Wives rule in SIX

HENRY THE EIGHTH’S six wives as stars of a Broadway musical? Well, it beats getting your head cut off! Imagine these Tudor women throwing off their long gowns and grabbing a microphone and you’ve got SIX, one of the most original musicals to arrive on Broadway. The show, which features an all-woman cast and allwoman band, won a Tony Award for Best Original Score and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical. “SIX totally rules,” says The New York Times. It’s a “rollicking, reverberant blast from the past.”

How did such an extraordinary idea come to fruition? SIX was created by two British university friends, Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss.

“Lucy and I were at Cambridge University together,” says Toby. “We ended up working on a lot of the same shows—she directed and I acted. We talked about writing a musical together someday. In 2017 the Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society asked for applications to take an original musical to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, so I applied. When I got the gig I asked Lucy to write it with me. I said, ‘I have an idea for a pop concert musical with the six wives of Henry VIII. Do you want to write it with me?’

“SIX is told by the wives of Henry VIII but as a girl group performing a pop concert for an audience,” he continues. “They’re sick and tired of everyone arguing over who’s the most important wife, and the Queens decide to hold a competition between them: Whoever had the worst time in her marriage to Henry VIII will be crowned the leading lady of the girl group! The pop concert consists of each Queen singing a solo in order to stake a claim for the spotlight— but, without wanting to give too much away, not everything goes according to plan …”

“So much of the show is shaped by the individual six Queens performing onstage, and what each brings to her role and to the group dynamic,” says Lucy, who is also the co-director of the show. “Even though each Queen had a palette of pop stars who inspired their character, the actual interpretation of them is super malleable. The performers have really made these roles their own, even taking inspiration from artists who weren’t around when we were first writing SIX. We have been so excited to see all these incredible performers’ versions of the Queens.”

While the execution (no pun intended!) of the story is unusual, the show does have some important points to impart to a 21st-century audience. SIX enables these women to tell their own stories, rather than let the predominately male versions that have come down history be the final word. These Queens don’t need men to make the show entertaining, clever and funny. Above all, a serious story about these women’s lives can be told while also acknowledging the silliness that can be found in the musical genre in which it’s presented. In other words, these Queens are going to tell their audience some serious home truths about living in a palace and have fun while doing it.

“This SIX is a solid ‘10’ for joy,” says Variety, and Entertainment Weekly proclaims, “Broadway’s high energy history remix reigns supreme.”

The best review? Audiences loves it! Come see these unlucky-in-love brides drop the mic as they take a stand for themselves.

SEGERSTROM HALL

June 13–25 | Tickets start at $36

SIX is presented with generous support from Burt and Molly Jolly Steven M. Sorenson, M.D.