UPDATE: This production is temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tickets are now on sale for SIX at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on Broadway.
In the space of just a few short years, SIX has grown from a 2017 Edinburgh Fringe production to become an international musical phenomenon, and like Hamilton, the show has burst explosively out of the theatre bubble and into the mainstream.
SIX tells the testimonies of the six ex-wives of British royal tyrant Henry VIII… but through the medium of a modern-day girl group concert! As the ‘queens’ dispute who should be the lead singer of the group, agreeing it should be the one amongst them who received the poorest treatment from their former husband, we are introduced to each member with scintillating solo numbers (and a handful of gratifying group numbers to boot). In addition, each queen is also inspired by present-day pop divas. Whilst Catherine of Aragon carries herself like Queen B Beyoncé, Anne Boleyn rocks out more like a “Sk8er Boi”-era Avril Lavigne. The smooth tones of an Adele-esque Jane Seymour contrast nicely with Anna of Cleves, who gives us her best Nicki Minaj. And while Katherine Howard brings us the seductive à la Britney Spears, the survivor Catherine Parr rounds out the group with a gravitas of one Alicia Keyes.
The brainchild of Toby Marlow during his final year at Cambridge University, he and his collaborator Lucy Moss wrote the show at the tender age of 21. Presented by Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017, this fresh new musical caught the attention of producers Kenny Wax and Global Musicals, who would bring SIX to the Arts Theatre in London’s West End in December of that year. Its success snowballed from there, spurred on by the release of the original cast recording in September 2018, and SIX toured the UK extensively and later returned to the Arts Theatre for an open-ended London run.
The ‘little show that could’ would ultimately be honored with five Olivier Award nominations in 2019, including ‘Best Musical’ in a category that also included Come From Away, Fun Home, and Tina: The Tina Turner Musical.
Following a North American premiere in Chicago in May 2019, the US cast would tour to the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre in Alberta, Canada, and the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota. Next stop: Broadway!
Don’t miss out on this genre-defying, exhilarating history-lesson-cum-musical with a poptastic score for the ages!
(Photos by Joan Marcus)
9 images Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. From Tudor Queens to Pop Princesses, SIX the wives of Henry VIII take the mic to reclaim their identities out of the shadow of their infamous spouse—remixing five hundred years of historical heartbreak into an exuberant celebration of 21st century girl power.
UPDATE: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Broadway League has ordered a month-long shutdown of all Broadway theaters and this evening's official Opening Night of SIX will not be going ahead as scheduled. Try not to lose ur heads over these brand new pics! Producers of the Broadway premiere of the musical phenomenon SIX have now released official production photography ahead of tonight's official opening at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.
Get ready for the "historemix," Broadway! The musical phenomenon SIX begins previews at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre tonight, ahead of an official opening on March 12. SIX is written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss and co-directed by Ms. Moss and Jamie Armitage. Synopsis: "Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. From Tudor Queens to Pop Princesses, SIX the wives of Henry VIII take the mic to reclaim their identities out of the shadow of their infamous spouse—remixing five hundred years of historical heartbreak into an exuberant celebration of 21st century girl power."
