‘Amazing Grace’ lumbers into the new Museum of the Bible

THE WASHINGTON POST
By Nelson Pressley

Slave trading and redemption: the cast of “Amazing Grace.” (Stan Barouh)

WASH., DC---The mortal sin of “Amazing Grace” at the new Museum of the Bible is that it’s a musical without musicians — computer software somehow “plays” the score — but that’s not all. The largely true but plodding melodrama of John Newton, the British slave trader who ultimately repented and wrote the famous hymn, is so slow-moving and cliched that you’d swap it for a windy sermon. The production launches the non-Equity touring version of the show that played Broadway in 2015, designed by Broadway veterans Eugene Lee (supplying a nifty nautical-themed set with Edward Pierce), Ken Billington (lights capable of suggesting sea storms) and Toni-Leslie James (18th-century costumes with breeches and laced bodices). [More]