Casa 0101 provides proof positive that last year’s The Hunchback Of Notre Dame was no fluke, the Boyle Heights theater company returning this holiday season with their impressively staged and performed take on Stephen Schwartz, Philip LaZebnik, and The Book of Exodus’s The Prince Of Egypt.

The two musicals share more than just composer-lyricist Schwartz in common.

Both were adapted from massively popular animated films, each of which spawned a Billboard Top 40 hit, and in both cases, the majority of Schwartz’s songs were written specifically for the stage musical. (In other words, if you’ve only seen the movie version of The Prince Of Egypt, most of the songs performed on the CASA 0101 stage will be new to you.)

And though neither show ever made it to Broadway, both have been performed regionally and abroad.

Still, it’s not until now that Angelinos have been granted the chance to see The Prince Of Egypt performed live on stage, and while Casa 0101’s intimate staging can’t afford the spectacular sets and illusions of its West End debut, it makes up for budgetary constraints with abundant talent and ingenuity.

Making his Casa 0101 debut, Diego Huerta-Gutierrez delivers what could well turn out to be the Breakout Performance of the Year as Moses, sent by his mother Yocheved (Toni Elizabeth White) down the river Nile to escape certain slaughter, the current Pharaoh having decreed that all Hebrew firstborn boys be put to death.

Adopted by none other than the Pharaoh (Julian Armaya) and his wife Queen Tuya (Danielle Johnson) themselves, Moses grows up side by side with future Pharaoh Ramses (Christopher J. Thumé), though when the time comes for the latter to marry, his power-hungry bride Nefertari (Nadeli Miga) is none too pleased to have the charismatic Moses stealing her and her husband’s thunder.

It’s about this time that Moses discovers his true origins, and upon learning who he really is, it doesn’t take long for him to head off into the desert to meet and greet his blood siblings (Chrissi Erickson as Miriam and Sammy J Kohler as Aaron), get to know his fellow Hebrews, and eventually demand that his brother, now Pharaoh, set his people (including love interest Tzipporah, played by Joslynn Cortes) free, though if evil High Priest Hotep (Tal Toker) has anything to do with it, that will be more easily said than done.

As he did with The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, director Rigo Tejada demonstrates how far ingenuity can go in staging action sequences like a chariot race between Moses and Ramses, or in recreating Moses’s encounter with The Burning Bush or the parting of The Red Sea, all of this minus a six-or-seven-or-eight-figure budget, credit he shares with set designer César Retana-Holguín, projection designer Anthony Storniolo, and lighting designer Alex Parra, all of whom let their imaginations run wild to awe-inspiring effect.

Add to that Tony Iniguez’s multitudinous array of costumes from Egyptian glitz to weathered slavewear and Alejandro Lechuga’s myriad Biblical wigs along with Audrey Szot’s Old Testament-era props and you’ve got a production design that manages to impress even minus big bucks.

Impressive too is Tania Possick’s eclectic choreography (not your usual Broadway show moves by a long shot), and under Gabrielle Maldonado’s pitch-perfect music direction, the entire cast shows off powerhouse pipes, their amped vocals expertly mixed with prerecorded orchestral tracks by Angelica Ornelas.

With only a few stage credits to his name (including a memorable Chance Theater debut this past summer), leading man Huerta-Gutierrez delivers a charismatic star turn as Moses, one that reveals the acting and vocal chops of a seasoned pro, and Thumé graduates from a series of fabulously flamboyant featured turns to make for dynamic, dramatic co-lead.

Featured roles reveal a gifted bunch of triple-threats, from Cortes’s fiery, deeply-felt Tzipporah to Miga’s divaliciously devious Nefertari to Johnson’s fiercely fabulous Queen Tuya to White’s stunningly voiced Yocheved to Toker’s hissably villainous High Priest Hotep to Erickson’s warmly winning Miriam to Kohler’s instantly engaging Aaron, with Armaya and Christopher D. Baker bonus major snaps for stepping into the roles of Seti and Jethro at the last minute following a single put-in rehearsal.

 Add to that the multitalented support of Aaron Gibbs, dance captain Kayleigh Long (Ketura), fight captain Abraxaz Efrain Sanchez Lopez, Gabriella Ortiz, Emily Ann Pember, Faith Perez, Alyssa Rojas, and Joseph Rosales along with cameo roles played by child performers Aiden Ricardo Heredia (Young Aaron) and Sofia Lopez (Young Miriam) and you’ve got a cast that more than earned their opening night cheers.

The Prince Of Egypt is produced by Emannuel Deleage. Abel Alvarado is assistant producer. Karla Ojeda is assistant director. Joaquín Madrid Larrañaga is stage manager and Jay Guerrero and Jasmine Morales are assistant stage managers. Al Aguilar is production assistant. Steve Moyer is publicist.

From their sensational intimate staging of In The Heights back in 2012 to last year’s triumphant The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Casa 0101 has revealed a continuing commitment to providing topnotch live theater to and for the people of Boyle Heights.

The Prince Of Egypt only further serves to cement the company’s deservedly stellar reputation in the Latino community and beyond.

CASA 0101 Theatre, 2009 E. 1st Street, Los Angeles.
www.casa0101.org

–Steven Stanley
November 22, 2025
Photos: Steve Moyer

Visit www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php for a review roundup of what’s now playing in theaters around Los Angeles.

Tags: Casa 0101, Los Angeles Theater Review, Philip LaZebnik, Stephen Schwartz