The short: So much flash! Large crowds, high prices. Worth it if you know what you're getting into, even if only because these artifacts are unlikely to come to the US any time in the near future.
The long: This extremely hyped show is a big show, with less content behind it than it ought to have. The fancy graphics, the video introduction, and the animated images of Tutankhamen’s amazing golden funerary mask increase the hype but add little to the understanding of the meaning of the show. As with every major exhibit, the administrators pack way too many people in too fast. It hurts the structure of the show to be rushed through, meaning that what good content exists (and there is quite a bit) gets lost in the shuffle.
The stated aims of the show are quite sophisticated. It hopes to explain the radical shift of the Amarna period, the ancestry of King Tut, and the significance of the tomb’s discovery. However, the little fragments of text and the human traffic prevent the story from being told as clearly as one might hope. Instead, it tends to rely on the glitz. Thematic music, dim lights, fancy sconces with hieroglyphs on them, projections on the wall, and plasma screens can't and shouldn't try to replace the things the visitor pays to look at.
The flow of the exhibit is actually excellent, despite my criticism of the flow. The flow is inherently good, but with the addition of too many people, even the best of designs is inefficient.
The artifacts are sometimes amazing and sometimes ordinary; the most spectacular and memorable objects that toured in 1977, such as the mask and the coffin, are not making the rounds this time. However, there are many excellent pieces.
The oft-cited miniature coffin for Tut’s mummified liver is spectacular, completely deserving of the room it gets to itself in the exhibit. Make sure to take a look at the carvings on the inside. The gold-leafed coffin of Tut’s grandmother Tuya is exquisite, though little explanation is given for why it is there, why it is amazing, or what the visitor should make of it. The objects are well lit, and generally well displayed. The brief captions, serving mostly as a title for the piece, as well as a two sentence bits of context, mostly encourage the educated visitor to spend the extra $6 for an audio tour. These labels are repeated for most of the objects, reducing the press of people against the glass, which is good both for the show and it’s pieces.
Really, the show is well designed to be what it is: a show-piece for the Egyptian government. The over-priced tickets are funding the construction of the new museum in Cairo, which, from what I’ve read, is long overdue. The primary reason the Egyptian government authorized this show (or the one that came to smaller museums this year and the year before), was because the artifacts could not be properly displayed or even cared for in Egypt. It is all shimmer and sparkle (clearly the work of Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass), and the influence of David Silverman is in the contextualization and explanation of the pieces and their importance to the chronology of ancient Egyptian civilization.
If you are going to see the show, be prepared to take your time. There is a good story behind the exhibit, if you can find it. Primarily, go into the galleries prepared to examine the art that came two generations before to the art of Amarna and then to the funerary goods of the boy-king. For kids, I suggest a sort of ‘treasure hunt’. Print out a copy of Tut’s cartouche (that is, an oval enclosure for the royal name), and give it to kids to find on various artifacts. It’s a great way to get them looking closely at pieces. The exhibit itself shows off this cartouche, but not until about the half-way point of the exhibit. Also, pause over the objects that seem out of place. Many spectacular objects are not gold plated. The boat in the first gallery, or the royal scepters are excellent examples of objects that rarely get seen or noticed.
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