'Six' star Kirstin Maldonado has a one-of-a-kind, no category career

For Maldonado, her return to Broadway, her longtime work with the Grammy-winning vocal group Pentatonix, and her personal life as a mother all go hand in hand.

Summary

• Pentatonix vocalist Kirstin Maldonado stars as Anne Boleyn in Six through August 9
• Maldonado discusses how Pentatonix; Broadway; and motherhood all inform each other as part of her life and career
• Maldonado is a Grammy winner with Pentatonix and made her Broadway debut in 2018 in Kinky Boots

"I find it really funny that Pentatonix is five, and now I'm going to Six," Kirstin Maldonado said with a laugh. Best known as a member of that Grammy Award-winning a cappella quintet, Maldonado is also a lifelong Broadway baby. Singing Disney songs around the house as a kid in Texas led to her mom signing her up for voice lessons when she was 8, which led to her participating in a local playhouse's Schoolhouse Rock Jr., which led to her studying musical theatre at the University of Oklahoma for a year before forming Pentatonix.

Maldonado's artistic pursuits have never happened in isolation — it was in the Texas community theatre scene and high school choir, respectively, where she met Pentatonix co-founders Mitch Grassi and Scott Hoying. Even now, her return to Broadway, eight years after her debut as Lauren in Kinky Boots, comes right on the heels of a Pentatonix tour. She performs through August 9 as Anne Boleyn, the second of Henry VIII's six wives — an apt role for Maldonado since these Tudor queens are styled like today's pop divas (her Boleyn evokes alt-pop stars like Avril Lavigne) and are totally in command of their own stories.

Add recent motherhood onto all that, and Maldonado is constantly asking herself, "How do I incorporate all my loves into one life?" Keep up what she's doing, is the answer. As her Six run begins tonight, Maldonado shared with New York Theatre Guide how Pentatonix, motherhood, and Broadway all inform each other to make up a — to borrow a Six lyric — "one-of-a-kind, no category" career that she's only seeking to grow.

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Do you remember your first reaction to Six as an audience member?

My best friend took me for my birthday to the touring company in L.A. [in 2023]. I knew loosely what it was based around, but I didn't know every detail, which I love — going in and seeing it for the first time so it's all fresh.

I loved it. I laughed. I was really blown away by how witty it was and how fun the numbers were and how they pulled the entire point of it off. [...] I love being able to go to musicals and it's fun and camp and great, but then you're crying.

How did the opportunity to join the show come to you?

I auditioned two years ago, and it didn't work out then, but then got the offer this past Christmas to come back in for this year. It made sense to slot it in around Pentatonix things that were already panning out.

With actors — in TV, film, Broadway, whatever — you have so many auditions, and you get so many nos. [...] It's just nice to know that I put out work that I felt positive about and that, even if it didn't work out at the time, I was thought of after.

When you auditioned two years ago, were you auditioning for other things? Had you wanted to return to Broadway for a while?

I mean, I always hold space for Broadway. I love it. It's my heart passion. What little Kirsty had always wanted to do is be out here. But I've also had two children since 2022 to now, so this is coming at such a beautiful time where I'm not pregnant, not having kids, not coming directly from the heels of that as well, and was ready to open myself up back into whatever career-wise I wanted.

Also, coming from doing [...] Kinky Boots and that being such an awesome and fun role to have my first Broadway experience, to then now going into Six, which is a much more demanding role vocally and physically because there's so much dancing on stage — I'm so happy to see that growth. I feel mentally prepared for it with all the things that I've accomplished within the last couple years, too.

How do you feel you've grown as a performer since your Broadway debut?

Motherhood has done me a lot of good in terms of being able to set boundaries for myself and also readjusting how I handle my energy output in terms of time. Time is such a weird thing, and you only have so much of it. So when I put my heart into something [...] I want to make time and space for it.

I feel much more disciplined now that I'm a parent. Because of that discipline — how I take care of my voice and my body and my effort — I feel like a stronger performer overall because I am able to, I don't know, take better care of myself than in my 20s.

What are you bringing to your Boleyn, and what do you connect to about her?

She has that badass, cool-girl energy, and she's so effortless. Everything is just like, "Yeah, that's just how it is. That's just how I feel." I love that. It feels so fun to lean into the pop-punk, alternative style and vibe. I grew up listening to Avril Lavigne, Evanescence, so want to bring [that] to the table.

How has your continued work with Pentatonix informed your Broadway work?

That's what also feels cool in terms of timing for this musical: Because we've just come from a tour, I can carry all that from Pentatonix into this production. What I love about Pentatonix is, in the same way that Six is going through all these different genres and vibes of different Queens, we have done so many different covers of so much different music: Christmas music, country music, pop music. That really shapes your musicianship.

Anything that is different or challenging for you is going to grow you as an individual. You're going to find what you like about that or don't like about it. You're going to find your weaknesses and your strengths, and you're going to grow and discover new things about your voice in all those opportunities.

Pentatonix is so amazing in that way. And because we all have such different musical tastes [...] we all have pulled each other in different ways: "Let's do this song, which is a little more R&B." "Let's do this song, which is a little more indie-folky."

Both Kinky Boots and Six have a pop sensibility — do you deliberately gravitate toward that style of show, or do you want to branch out musically as your theatre career continues?

I would love to be in a production of Waitress. That would be really fun. I love Sarah Bareilles. She's so amazing, and I've always loved her, and that music is so beautiful. But my big dream role has always been Evita in Evita — and Rachel [Zegler] is obviously taking it to Broadway, which I'm so excited for! I can't wait to see her in it.

I'd love to do something [...] that's more classic Broadway, like Éponine in Les Mis. [...] It'd be fun to do something Sondheim, it's so challenging.

In the same way we were talking about experimenting in all the different genres, just growing [...] in that way and seeing how I could take it on as an adult and not a student in high school or college, it would be really cool to tackle a more traditional musical.

What's a formative theatre experience you've had that really moved you?

In high school, we went and saw Next to Normal, and it was amazing. Buckets of tears. All I remember is sobbing. I went with a couple friends, and we traded seats. Two seats were closer and then two seats were further in the back, so we all did a little swap so we each got different sides and sat by different people each time. I just remember weeping and being like [...] I hadn't really seen anything like that so far.

Then I saw Cynthia Erivo in Jesus Christ Superstar at the Hollywood Bowl. It is officially the best live performance I've ever experienced in my entire life. Quote me. I've never experienced anything like that than seeing her in that role and singing. I had an out-of-body, "my gosh, wow" moment watching that.

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Photo credit: Kristin Maldonado. (Photo by Ashley Osborne)