RAGS the Musical at Park Theatre: A Moving, Relevant Production of a Lesser (Known) Workby Randi / January 15, 2020It’s Theatre Thursday! Today’s show is the 2019 Broadway revival of Oklahoma!, which saddest of the sads will close this Sunday, January 19, because of injustice/small theatres/probably Scott Rudin.
You don’t really get many musical theatre fans putting Oklahoma! in their lists of all-time favorite shows. Sure it’s Rodgers & Hammerstein and it’s a classic, but it’s also old-fashioned and kind of meh, a story about farmers loving their corn and their hoedowns and going a-flirtin’ and a-courtin’ and a-bakin’ and all. Or is it? People tend to forget that Oklahoma features legitimate darkness, maybe because it’s usually still treated with a shiny happy gloss while you sing about the surrey with the fringe on top and the good ol’ boys of America. But the current Broadway revival of Oklahoma from director Daniel Fish breaks down the show to its dark, disturbing core, in a truly soul-rattling production that feels more poignant and relevant to modern America than anything written this year.
With the minimalist set design and style (and a lot of guns) and nothing to distract you, this revival of Oklahoma lets everything hang out for you to see in its starkest, realest form. The lines and the lyrics are the same, but how Fish presents it and how the perfect cast performs it manages to turn the show from something cheery and cheesy into something incredibly complex and dark, and even knowing the story and the lyrics, I was concentrating too hard to remember to breathe at times.
The love story at the center is more complicated than ever. The cheerful and fun-loving Curly, as played by the superb Damon Daunno, has an air of unpredictability hidden in his good-natured cheeriness, reflected also in his wandering voice, which can easily go from folksy and relaxed to as strong and moving as anything you hear on Broadway. When he opens the show with “Oh What a Beautiful Morning”, my first thought was that I wanted to wake up every day to this rendition, of a song I usually skip! His Curly is still playful, but he’s so clearly the popular kid, a lad in every sense, fun-loving and ‘nice’ but hiding an edge, untrustworthy at a party. The object of his affection, Laurey, is the great Rebecca Naomi Jones, whose flirting and joking around with Curly seems to be based in legitimate confusion about what she actually wants. Her relationship with Jud, the villain who is obsessed with her, is also much more complicated: it doesn’t seem as fully unrequited as it usually is said to be. It’s unclear whether she’s actually attracted to Jud too or whether she’s just terrified into being nice to him, or both, but either way it’s now fascinating instead of casually explained by his wickedness.
Jud, played by Patrick Vaill, is the part of this revival that haunts me. His performance is the toned down yet even more convincing version of Joaquin’s Joker origin story. Everything that makes Jud Fry the villain is done in a way that makes you simultaneously pity him, understand him, and fear him, and he could easily be any mediocre white guy yelling at the internet from his basement while living smaller than he wants to. The part of the show that I usually hate, “Poor Jud is Dead”, was made riveting and tense, as a live video camera projects just Jud’s face in night-vision as he listens to Curly pleasantly torment him. This scene was the most incredible Ivo Van Hove directing I’ve ever seen, much better than when Ivo tries it. Vaill’s subtle emotional reactions – all in his eyes – during this scene were stunning, and made everything about his story so upsetting and so relevant. The original ending, with Jud threatening the lives of Curly and Laurie and ending up, um, “falling on his knife”, now leaves nothing to the imagination about the chain of events but everything up for discussion regarding what’s right and wrong about it.
Laurey’s Aunt Eller, usually somewhat comic, is in Mary Testa’s hands funny but formidable, and her performance after the much-changed climax was as menacing as anything. The real comic relief comes from Ali Stroker’s Ado Annie, James Davis’s Will Parker, and Will Brill’s Ali Hakim, all wonderful, but it’s Ali Stroker who steals the show every time she’s onstage and more than earns last year’s Tony Award. Comparing her version of “I Cain’t Say No” to the movie version, it’s like two completely different songs. She’s worth the Broadway prices alone to see her own that stage.
Every second of this production is exquisite, every beat, every choice felt essential – except the Dream Ballet. I really wanted to like it since I’ve heard so many people have the same review, but I didn’t think it worked at all. It’s a good idea to modernize it as a classic ballet would have felt out of place in this raw production, but I didn’t feel it accomplished anything. The original Dream Ballet is famous for showing that dance can actually further the plot in musical theatre and help tell the story rather than simply be accompaniment, but I didn’t find that to be the case here. Maybe because it didn’t seem like it was actually ‘dancing’, it was like ‘purposeful walking around’.
But aside from that, this revival is perfection. They’ve managed to make something so familiar into something so new, significant, and so chilling. Oklahoma! might not be on my list of favorite shows, but this particular production is one of the most genius things I’ve ever seen.
INFORMATION
Oklahoma! ends its run at the Circle in the Square in NYC on Sunday, January 19.
There’s not a bad seat in the house (it’s in the round, with the back wall closed off). The CITS toilet situation is annoying – downstairs for everyone. They need a new water filling system; the elementary school style water fountain would require you to Andy Dwyer it to actually get anything out of it.
VEGAN ALERT: they serve vegan chili at intermission!!! I do not think the cornbread is vegan but CHILI, MY LITTLE CHILI BABIES! YOU PUT THE PEEPS IN THE CHILI POT AND EAT THEM BOTH UP YOU PUT THE PEEPS IN THE CHILI POT AND ADD THE M&MS! COME ON! DIP YOU PAWS IN MY CHILI! SCOOP YOUR LITTLE MITTENS RIGHT IN THE STEW!
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Twelfth Night at the Young Vic: Shakespeare Gets the Modern Musical Treatment
It’s Theatre Thursday! Today we are talking about ‘Twelfth Night’, the new musical version at the Young Vic in London
Two years ago, everyone in the know in New York was raving about this exciting new production at the Public Theatre. It was a fast-paced, rollicking rendition of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, a play we all thought we knew every possible version of yet were seeing in a new light – as a hip musical. (If you use the word hip are you automatically not hip?) I was sorry to have missed that original run, but luckily the production has come to London’s Young Vic to stir things up. With original director Kwame Kwei Armah on board alongside the Public’s Oskar Eustis, this version of Twelfth Night is a short and sweet modern musical with rocking original songs by Shaina Taub. Although the overeager chopping actually cut too much of the story, the overall concept successfully makes a familiar play feel new again.
Two years ago, everyone in the know in New York was raving about this exciting new production at the Public Theatre. It was a fast-paced, rollicking rendition of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, a play we all thought we knew every possible version of yet were seeing in a new light – as a hip musical. (If you use the word hip are you automatically not hip?) I was sorry to have missed that original run, but luckily the production has come to London’s Young Vic to stir things up. With original director Kwame Kwei Armah on board alongside the Public’s Oskar Eustis, this version of Twelfth Night is a short and sweet modern musical with rocking original songs by Shaina Taub. Although the overeager chopping actually cut too much of the story, the overall concept successfully makes a familiar play feel new again.
Twelfth Night tells the story of twins separated after a shipwreck who believe the other has died. Viola, the girl, makes her way to the shores of Ilyria, a colorful city that here looks like if Lin-Manuel’s ‘In the Heights’ had the upstage space to create more storefronts besides the bodega. She disguises herself as a boy in order to work for Duke Orsino. She does this by donning a suit and taking off her wig and calling herself Cesario. The prettyboy Duke is like sooo in looove with Olivia, a wealthy countess who is mourning the death of her father and brother and so refuses to be courted or like go out to parties and meet dukes. Lovesick, the Duke orders his new boy, Cesario, to go to Olivia and profess the Duke’s love for her on his behalf and try to get her to see him because he sooo lurves her even though someone who *actually* loved someone would maybe be respectful of the fact that they were in mourning and maybe wait to try to get in their pants after some time had passed, but what do I know, I’m not a duke. As all such great (so great) plans are wont to do, this plan goes bananers because instead of listening to Cesario’s words about the Duke and falling in love with the absent third party (because that’s how that happens), Olivia falls in love with Cesario, the person who is actually there in person talking so like DUH. But Cesario’s a girl Cesario’s a girl! Dramaaaz. It would be cool to see a retelling where they let them be lesbians.
The Duke (Rupert Young) and Viola/Cesario (Gabrielle Brooks) have some of the most compelling, watchable scenes, but too much of the buildup of their story has been cut. She starts working for the Duke and like immediately falls in love with him? Sure he’s handsome but it’s hard to buy without proper time devoted to their story. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVES me a 90-minute show, but for such a classic like Twelfth Night – and for such an intriguing, provocative take on it – it deserves more time. Because, while more time and scenes would help the story that’s there, the scenes that are there are pretty strong. All of our leads find really hilarious comic moments in the seemingly nothingest of moments, elevating the production with every little laugh. Brooks has a voice, and even though her final scenes seemed all the same level of smiling-so-I’m-happy acting, it was nice to have a leading lady who could really sing. Natalie Dew (from the ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ musical, poor girl) has the impossible task of following the last Olivia I saw – Mark Rylance, who won another Tony for his work as the much-sought after lady of Ilyria. He really found humor in the dullest bits of the script (“What is your parentage?! Ugh!” was reason enough for him to win). While this Olivia wasn’t quite a laugh-riot, she did a very nice job.
Surprisingly, I thought one of the most riveting performances was that of Feste, the fool, who kind of acts as a narrator in this production. Surprising, because I never thought much of Feste before. But here the character is kind of the string holding the show together, and so interesting that I want to reread the play and see what I was missing. As played by Melissa Allan, Feste is a recognizable girl from the East London club scene (I would know), with leather pants and a cut-out top, down on her luck and keeping an observant eye on the fortunes of those around her. And fork me, Allan can SANG. Not just sing, but SANG. It helps that she gets the best song of the production – “Is This Not Love”, a song I can’t wait to download and play all the time and sing in the shower until my neighbors call the cops and I can be like “joke’s on you I’m not breaking any laws!”
We get a shitload of time devoted to Malvolio (Gerard Carey), Olivia’s steward. Even though Carey gives a fantastic performance and his were the comic best moments (how he made an entire audience cry laughing just by turning around on a segway is a feat), the unmatched attention made him seem like the lead character, and, as a result, didn’t allow for enough heft to be given to Orsino and Viola/Cesario’s relationship. Also, this brought too much attention to the worst part about Twelfth Night – the Malvolio/Toby Belch/Maria subplot. In this supposedly ‘comic’ subplot, Sir Toby Belch and Maria (the uncle and maidservant of Olivia, respectively) trick Malvolio into believing that Olivia is in love with him, by having Maria write a fake letter in Olivia’s handwriting. The letter contains declarations of love for a certain man that is undeniably Malvolio, as well as the notorious request for him to dress in ‘yellow stockings cross-gartered’ so he looks silly. And, as punishment, Toby and Maria…get married. I mean. It’s THE WORST. They deserve to DIE. Probably my most hated Shakespeare story. Sure, Malvolio is kind of a prick but he’s nothing compared to these two absolute wankers who take someone’s sanity and use it as a plaything. In this rendition, sadly, full weight is given to this subplot, so it takes over. And, sadder, they don’t do anything to fix how horrible it is. In fact, it’s clearer that Malvolio loses his mind and is taken away to an asylum! I want the version of Twelfth Night that sees Toby and Maria punished and banished from Ilyria, for a start. And while Carey’s “Count Malvolio” is a superb number (a perfect musical comedy song, too; Taub knows what she is doing for the genre), it doesn’t need two reprises.
It’s a little odd that the story is put in a modern setting – Ilyria is a regular, diverse city – yet has a duke and counts and countesses. As such, the modern setting and clothes and language feel a little off. Either a full commitment to modernity (i.e. getting rid of the nobility and having them be different kinds of upper class) or a fully realized traditional production just with modern music would have been more overall convincing.
As for the real boy twin, Sebastian (Jyuddah Jaymes), he is saved by a sea captain named Antonio (Jonathan Livingstone), who here looks like straight outta wartime. Antonio saves and helps Sebastian get back on his feet because of his ‘affection’ for him, which is never really explained. Here, Antonio gets to profess his feelings for Sebastian through song, and it works to make it clear that Antonio is in love with Sebastian, but the brevity of every section of the story means that it kind of comes out of nowhere, and it doesn’t go anywhere. And we don’t get a satisfying reunion of the two friends after all the twin-caused confusion in the final act. I would like to see a version where Antonio gets the boy. I already said something about Olivia and Viola being lovers, didn’t I? I guess I want someone to change the ending and do a full-on LGBTQ version.
But that’s besides the point! As is, the fact that I wish this was a full two-act work speaks volumes for how much fun I had. It’s not perfect, and I do (obviously) have a lot of criticisms, but mostly I had a forking blast. It may be a lightweight version, and only 90 minutes, but each minute was full of new life given to this old play. The talented cast and this vibrant, often electrifying production is not to be missed. And some of the music is magnificent. I can’t wait to see what Taub does next.
INFORMATION
Twelfth Night is at the Young Vic until November 17.
If you can’t get to London to see it, you can download the album (vocals by Shaina Taub) here and apparently it’s a ‘name your own price’ jawn! Amazing! Off to listen to “Is This Not Love” a million times. Oh and “If You Were My Beloved”!!
The Duke (Rupert Young) and Viola/Cesario (Gabrielle Brooks) have some of the most compelling, watchable scenes, but too much of the buildup of their story has been cut. She starts working for the Duke and like immediately falls in love with him? Sure he’s handsome but it’s hard to buy without proper time devoted to their story. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVES me a 90-minute show, but for such a classic like Twelfth Night – and for such an intriguing, provocative take on it – it deserves more time. Because, while more time and scenes would help the story that’s there, the scenes that are there are pretty strong. All of our leads find really hilarious comic moments in the seemingly nothingest of moments, elevating the production with every little laugh. Brooks has a voice, and even though her final scenes seemed all the same level of smiling-so-I’m-happy acting, it was nice to have a leading lady who could really sing. Natalie Dew (from the ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ musical, poor girl) has the impossible task of following the last Olivia I saw – Mark Rylance, who won another Tony for his work as the much-sought after lady of Ilyria. He really found humor in the dullest bits of the script (“What is your parentage?! Ugh!” was reason enough for him to win). While this Olivia wasn’t quite a laugh-riot, she did a very nice job.
Surprisingly, I thought one of the most riveting performances was that of Feste, the fool, who kind of acts as a narrator in this production. Surprising, because I never thought much of Feste before. But here the character is kind of the string holding the show together, and so interesting that I want to reread the play and see what I was missing. As played by Melissa Allan, Feste is a recognizable girl from the East London club scene (I would know), with leather pants and a cut-out top, down on her luck and keeping an observant eye on the fortunes of those around her. And fork me, Allan can SANG. Not just sing, but SANG. It helps that she gets the best song of the production – “Is This Not Love”, a song I can’t wait to download and play all the time and sing in the shower until my neighbors call the cops and I can be like “joke’s on you I’m not breaking any laws!”
We get a shitload of time devoted to Malvolio (Gerard Carey), Olivia’s steward. Even though Carey gives a fantastic performance and his were the comic best moments (how he made an entire audience cry laughing just by turning around on a segway is a feat), the unmatched attention made him seem like the lead character, and, as a result, didn’t allow for enough heft to be given to Orsino and Viola/Cesario’s relationship. Also, this brought too much attention to the worst part about Twelfth Night – the Malvolio/Toby Belch/Maria subplot. In this supposedly ‘comic’ subplot, Sir Toby Belch and Maria (the uncle and maidservant of Olivia, respectively) trick Malvolio into believing that Olivia is in love with him, by having Maria write a fake letter in Olivia’s handwriting. The letter contains declarations of love for a certain man that is undeniably Malvolio, as well as the notorious request for him to dress in ‘yellow stockings cross-gartered’ so he looks silly. And, as punishment, Toby and Maria…get married. I mean. It’s THE WORST. They deserve to DIE. Probably my most hated Shakespeare story. Sure, Malvolio is kind of a prick but he’s nothing compared to these two absolute wankers who take someone’s sanity and use it as a plaything. In this rendition, sadly, full weight is given to this subplot, so it takes over. And, sadder, they don’t do anything to fix how horrible it is. In fact, it’s clearer that Malvolio loses his mind and is taken away to an asylum! I want the version of Twelfth Night that sees Toby and Maria punished and banished from Ilyria, for a start. And while Carey’s “Count Malvolio” is a superb number (a perfect musical comedy song, too; Taub knows what she is doing for the genre), it doesn’t need two reprises.
It’s a little odd that the story is put in a modern setting – Ilyria is a regular, diverse city – yet has a duke and counts and countesses. As such, the modern setting and clothes and language feel a little off. Either a full commitment to modernity (i.e. getting rid of the nobility and having them be different kinds of upper class) or a fully realized traditional production just with modern music would have been more overall convincing.
As for the real boy twin, Sebastian (Jyuddah Jaymes), he is saved by a sea captain named Antonio (Jonathan Livingstone), who here looks like straight outta wartime. Antonio saves and helps Sebastian get back on his feet because of his ‘affection’ for him, which is never really explained. Here, Antonio gets to profess his feelings for Sebastian through song, and it works to make it clear that Antonio is in love with Sebastian, but the brevity of every section of the story means that it kind of comes out of nowhere, and it doesn’t go anywhere. And we don’t get a satisfying reunion of the two friends after all the twin-caused confusion in the final act. I would like to see a version where Antonio gets the boy. I already said something about Olivia and Viola being lovers, didn’t I? I guess I want someone to change the ending and do a full-on LGBTQ version.
But that’s besides the point! As is, the fact that I wish this was a full two-act work speaks volumes for how much fun I had. It’s not perfect, and I do (obviously) have a lot of criticisms, but mostly I had a forking blast. It may be a lightweight version, and only 90 minutes, but each minute was full of new life given to this old play. The talented cast and this vibrant, often electrifying production is not to be missed. And some of the music is magnificent. I can’t wait to see what Taub does next.
INFORMATION
Twelfth Night is at the Young Vic until November 17.
If you can’t get to London to see it, you can download the album (vocals by Shaina Taub) here and apparently it’s a ‘name your own price’ jawn! Amazing! Off to listen to “Is This Not Love” a million times. Oh and “If You Were My Beloved”!!
Questions I hope HEX answers before opening night
The brand new musical Hex is due to open tomorrow night at London’s National Theatre. Given its awesome-sounding premise — it’s a dark musical retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story starring the great Rosalie Craig as the fairy responsible for the curse — I was too excited to wait for opening night. Instead, I saw an early preview and. . .well. . .yeesh. Rather than parroting the fellow audience members we overheard as we left the theatre (“wow what an absolute mess”), I’m going to list some of the questions I hope the creatives can manage to answer before the show is frozen. If these questions can be answered in time, and the holes they address fixed, then there’s a chance this show can be saved. There is so much potential in that elevator pitch, but that potential has unfortunately been left to gather dust with Lorelai’s golf clubs.
Question 2. What was Fairy’s backstory?
This question gets to the big hole in the show. Fairy’s sad history is hinted at throughout — she’s the only fairy left; she has no wings; she was ‘left behind’ by all her brethren — but we never hear a ‘why’ for any of it. What happened to all the other fairies? Why is this weird schizophrenic* childish being the only fairy left in the land? Why is she so messed up? How did she get so messed up? Why can’t she think straight? Did she suffer trauma? Is she supposed to be special for surviving, or is it just dumb luck — or bad luck? How did she lose her wings? Answers to any of these questions would go far to help develop the character in interesting ways: why she’s so weird, why she’s alone, why her story deserves to be told. But we get zilch.
*not using offensively; she legitimately is portrayed as schizophrenic, displaying classic symptoms including but not limited to: hearing voices, having delusions and hallucinations, being unable to communicate effectively, having abnormal motor functioning, neglecting personal hygiene, having useless/excessive movement, exhibiting bizarre posture, &c. Which, actually, forces a Question 2b: Why is Fairy portrayed as schizophrenic???
Question 3. Why didn’t the queen sleep?
My crim law professor used to go through alleged facts and point out where something “didn’t pass the smell test”. I thought of that frequently during this show. Let’s start at the very beginning: The queen has a new baby who refuses to sleep. The entire castle’s staff is exhausted. So, the queen orders a lackey to go find a fairy to put the baby to sleep. Okay, so, if they had already gotten a doctor and the doctor couldn’t do anything – and couldn’t find anything wrong with the baby underlying the wakefulness – why not just have the staff rotate caring for the baby? I don’t buy that this self-absorbed (annoying, very panto) queen hadn’t slept. She surely would have go to bed in far away quarters each night and left her staff to watch the baby. (And also, if there’s nothing medically wrong, why turn to black magic? But that would undo the whole myth, so whatever.)
Question 4. What urged Fairy’s hex?
An interesting new aspect of this story is the notion that fairies are supposed to only ‘bless’ (give magical favors that the person being blessed actively wants), rather than ‘hex’ (put magic on a person that they don’t want). She found that the baby didn’t want to sleep, and as a result the fairy didn’t want to force the baby to sleep as that would be a hex. (Drink!) Fairy said the baby would sleep when she was tired, i.e. when she wanted to sleep. This wasn’t good enough for the royal family, and they ‘forced’ Fairy to hex the baby to sleep. The forcing made Fairy so. . . something, that she hexed the baby to sleep unendingly once she gets pricked by a thorn (until, of course, the true love’s kiss). But this huge pivotal moment of the story was rushed through so it was unclear why Fairy did such a hex. Yes she was being held captive and she was clearly stressed out, but what made her think of this specific, peculiar curse with all its random details? Why not hex the people who are actually assaulting her, capturing her? Why not put the baby to sleep then and there? Why do such a bizarre hex? Literally one line supporting her action, revealing anything about her mindset, would have been good. Her decision here is the entire foundation of this story, so it needed to be supported at least a little. I keep seeing Michael in The Good Place waving his hand and saying ‘don’t worry about it’ in response to questions.
Question 5. What happened to the staff?
The baby, Rose, grew up sheltered in an attempt to prevent her from ever being pricked by a thorn. But that day finally came when she was a teen, and she fell into her hexed sleep. Rose woke up after 100 years, ostensibly having long been alone in the castle. No one else was there. Did the existing staff really abandon this cursed princess? There was no plan put in place by previous royals to continue keeping watch over this child throughout her slumber, throughout the subsequent generations? I don’t buy that at all! That’s so irresponsible! Abolish the monarchy!
Question 6. Are the murderous thorns supposed to be funny?
The personified ‘thorns’ who pricked Rose to sleep then set about pricking every single prince who tries to enter the kingdom to lift the curse, sending them into long-term sleep as well. (Though it seems at first like straight up murder.) This whole segment is done like a creepier murdery-er version of the Oompa Loompa songs but it’s also clearly supposed to be funny. I found it so cringey. So much murderous energy. So much of an annoying song. So much time devoted to these giant murderous thorns who want to put everyone who crosses their path to sleep forever?? I hated it.
Question 7. How did Rose know wassup?
When Bert* wakes Rose up and they immediately seem to love each other, how did Rose — who has been asleep 100 years and before that lived a completely sheltered childhood to prevent the cursed (two syllables) thorn prick — seem totally in the know about love and sex and I don’t know IMMEDIATELY HAVING TWO BABIES?? She would be a total Nell ta ta, not a regular modern teen who is totally chill with becoming a teen mom with no support system.
*Question 7b. What kind of name for a prince is Bert?
Question 8. What’s going on with the music?
With each of the songs, I struggled to get a handle on what was happening. Instead of a cohesive single song (let alone cohesive score), each movement felt like different groups of small musical phrases smashed together, never coalescing into actual songs with melodies, or foundations, or points. It was a very strange chaotic experience, to think you grasp what a song sounds like and what it’s doing and then have it keep shifting away from you musically, in a lawless deranged way rather than a creative way. And there was so much of the modern pop vocalizing/shrieking/riffing instead of legitimate singing, a trend I truly despise. Of course Rosalie sounds wonderful but her talents are not given enough to work with.
Question 9. Why was the whole second act focusing on the ogre grandmother eating her grandchildren?
This was where every audience member I could see was imitating my favorite little blonde toddler girl gif, you know the one. The action shifted to focus entirely on the ogre queen wanting to eat her grandkids and being unable to control herself. Why, just so much why. Why didn’t Fairy tell Rose that the ogre was after her babies and would probably kill her too and urge her to GTFO RIGHT NOW? Instead Fairy killed some animals to trick the queen into believing she was eating the babies. Is Fairy that inept, that much a bumbling fool? It was insufferable. Why didn’t she just say RUN instead of cowering with the babies? It took a helluva lot more time to hunt down the goat and the rabbit and whatever it was (NOT great sound effects of slaughter btw, could definitely have done without that awful harrowing bullshit) than it would have to just shove the babies into the arms of their mother and shove them all out the door.
Question 10. Why don’t the book and score match up?
My biggest problem (okay they’re all the biggest) was that the book didn’t make sense on its own, and then the song lyrics didn’t match the book/action at all. It reminded me of the Broadway flop A Tale of Two Cities. In that show, this powerful supporting character spends the whole show wanting to get revenge for her brother, and then in Act II sings her big number, the main lyric of which was ‘out of sight, out of mind.’ Which had exactly zero to do with her character’s situation or the need for revenge for her brother. It was like, wtf?? That’s not what’s happening here, that’s not what you’ve been saying? I thought of that during this show.
Specific songs:
– Bert’s song was both indecipherable and also a heroic pomp-y song but in a creepy minor key. Why that key if it’s supposed to be a pump-up song? It didn’t fit to introduce the character.
– The opening song of Act II, with all the suitors singing about maybe one day finally being the one or one day it’ll be me or maybe this time or whatever, made no sense. These people also just woke up from decades being cursed asleep, and their first thought is about one day winning? getting the prize? (the princess? gross) and not about ‘oh my god where is my family, where is my home, do I not have a home anymore? how many years of my life did I miss?’ What do you mean one day it’ll be you, do you know you just woke up from like 80 years asleep? You just got a miracle second chance done on you and you’re complaining about the before times? Go see about your life, men! Make it make sense.
– The big climactic song about how everyone is different on the outside vs the inside was the greatest example of the aforementioned Tale of Two Cities illogicality. The lyrics do not reflect what had been told in the story. Rose says she’s smart on the outside? She has not lived at all and left two babies unattended for an ogre to catch! Bert says on the outside he’s seen as a hero? He hasn’t done shit heroically yet! No one thinks you’re a hero! Worst of all, the ogre who just thought she happily ate her grandbabies says that she is going to start being true to herself. BEING TRUE TO YOURSELF IS EATING BABIES! You need to work to NOT be true to yourself!!!
Question 11: Why is the promising Rose and Bert conflict treated like an afterthought?
The Rose and Bert conflict is infuriatingly done. He doesn’t believe what Rose says about his mother – that she’s an ogre and so on – and he NEVER DOES believe her, not until his mother reveals the truth herself. Yet afterward, Rose is the one to run after him to apologize, leaving her babies unattended. I mean I guess that’s all believable for an 18-year-old who just woke up but I don’t think it was presented in that way. It seemed actually presented as her needing to apologize to him, which is absolutely bonkers. And it all seemed secondary to Fairy trembling and wincing around the stage and also wanting to be friends with the ogre? When did the ogre become her best friend? See so many questions.
The most frustrating part of this show (okay it’s all the most frustrating part) is that in this climactic segment, instead of having a song about Rose and Bert’s conflict and giving some character depth and development through song as musicals are supposed to do, they give us a silly R&B song for the suitors that lifts right out. Another point in the panto column.
Question 11b: Why does Rose consider the suitors, who she never met until right now, her best friends? They have all been asleep and never met before.
I have more questions, like why is the humor geared to the lowest common denominator? why are there so many elements that evidence a favoring of panto over the musical art form? is this for kids or adults? but I’ve asked enough. With some work, it would be a decent show – it has so much promise in that premise. But it’s presented as though the creatives don’t believe in the premise and instead stuff the hours with low-grade jokes, unfinished sentences, and mere sketches of characters. Hex was unfortunately tonally confused and sloppy. I hope there is time to answer these questions before the show is set so that it can try to find its proper footing.
INFORMATION
Hex opens Wednesday December 15 at the National Theatre. At my performance, Act I ran from 7:20 to 8:38, Act II ended at 9:55. Hilariously, the placards outside the doors said the run time was 2 hours 34 minutes, a mind-boggling specificity that I will never understand the point of announcing.
