REVIEW: Six
Divorced. Beheaded. Died. Divorced. Beheaded. Survived.
This classic British rhyme is how history remembers the six wives of King Henry VIII — nothing more than a single word pertaining to their fate. Now, nearly 500 years after their demises, these ”ex-wives” are brought into the spotlight through the West End pop musical, “Six.”
Forget everything you know about traditional musicals because “Six” is unlike any other. Right from the start, it does everything in its power to break barriers and norms. The British show is staged like a Beyonce rock concert and follows the simple plot of a vocal competition. The stage is relatively bare save for the orchestra — made up of electric guitars and pianos — just like any concert.
In the opening number, the six wives, who have come together to form a girl band, enter the stage in exaggerated, colorful, punk outfits and immediately break the fourth wall by introducing themselves and welcoming the audience to the performance in which they promise to set history straight. After the opening number, the wives begin to quarrel among themselves over who should be the new group’s lead singer. To decide this, they each sing about their lives and time with Henry to see who had it the worst, all the while teasing each other. Each queen is given their own solo song which is as unique in style, sound and lyrics as they are.
Along with its uncommon staging and plot, the show differs in set up. Standard run times for a musical are anywhere between two and two and a half hours with two acts and an intermission in between. “Six,” however, is only 80 minutes with one act and no intermission. Its official soundtrack is only 45 minutes long.
Beyond this, the show is the most feminist to take the stage in theatre history. The lead cast consists of all females — the six wives. Through its lyrics as well as costuming, “Six” places the Queens in the center of history rather than as just side characters.
The show first came about when creator Toby Marlow was in his final year at Cambridge University studying English in 2016. Due to his involvement in theatre and music composition, he was approached about creating a new musical to be performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Edinburgh Festival Fringe is an international arts festival that takes place in Edinburgh, Scotland every year in August. The festival spans 25 days, more than 55,000 performers of music, theatre, circus acts, cabaret and spoken word. With this in mind, the idea came to him while studying for finals. He enlisted his friend Lucy Moss to help him and they wrote the musical together after reading up on the wives and watching the recording of Beyonce’s 2011 concert and story-telling performance, “Live at Roseland: Elements of 4.”
The show first premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017 and shortly after shown to the theatre department of Cambridge where producers picked it up. ”Six” toured across the UK during 2018 until finally making it to the prestigious West End in London at the beginning of 2019. In 2019, it was nominated for nine Olivier Awards including best-supporting actress for each of the Queens, although it went away empty-handed. Since then, the show has opened casts in Australia, Broadway and touring companies across North America and the United Kingdom.
“Six” is a unique, upbeat and modern musical for people who like history as well as pop music and feminism.
The soundtrack can be found on Spotify, Pandora, iTunes and YouTube. Videos of the original UK Tour/ West End casting performing at the Olivier Awards can be found on YouTube.