NOAH (2019)

Yes. Sight and Sound Theatres has created a genuinely engaging musical production filled with live animals, fire, rain, projections, and an enormous physical ark. The spectacle sweeps you into Noah’s world, while the script adds clever humor and heartfelt moments.

This is a filmed stage production, not a conventional movie. Some costumes, effects, and performances can look overdone or less convincing when viewed up close through a camera. A few songs also venture into hokeyness.

But the production’s strong Christian worldview, family-friendly humor, and inspiring faithfulness make those limitations easy to accept. If you can let yourself watch a play rather than demand movie realism, take the whole family.

Noah and his family live as a righteous household amid a sinful community. Then God gives Noah an impossible task: build a huge ark to protect his family and pairs of animals from a coming flood.

As the family works, friends and relatives harshly rebuke them. Noah and his family must decide whether they will remain faithful when the world around them rejects their obedience.

Three stars means this is a very enjoyable production with some noticeable limitations. Sight and Sound’s imagination and production capabilities are enormous. Live animals, special effects, projections, and an immense ark give the familiar story impressive scale.

The script is heartfelt, funny, and filled with clever surprises. Earnest, stirring moments outweigh the cheesy ones.

The main weakness comes from the format. The actors perform for a large room and hundreds of live audience members, so their work can seem over the top on camera. Costumes and special effects that look marvelous in the theater can appear fake or cheap up close. Even so, the production remains delightful and engaging.

NOAH presents a strongly Christian and biblical worldview. Its characters desire to follow God’s will, spend time in prayer, and endure hardship with faithfulness. The production portrays God’s mercy and love positively, while emphasizing repentance, forgiveness, and redemption.

The story also includes negative portrayals of paganism and anarchy. Noah’s family stands against a sinful community, and the production invites viewers to consider obedience when following God is difficult or unpopular. Its treatment of judgment is serious, but the larger emphasis rests on God’s faithfulness and the possibility of a new beginning.

The production’s central longing is to remain faithful to God in the face of fear, rejection, and an impossible task. Scripture says, “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household” (Hebrews 11:7).

NOAH is a heartfelt, funny, spectacular production with a strong Christian worldview. Its filmed-stage limitations and occasional cheesy moments are real, but they do not outweigh the joy, faithfulness, and family appeal. For a wholesome outing, WORTH THE TRIP.