Based on the basic fairy story Sleeping Beauty, Hex is a brand new musical with a guide by Tanya Ronder, music by Jim Fortune and lyrics by Rufus Norris. The present premiered at The National Theatre in 2021, nevertheless, was rapidly postponed after which canceled because of the pandemic. Now, with a brand new forged, Hex re-opens on the National for a full run, and audiences can lastly be transported to a land of enchantment and surprise this festive season.
Drawing from the unique supply materials of the Sleepy Beauty story, Hex focuses on a lonely Fairy who longs for somebody to bless with a spell. Fairy is found within the woods and invited to the palace to bless a new child Princess. When she arrives the Queen’s mood flares and Fairy unintentionally locations a Hex on the princess (that she is going to prick her finger and go to sleep, solely to be awoken by a Prince) shedding her energy within the course of. She is then plunged right into a frantic, hundred-year quest to one way or the other make every little thing proper. Over the years following many Princes’ try and rescue the Princess, solely to be pricked and go to sleep too. Fairy is then sought out by an Ogre Queen who needs Fairy to forged a spell to cease her from consuming her new child son (as is Ogre nature). Fairy discovers the Queen is resistant to the sleeping hex prick and awaits the day she will introduce the newly born Prince to the Princess and proper her long-ago unsuitable. The Prince saves the Princess they usually have two youngsters, nevertheless, the Ogre Queen discovers Fairy’s plan and orders the infants cooked and served for dinner. Will Fairy save the infants in time for the household to stay fortunately ever after?
Rufus Norris directs Lisa Lambe (skilled singer and folklorist) as Fairy, Rosie Graham (Sanditon, Outlander, The School for Good and Evil) as Princess Rose, Michael Elcock (The Visit, The Meaning of Zong, Queens of Mystery) as Prince Bert and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt (Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella, The Wild Party, In The Heights and The View Upstairs) as Queenie). They’re joined by a big ensemble taking part in a number of characters all through together with Zaynah Ahmed (Disenchanted, Wonka), Marc Akinfolarin (Pirates of Penzance, Crazy for You, Anything Goes), Christopher Akrill (HeadSpaceDance, Home, l’m Darling, Cabaret), Sabrina Aloueche (We Will Rock You, Starlight Express, Les Miserables), Ben Goffe (The Mystery of Edwin Drood, A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Chris Jenkins (Jack Absolute Flies Again, Billy Elliot, Spamalot), Kalisha Johnson (Grease, Hairspray), Amanda Lindgren (Six, South Pacific, Cabaret, The King and I), Michael Matus (Martin Guerre, Phantom Of The Opera, Lend Me a Tenor), Kody Mortimer (Hairspray, Gypsy, 101 Dalmatians), Neïma Naouri (Fiddler on the Roof, South Pacific, West Side Story), Mark Oxtoby (Oh, What a Lovely War!, Back to the Future, The Phantom of the Opera), Kate Parr (Follies, Crazy For You, Saturday Night Fever), Aharon Rayner (The Great British Bakeoff: the Musical), Olivia Saunders (Kinky Boots – the Musical in Concert, Frank and Friends), Sasha Shadid (Breakin’ Convention, Summertime Ball), Rumi Sutton (Heathers) and Riley Woodford (Antigone, Jingle Jangle, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie).
Lisa Lambe as our unconventional Fairy, is completely forged. Her folksy highly effective singing voice and Irish appeal lends itself effectively to Jim Fortune’s rating and Rufus Norris lyrics. Combined with Katrina Lindsay’s imaginative costumes, Lambe’s Fairy is the misunderstood character the viewers instantly identifies with and champions. Rosie Graham as Princess Rose is something however your typical Princess. She’s unbiased, sturdy and desires extra journey out of life. Her interactions with Michael Elock’s Prince Bert have been among the most tender moments and their first assembly and music collectively was very candy. Victoria Hamilton-Barritt because the benevolent however misunderstood Queenie, is totally fabulous. She instructions the stage with an plain presence in each scene and her highly effective singing voice fills the National Theatre with ease.
While the story of Sleepy Beauty is considerably identified, Hex is just not a pantomime or adaption of the well-known Disney movie. Instead, it’s a moderately macabre legendary fairytale the place animals are killed onstage and a ravenous ogre thinks she’s consuming human infants. While Paul Anderson’s lighting design, Katrina Lindsay’s set, Simon Baker’s sound design and Ash J Woodward video design mix to create some visually beautiful magical moments, the tone of Hex appears uneven. With it’s violence and a few swear phrases included, Hex doesn’t appear applicable for babies nevertheless doesn’t flesh out its characters or provide a satisfying sufficient lesson to maintain grownup audiences all through it’s two-hour-and-a-half runtime.
Hex is precisely what it advertises; a vibrant, vivid authentic re-telling of the Sleeping Beauty fairytale. The forged are distinctive and the particular results are magical. With all of the present’s bells and whistles, the viewers on press night time actually loved the efficiency nevertheless like Princess Rose within the present, I used to be left wanting a bit extra journey.
★★★★
Reviewed by Stuart James