - X FACTOR VERSION

WHEN YOU BELIEVE

Many nights we've prayed
with no proof anyone could hear
In our hearts a hopeful song
We barely understood
Now we are not afraid
Although we know there's much to fear
We were moving mountains long
Before we knew we could

There can be miracles
When you believe
Though hope is frail, it's hard to kill
Who knows what miracles
You can achieve
When you believe somehow you will
You will when you believe

Easy to despair
When all you hear is fear and lies
Easy just to run and hide
Too frightened to begin
But if we dare to dare
Don't wait for answers from the skies
Each of us can look inside
And hear this song within:

You can do miracles
Etc., repeat chorus
You will when you believe

They don't always happen when you ask
And it's easy to give in to your fear
But when you're blinded by your faith
Can't see your way clear through the rain
A small but still resilient voice
Says hope is very near

There can be miracles
Though hope is frail, it's hard to kill
Who knows what miracles
You can achieve
When you believe somehow you will
Now you will
You will when you believe
You will when you believe

Animated Film Info

Original songs are by Stephen Schwartz. The Prince of Egypt was DreamWorks' first animated movie project, released in 1998. Schwartz's songs offer much of the core emotional impact of the film, from the seven-minute opening number "Deliver Us" through the moving, academy award-winning song "When You Believe."

Cast: Brian Stokes Mitchell who sang "Through Heaven's Eyes"

Cast (in credits order)
Val Kilmer .... Moses/God (voice)
Ralph Fiennes .... Rameses (voice)
Michelle Pfeiffer .... Tzipporah (voice)
Sandra Bullock .... Miriam (voice)
Jeff Goldblum .... Aaron (voice)
Danny Glover .... Jethro (voice)
Patrick Stewart .... Pharaoh Seti I (voice)
Helen Mirren .... The Queen (voice)
Steve Martin .... Hotep (voice)
Martin Short .... Huy (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jack Angel .... Additional Voices (voice)
Amick Byram .... Moses (singing voice)
Linda Dee Shayne .... The Queen (singing voice)
Sally Dworsky .... Miriam (singing voice)
Ofra Haza .... Yocheved (voice)
Brian Mitchell .... Jethro (singing voice) (as Brian Stokes Mitchell)
Hugh Panaro .... Additional singing
Jan Rabson .... Additional Voices (voice)
Eden Riegel .... Young Miriam
Mel Brooks .... Additional Voices (voice) (uncredited)

A tribute to Ofra Haza

1957 - 2000

"Ofra Haza was one of the great artists it's been my privilege to work with, and I considered it our enormous good fortune that she consented to lend her talents and her passion to THE PRINCE OF EGYPT. In her magnificent voice and her beautiful soul, she embodied the beauty, mystery, heartbreak and joy of the Middle East to me. Others could have sung the notes, of course, but no one else in the world could have brought the kind of depth that Ofra did. Add to this that she was always entirely easy to work with, tireless, meticulous, and unfailingly good-humored. What a beautiful person and citizen of the world we have all lost in Ofra Haza." -- Stephen Schwartz

Behind the Scenes - Stephen Schwartz and Dreamworks

Stephen Schwartz was there at the beginning. He sometimes jokes that he was the 4th person at DreamWorks when Jeffrey Katzenberg, David Geffen, and Stephen Spielberg formed the company.

At all started in 1994. Katenzerg had been running Disney animation for many years, including two projects with Stephen Schwartz's lyrics: Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. But then studio president Frank Wells suddenly died in a helicopter crash. When Katzenberg and his Disney boss, Michael Eisner, clashed about a prospective promotion, Katzenberg decided to move on and form DreamWorks SKG.

Shortly thereafter, Schwartz received a call from Katzenberg inviting him to a meeting in Los Angeles about the first animated feature for DreamWorks. Schwartz signed on the dotted line as composer-lyricist for The Prince of Egypt.

Adventure and Risk

When The Prince of Egypt came out on DVD, it included a special feature in which Jeffrey Katzenberg praised the talented artists who joined his team for taking a risk. Schwartz later turned the credit back over to Katzenberg: "I think the risk was felt most keenly by Jeffrey, since he was literally putting his money where his mouth was in committing his new company to this huge undertaking. I didn't feel any more risk than I have with most of the other projects I have done, most of which have seemed a little loony to undertake."

Do creative people need to be risk takers? Schwartz doesn't think of himself that way. As his son, Scott, explains, "I think a risk taker is somebody who takes risks for the thrill of it, because they need the high. I wouldn't say my dad is a risk taker, although, God knows, artistically he has taken many risks over the years and continues to. I think of him more as bold and strong and confident about what he wants. A small example: On family vacations he'd always be very clear about what he wanted to do, and very organized. I do think he's adventurous. I don't know if that's a risk taker so much as someone who is always excited to try and learn new things."

.... (continues in the Stephen Schwartz biography Defying Gravity.)