GO! The Musical at Upstairs at The Gatehouse

With rhyme and rhythm comes this musical retelling of the lesser-known part of Exodus. Ancient Egypt arrives in London this summer, with a cast including Harel Glazer (The Band's Visit at Donmar Warehouse), Alexandra Doar (Bat Out of Hell, West End), Rushand Chambers (For Black Boys, West End) and Ayesha Patel (Lizzie, Southwark Playhouse). This production, packed with power and politics, follows a prince’s descent into chaos after freeing his people from Pharaoh – aka his ‘mother’.

Having given up his succession to the Egyptian throne to rescue the slaves, Go! The Musical follows Moses, flipping between his royal past amongst palace scribes and astrologers and his battle against bitter disillusionment in the desert. It seems that the prince’s desperate journey is doomed – what happens when the promise of freedom from dictatorship threatens to fade back into oppression? Faced with rebellion by people who want to return to Egypt and caught between two identities, Moses is an embattled freedom fighter who must now decide whether to follow Pharaoh’s advice and crack down hard.

Looking through a modern and humorous lens, Go! The Musical touches on themes of today: politics and the messy reality of political change, differing leadership styles, immigrants and emigrants, the struggle by a generation of unrest to regain equilibrium and what happens when life’s big goal begins to slip away. 

Music Director Ben Barrow comments, The central themes of ‘Go! The Musical’ carry so much importance today: the idea that we all contribute to building a world for future generations to live in particularly resonates, given our current political and environmental landscapes. The music of this show combines contemporary ideas with epic musical theatre and integrates spoken word and poetry with driving melodies and cinematic underscore – I’m really excited about how it will sound. 

Adam Taylor and co-writer Mikhal Taylor comment, This musical was inspired by the intriguing personality of Moses – a troubled, impulsive, passionate, argumentative character, sometimes ruthless, sometimes self-doubting, very human, no superhero, who never made it to the promised land. In time, the dramatic journey of this beleaguered leader came to seem like an obvious subject for a musical.