Hex - NT

[nicolaclairem]

Reading some of the others reviews I honestly feel like I saw a different show!

I’m very hard to please and I loved this.

Saw it on Saturday night, audience was packed. It was visually stunning & captivating, the actors were all great, Tamsin Carroll in the role of Queenie especially. The songs were beautifully sung, I loved “in the middle” and “on the inside” & “I know what I am”

The audience seemed to appreciate it - a lot of people gave a standing ovation at the end.

The only negative I can comment on was some of the lyrics were a bit meh but not bad enough to make me not enjoy it!

Going to try and catch this again before it closes and if not definitely when it returns.

[theatrefan77]

Both performances on Thursday have now been cancelled

[andrew]

Rufus Norris needs to gracefully bow out. It's been a difficult tenure, and Hex really has been an awful misadventure raising several questions about how an artistic director of a national theatre should conduct themselves. He should announce that intends to step down to focus on directing individual shows and let a new voice lead in the post-covid era of the NT. Marianne Elliot would be amazing but I dare say she can make a lot more money and probably have a lot more fun sticking with Elliot & Harper.

Hex should never return. Use the pandemic as an excuse, that the run has ended and that "we'll be looking for opportunities to bring this back when the schedule allows" then never bother looking. I really like the idea of the NT using some of it's heft to create new musicals, there's such little going on in the UK in musical theatre writing that we need institutions like this to give UK artists a chance to have their work developed. It's a disgrace that the opportunity went to Rufus and his wife, and that they've screwed it up so badly.

[theatrefan77]

Completely agree. Norris should step down.

I thought that maybe they have improved Hex since I saw it based in some positive comments here, but then I realised that most positive feedback comes from people who have just join this board and I find that suspect. Could be wrong though. Maybe I should try and see it again since there are so many complimentary tickets floating around

[fiyerorocher]

Jan 11, 2022 12:59:31 GMT theatrefan77 said:

I thought that maybe they have improved Hex since I saw it based in some positive comments here, but then I realised that most positive feedback comes from people who have just join this board and I find that suspect. Could be wrong though.

Oh that's interesting. I had also been wondering if they'd made major changes, because the show I saw had almost no redeeming features. I hadn't noticed the trend in it being new users sharing positive reviews. Or maybe we've all be so harsh (rightfully, in my opinion) on it that casual readers have felt the urge to make accounts just to defend it :')

There are a few clips of the show on the NT Instagram and being promoted on Facebook, and they just serve to remind me how awful it all was. That ridiculous baby Rose costume... Nightmare-inducing!

[teamyali]

Jan 11, 2022 9:40:06 GMT theatrefan77 said:

Both performances on Thursday have now been cancelled

I thought that’s their schedule for filmed performances? (The one for the supposed NTLive)

[nicolaclairem]

Jan 11, 2022 12:59:31 GMT theatrefan77 said:

Completely agree. Norris should step down.

I thought that maybe they have improved Hex since I saw it based in some positive comments here, but then I realised that most positive feedback comes from people who have just join this board and I find that suspect. Could be wrong though. Maybe I should try and see it again since there are so many complimentary tickets floating around

I positively reviewed it and have no connection to HEX, I’m typically a browser of theatre board but was so surprised by some of the reviews I read I felt compelled to make an account and give my opinion.

[andrew]

Jan 11, 2022 18:48:19 GMT nicolaclairem said:

Jan 11, 2022 12:59:31 GMT theatrefan77 said:

Completely agree. Norris should step down.

I thought that maybe they have improved Hex since I saw it based in some positive comments here, but then I realised that most positive feedback comes from people who have just join this board and I find that suspect. Could be wrong though. Maybe I should try and see it again since there are so many complimentary tickets floating around

I positively reviewed it and have no connection to HEX, I’m typically a browser of theatre board but was so surprised by some of the reviews I read I felt compelled to make an account and give my opinion.

Good for you! New voices always spice things up.

[G]

Jan 11, 2022 14:21:26 GMT fiyerorocher said:

There are a few clips of the show on the NT Instagram and being promoted on Facebook, and they just serve to remind me how awful it all was. That ridiculous baby Rose costume... Nightmare-inducing!

I found that bit hilarious 😂 In fairness mostly due to the good performance of the actress, I can't remember the actual costume.

[fiyerorocher]

Jan 11, 2022 23:45:53 GMT G said:

Jan 11, 2022 14:21:26 GMT fiyerorocher said:

There are a few clips of the show on the NT Instagram and being promoted on Facebook, and they just serve to remind me how awful it all was. That ridiculous baby Rose costume... Nightmare-inducing!

I found that bit hilarious 😂 In fairness mostly due to the good performance of the actress, I can't remember the actual costume.

www.instagram.com/tv/CYWTQWxoREn/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Fair warning of nightmare fuel :')

[ThereWillBeSun]

^

That’s a point I forgot to mention in my short review / observations.

I feel like they missed a trick with Queen Regina and the husband!!!

So much potential for character growth and then suddenly forgotten about.

Bizarre choice to use that as promo. It’s a musical. Showcase the songs???

[ladidah]

What an odd snippet, didn't inspire me.

[cezbear]

Jan 12, 2022 9:14:40 GMT ladidah said:

What an odd snippet, didn't inspire me.

Yeah, I had a very slight curiosity about this one but that clip has helped keep me in the 'nope' camp. Also just a bizarre clip to showcase the show isn't it?

[jgblunners]

From what I’ve seen of the design and staging, it looks like a good production. However, what I’ve heard of the book and lyrics is completely abysmal. I’m going tonight and am interested to see how it all comes together.

[singingbird]

Contrarily, that clip rather intrigued me and I'm glad I've booked. I like weird, but I also like good (!) so I need the weirdness to be balanced by a sense that the creatives have a clear idea of what they're doing and why, even if the audience are left to puzzle it out. It needs to feel right, even if we can't quite put our finger on why.

All this said, I do think the National has never been able to nail its relationship to musical theatre and, even after all this time, it doesn't know how to naturally embrace sung theatre. There was the period of all the classics - Carousel etc - which was fine, but never quite felt a natural fit to me. It was as if an opera house that wanted to branch out, but wasn't sure which plays to produce, kept doing Shakespeare to be on the safe side. Then there have been the Sondheim revivals, which I'm forever grateful for, because they did so much to cement Sondheim as a viable theatrical force. The 1995 staging of A Little Night Music is possibly my favourite staging of any show ever. But, equally, I've always felt that there was an attitude of respecting Sondheim but little else - of putting him in a box, somehow, as the only person writing musicals with as much insight or artistry as straight plays, which is, of course, nonsense. There have been a few US imports - Caroline or Change, Hadestown - which have snuck through but not nearly as many as there could or should have been (no Dave Malloy, no Michael John LaChiusa, not even Kander & Ebb... and the National could have done Fun Home, Grey Gardens, Next to Normal - any number of interesting shows). Most of all, the National's record in developing new musicals has been woeful. The Light Princess. Wonder.Land. Even London Road was probably the best of a bad bunch. I haven't loved any of them - and no-one else has much either. As someone who is involved in a lot of new musical theatre writing in the UK, I can tell you 100% the talent is out there, and the opportunities just aren't.

So - my question is - what is the problem??? And what is the solution?

[Jan]

Jan 11, 2022 12:59:31 GMT theatrefan77 said:

Completely agree. Norris should step down.

That's simply not going to happen. He signed a 5 year extension in 2020. He will be there till 2025. The board will not fire him because that would be an admission that they themselves made a mistake in extending his contract. Any problems with Hex will be brushed off with "audience reluctance after Covid blah blah" - the NT has a long tradition of blaming audiences for flops.

[Someone in a tree]

Jan 12, 2022 10:05:06 GMT jgblunners said:

From what I’ve seen of the design and staging, it looks like a good production. However, what I’ve heard of the book and lyrics is completely abysmal. I’m going tonight and am interested to see how it all comes together.

Although that approach has worked wonders for many of the mega musicals...

[oxfordsimon]

Who in their right mind in the marketing department thought that was a good promo clip?

It doesn't show it is a musical
It does show one of the worst bald caps in theatre history
It does show one of the most unpleasant baby designs in theatre history

These are not quirky things. These are bad choices.

There is no quality control in the building it would seem. In any department.

[fiyerorocher]

There is also a clip of the whole hi, hi, hi, hello bit. It's not quite as awful, but it's possibly more frustrating because that song does have potential, but still falls short. The actress playing Rose is doing a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to making the most of what they have to work with. There's just something off about the rhythm of the song, plus a couple of truly cringeworthy lyrics.

Edit for link: www.facebook.com/nationaltheatre/videos/hello-hello-hi-performed-by-kat-ronney-rosalie-craig-and-michael-elcock-from-hex/1288377414965147/

[teamyali]

On the other hand, RuNo’s other show, the comeback of Small Island, started rehearsals with a new cast (though some of the supporting actors from the original cast are returning), and they’ll open on February. The play is a sure hit. Would that motivate RuNo to bring back Hex if Small Island revival is a box office hit? Small Island is very much match with the NT ethos or brand.

[ruperto]

Yes, I don't know why they've chosen that clip for Instagram. However, for those intrigued/repelled by Rosalie Craig's bald cap, I can point out that they appear to have sorted that out since that clip was filmed - I was in the front row last Friday and she had a much more fetching cap with feather-y bits sticking out which I thought looked rather good. The cap in that clip is pretty bad news...

[BurlyBeaR]

It all looks a bit knowing and pretentious. The Facebook comments suggest people are loving it though so…

[fiyero]

I’ve cancelled my other plans so I can go next Friday. Not sure I want to risk waiting for a return run.

[caa]

I saw Hex last week and really can't believe that its returning it will take a miracle to rescue it! I really have no intention to see it again. The funny thing is I remember it at the Young Vic years ago before it was turned into a musical and quite enjoyed it.

[dlevi]

I saw this tonight. It's an unmitigated disaster. Some scenic elements are good, and all of the performers are blameless. But this is appalling - bad music, bad lyrics, bad storytelling, choreography which can only be called ill-advised and clueless direction.