A young woman carrying an unimaginable responsibility. A young man torn between love and honor. A jealous king who will stop at nothing to keep his crown.
Fiona Palomo
Mary
Milo Manheim
Joseph
Omid Djalili
Melchior
Rizwan Manji
Gaspar
Geno Segers
Balthazar
Moriah Peters
Deborah
Joel Smallbone
General Antipater
Lecrae
Archangel Gabriel
Stephanie Gil
Rebekah
Antonio Cantos
Joachim
María Pau Pigem
Ana
Alicia Borrachero
Rachel
Antonio Gil
Jacob
Antonio Banderas
Herod the Great
Pedro Aijón
Lieutenant
Ricard Serra
Census Taker
Juan José Marco
Unhappy Man
Eric Halverson
Healer
Juan Jesús Di Manuel
Prisoner
Daniela Riveri
Magi's Servant Girl
Yaël Belicha
Elizabeth
José María Rueda
Zachariah
Zoe Arnao
Young Sheperd Girl
Manuel Lozano
Baby Jesus
Eduardo Rejón
Innkeeper
Andrés Merino
Young Jesus
Adrià Nebot
Young Antipater
Fran Llorente
Shepherd Girl's Father
Eric Halfvarson
Healer
Panda the Donkey
Fig
Director, Writer
Adam Anders
Writer
Peter Barsocchini
November 24, 2023
6
Scene stealing megalomanic King Herod (Antonio Banderas) hams up marvellously in this enjoyable if totally forgettable pre-Nativity Christmas story. He presides over the kingdom of Judah towards which three magi are heading when they espy a bright star in the sky portending an event of great importance. Meantime, the well educated Mary (Fiona Paloma) is regaling against an arranged marriage with a man she's never even met! Anyway, times being what they are, she has to acquiesce and meets the fairly easy on the eye Joseph (Milo Manheim). It's not exactly hate a first sight, but one night she get's another - more celestial - visitor who leaves her with quite a belly ache. She tells her folks, then her would-be husband and is soon, unsurprisingly, on her own... Quite why Gabriel couldn't just have told everyone at once? Anyway, the increasingly paranoid Herod gets wind of this impending miracle and uses the three kings and his son Antipater (Joel Smallbone) to track down and destroy the potential usurper. That fact that we still celebrate Christmas eliminates any sense of jeopardy so this is essentially just a light-hearted piece of musical theatre that uses the two slightly soporific stars to tell us a story of when Mary met Joseph. The songs are standard fayre with plenty of perfect choreography, some earnest lyrics about love and loyalty (and a fun song from Banderas about absolute power) before Omid Djalili's visiting Melchior tries to explain what myrrh is for. It's wordy, cheesy but joyous seasonal stuff that I was rather surprised to find got a cinema release in the UK. You shouldn't hate it.