National Theatre's Sleeping Beauty-inspired musical, HEX, releases cast album

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 12/17/21 at 12:49pm

https://www.broadwayrecords.com/london-1/hex-highlights-from-the-national-theatre-production-mp3

NTL Screening dates for 2022: https://hex.ntlive.com

The National Theatre has today released a highlights recording for the new musical Hex, a vividly original retelling of Sleeping Beauty, that is now open for previews in the Olivier theatre and runs until 22 January 2022.  

Rosalie Craig plays the fairy in this vividly original retelling of Sleeping Beauty: a mythic, big-hearted musical that goes beyond the waking kiss.

Deep in the wood, a lonely fairy longs for someone to bless. When she is summoned to the palace to help the princess sleep, her dream turns into a nightmare and her blessing becomes a curse. Soon, she is plunged into a frantic, hundred-year quest to somehow make everything right.

Hex: Highlights from the National Theatre production will be released by Broadway Records and available on all major digital music retailers from today. The 12 songs from the musical include Sixteen, Probly, In the Middle, Make It All Good, Prince Bert, Hello and On the Inside.  

The cast is led by Tamsin Carroll as Queenie, Rosalie Craig as Fairy, Michael Elcock as Bert and Kat Ronney as Rose, alongside Daisy Maywood as Regina, Shaq Taylor as Rex, Sargon Yelda as Smith/Smith-Smith. They are joined by Delroy Atkinson, Christopher Akrill, Esme Bacalla-Hayes, Madeline Charlemagne, Ebony Clarke, Sonya Cullingford, Hanna Dimtsu, Tamsin Dowsett, Joe Foster, Ben Goffe, Eleanor Kane, Kody Mortimer and Joseph Prouse.

Rufus Norris directs with music by Jim Fortune, book by Tanya Ronder, lyrics by Rufus Norris, designs by Katrina Lindsay and choreography by Jade Hackett.

Orchestrations by Simon Hale, music supervision and vocal arrangements by Marc Tritschler, music direction by Tarek Merchant, lighting design by Paul Anderson, choreography by Jade Hackett with consultant choreography by Bill Deamer, sound design by Simon Baker and video design by Ash Woodward.

Highlights from Hex was recorded at The Warehouse, Waterloo in November 2021, performed by the full Hex company alongside the full Hex band. The band is Tarek Merchant (music director) on keys, Cat Beveridge (associate music director) on keys 2, harmonium and celeste, David Delarre on electric guitar, acoustic guitars and banjo, Jo Nichols and Adam Higgs on upright and electric bass, Joley Cragg on kit and percussion, Nick Pynn on guitar, violin, mandocello and tiple, Howard McGill on flute, piccolo, clarinet, bass clarinet and baritone saxophone, Nathaniel Cross on trombone and bass trombone and Ros Stephen on violin, viola and mandolin.

Supported by the Garfield Weston Foundation through the Weston Culture Fund. The reopening of the Olivier theatre is generously supported by Areté Foundation / Betsy & Ed Cohen.

The development of new music theatre is supported by the Genesis Foundation through the Genesis Music Theatre Programme.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/17/21 at 12:56pm

An insanely awful musical that rivals the jaw droppingly terrible flops of the 80s. The show is canceled through January 5th and is only scheduled to play a few more dates after that, so who knows if a NTLive recording will actually happen.

For fans of flops though, I hope it does. 

[BritCrit]

Posted: 12/18/21 at 1:59pm

I am pretty depressed by the terrible word of mouth for Hex, as I will ALWAYS root for fairytale musicals, particularly original ones. Norris should have got a pro songwriter...

[Mark_E]

Posted: 12/18/21 at 2:12pm

It wasn't great, that's for sure.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/20/21 at 4:48pm

Looks like the NTLive Broadcast has been canceled. 

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 12/20/21 at 8:02pm

Thank God they scrapped the screening. They need to shake things up at the National, quick. 

[BritCrit]

Posted: 12/20/21 at 8:27pm

songanddanceman2 said: "Thank God they scrapped the screening. They need to shake things up at the National, quick."

As the cancellation of the NTLive filming has pretty much closed the door on casual audiences seeing Hex in its original form, would also like a few replies to explain WHY it was so rubbish...

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/20/21 at 9:17pm

Brit, I just landed back in NY and am waiting on food but i promise I’ll write something explaining why it rivals even the worst musicals I’ve ever seen. 

[binau]

Posted: 12/21/21 at 3:39am

Is this a “so bad it’s good” experience or just bad? Would not want to miss the next CARRIE.

[BritCrit]

Posted: 1/6/22 at 8:26am

Following the resuming of performances last night, the National Theatre has apparently announced that Hex will not have a press showing during this run, but will be revived next Christmas and be shown to the critics then. To some extent, this feels like an admission of failiure, but it seems like Rufus Norris is very passionate about this project and willing to give it a second chance.

(Source: National Theatre to re-stage Hex musical next winter | WhatsOnStage)

Personally, I'm pleased this is the case. I will always root for original Fairy Tale plays and musicals, so I want Hex to be as good as it possibly can be. However, I think even the most ardent fan will accept that it needs plenty of editing if it wants to be more successful next Christmas. Norris needs to bring in people to rewrite it and rewrite the soundtrack. Hopefully, we will be able to dismiss this run as an extended tryout in the "pre-Broadway" mould before a more professional version is shown next year...

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/6/22 at 10:01am

LOL. There’s no amount of revision that could save this. Obviously a year from now this thread could be bumped, proving me wrong but I highly doubt this sh*tshow will ever see the light of day again. 

[BritCrit]

Posted: 1/6/22 at 10:46am

Jordan Catalano said: "LOL. There’s no amount of revision that could save this. Obviously a year from now this thread could be bumped, proving me wrong but I highly doubt this sh*tshow will ever see the light of day again."

One thing that frustrates me about this is the fact that the National Theatre generally have a decent record with Christmas fairytale shows: Beauty and the Beast, The Light Princess and Pinocchio did reasonably well, but The Light Princess got Tori Amos on board to do the songs, whilst Pinocchio used songs from the Disney film... 

I am always a keen champion of Non-Disney fairytale retellings, so I'm rooting for Hex against all my better judgement. But Twitter reviewers and this blog have given it negative word of mouth, which worries me. I've not heard the music yet, so can't judge there. The staging seems pretty odd, but I've seen worse. The idea isn't too unique (It's essentially an edgier version of Maleficent) but has a lot of potential to do something a little different with it. There is nothing worse than seeing a non-Disney fairytale production crash and burn, and if I were Rufus Norris, I would do everything I could to salvage it...