The National Theatre has released studio recordings of three songs from its Sleeping Beauty-inspired musical, Hex ahead of its premiere run in the Olivier this Christmas season.
Released to coincide with the announcement of the full cast for the production, the songs which are accompanied by videos of the studio session recordings are: ‘Probly’ sung by Rosalie Craig (The Light Princess, Company) as Fairy; ‘Sixteen’ sung by Kat Ronney (McDonald & Dodds) who will be taking on the central role of Rose; and ‘In The Middle’ sung by Craig and the production’s Queenie, Tamsin Carroll (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Oliver!).
Recorded at Konk Studios in London last month, the vocalists are accompanied by Marc Tritschler on piano, Nick Pynn on mandocello and guitar, Joley Cragg on drums and Flo Moore on bass. The songs were recorded by Julian Simmons and Matt Jaggar with assistant engineer Andy Whyte.
As previously announced Carroll, Craig and Ronney will feature alongside Michael Elcock (The Visit, A Midsummer Night’s Dream) as Bert. They will be joined by Christopher Akrill, Delroy Atkinson, Esme Bacalla-Hayes, Madeline Charlemagne, Ebony Clarke, Sonya Cullingford, Hanna Dimtsu, Tamsin Dowsett, Eleanor Kane, Daisy Maywood, Kody Mortimer, Joseph Prouse, Shaq Taylor and Sargon Yelda.
Directed by the National’s director and joint chief executive Rufus Norris who also provides the lyrics, Hex takes the traditional fairy story beyond the Prince’s wake-up kiss and is told from the fairy’s perspective. The musical features a book by Tanya Ronder and music by Jim Fortune.
Adapted from Norris’ critically-acclaimed 2002 Sleeping Beauty which took its inspiration from the 17th century folk tale, Hex reunites Norris with Katrina Lindsay, the set and costume designer on his Sleeping Beauty.
Orchestrations for the production are by Simon Hale, music supervision is by Marc Tritschler, music direction is by Tarek Merchant, lighting design is by Paul Anderson, choreography is by Jade Hackett with consultant choreography by Bill Deamer, sound design by Simon Baker and video design by Ash Woodward.
The development of new music theatre is supported by the Genesis Foundation through the Genesis Music Theatre Programme.
Hex begins performance in the Olivier on 4 December 2021 and is due to run until 22 January 2022.
Angela Thomas
- Songs From Hex – The Studio Sessions, released by Broadway Records, is available on all major digital music retailers
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