Moses: Coming to a Theater Near You!

"MOSES" by Lindsay Schlegel (CatholicMom.com)

Courtesy of Sight & Sound Theatres and Fathom Entertainment. All rights reserved. Used with permission.[/caption] As my kids get older, there are more obstacles to passing on the faith to them. There’s a whole lot of other stuff in the world competing for their attention — movies, TV, music, video games, and so on. Through podcasts and reading, I’ve become more aware of the need to connect the Old Testament with the New in their minds and hearts. Bishop Barron often says that we can’t really understand the need for Jesus and how he must be the Messiah without understanding the history and experience of Israel. This week, one step to making that happen could be as simple as taking your kids to the movies. We had an opportunity to screen Sight & Sound Theaters’ MOSES, coming to theaters for just three days: September 13, 15, and 20. It is, in a word, epic.

A Massive Production

The production, already seen by nearly two million people on stage, was filmed in front of a live audience, with a cast that included live horses, camels, donkeys, sheep, goats, and trained rats. I liked that you don’t hear the crowd applauding (though you can see they were — the show ends with a standing ovation), so that viewers stay thoroughly engaged with the story. The film is two hours long, and the action takes place not only on three sides of the audience on a 300-foot panoramic stage, but also in the aisles! The opening scene has one of the aisles serve as the river, and the props and lighting make the scene simply stunning. It gets better—my husband and I still can’t figure out how Moses’ staff turns into a snake and back into a staff. It looks like some kind of CGI special effect, but it happened live on stage! You’ll also be wowed by the way the Red Sea parts at the movie’s end, once Moses finally sets his people free. The sixty sets for the production took two years to build, and some reach three stories high. As for costumes, there are nearly 900 in use in throughout the production (that’s not a typo).

A Timeless Story

The story is one we know—you’ll see Pharoah, the burning bush, the Ten Commandments, and more. But it’s done in a way that highlights the relationships between people and between Moses and God. We see Moses struggle to understand who God created him to be. And it’s when Moses begins to understand who God is, that we see him come to accept God’s mercy and love. These can lead into post-viewing conversations about identity, vocation, forgiveness, and the need for Jesus (who makes a cameo, if you will, at the film’s conclusion). If you’re looking for a way to connect what may seem a musty old Bible story you’ve heard too many times to real life today, Moses is quite literally your ticket.

Go See It!

I can’t recommend this highly enough. The music is phenomenal (I’m about to buy the soundtrack). The acting, singing, and movement on the stage are just captivating. I’d heard about this theater years ago, when my dad did some technical work with them, and now I’m convinced that our family needs to make a visit sooner rather than later. For the next week or so, though, you don’t need to make the trip to Pennsylvania or Missouri! Get your tickets now and give your family the gift of knowing that stage and theater entertainment can be good, life-giving, soul-filling, and truly beautiful.