Reviews for the show were not kind. The New York Times called it “bland, static, overproduced and underdirected.” The Los Angeles Times sniffed, “‘The Ten Commandments’ has the power to leave an epiphany-seeking theatergoer speechless.”

Yet Lambert, portraying the slave Joshua, was favorably noticed by both papers, with the New York reviewer even saying the performer was the show’s “most consistent crowd-wower.”

For those wanting a look at a pre-”Idol” Lambert, his big number from the show — an anguished sob called “Is Anybody Listening?” — can, of course, be found on YouTube, or on a commercially available DVD.