We saw SIX in New York City over the Thanksgiving weekend. Six, a transplanted British musical about the six wives of Henry VIII, is full of fun and frivolity. These onetime queens, blinged and bedazzled as fabulous pop-diva ABBA clones, undertake a six-way singing competition to decide who had “the biggest, the firmest, the fullest… load of B.S. to deal with” from their kingly husband. Backed by a live band, the sextet’s set resembles an episode of The Voice.
Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow, who wrote the script in 2017 while studying at Cambridge, pretend to a historical aura while gleefully emptying their subjects of historical content. As Moss explained in an interview, SIX is “about showing that women and non-binary people can tell stories that don’t include men.”
The six historical women are grafted onto six contemporary pop-music brands. Catherine Howard (Samantha Pauly) delivers her bubblegum anthem “All You Wanna Do” à la Ariana Grande, and Anne Boleyn (Andrea Macasaet) evokes pop-punker Avril Lavigne with “Don’t Lose Ur Head.” These mashups constitute the show’s creative achievement: they are clever — devilishly clever — and the performers all acquit themselves admirably in their delivery. Brittney Mack commands attention as a Nicki Minaj-ian Anne of Cleves. Adrianna Hicks as a Beyoncé-inspired Catherine of Aragon is, quite simply, electric.
You need to be in the mood for a production like SIX. Fortunately, we were. The mantra “Divorced, Beheaded, Died; Divorced, Beheaded, Survived” presents an easy way to remember what really happened to these women minus the bling. GRADE: B+
MUSICAL NUMBERS:
- “Ex-Wives” – Company
- “Ex-Wives (Reprise/Playoff)” – Company †
- “No Way” – Catherine of Aragon and Company
- “Anne Boleyn (Interlude)” – Company minus Anne Boleyn †
- “Don’t Lose Ur Head” – Anne Boleyn and Company
- “Heart of Stone” – Jane Seymour and Company
- “Haus of Holbein” – Company
- “Haus of Holbein (Playoff)” – Company †
- “Get Down” – Anna of Cleves and Company
- “All You Wanna Do” – Katherine Howard and Company
- “I Don’t Need Your Love” – Catherine Parr and Company
- “I Don’t Need Your Love (Remix)” – Catherine Parr and Company ††
- “Six” – Company
- “Megasix (Encore)” – Company †
I would rather pass a kidney stone than have to sit through this. They all sing in styles of singers I don’t even like. And resembles an episode of the Voice? Another reason to avoid it.
Steve, the six wives compete musically to show who had the worst time with Henry VIII. Since HAMILTON demonstrated that History could be entertaining and popular and profitable, I’m sure more historical topics will become the basis for future musicals.
And I forgot to mention the picture of the women on the poster makes it look like a Saturday morning show for tween girls.
Steve, the majority of the audience for SIX the night we saw it was about 70% women.
Steve is being kind!
Ugh! Definitely not for me. I’d much rather watch the old BBC series “The Six Wives of Henry VIII” from the early 1970s (with Keith Mitchell as Henry and a host of familiar British faces as Henry’s wives and courtiers). And it seems the height of irony for the writers of SIX to claim that the show is all “about showing how women and non-binary people can tell stories that don’t include men“ when the only reason we’ve even heard of these six women is because they were all married to a specific man.
Deb, you’re right. The raison d’etre for SIX is Henry VIII’s treatment of these women. I’ll have to go check out the old BBC series, The Six Wives of Henry VIII.
Deb, I believe that show was the first time we saw Annette Crosbie, who played Catherine of Aragon.
Great cast: Annette Crosbie as Catherine of Aragon; Dorothy Tutin as Anne Boleyn; Anne Stallybrass as Jane Seymour; Elvi Hale as Anne of Cleves; Angela Pleasence (Donald’s daughter) as Katherine Howard; and Rosalie Crutchley as Catherine Parr. Those names will be familiar to anyone who watches as much British TV (particularly British TV mysteries) as I do.
Pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, and…pass.
There is not enough money to make me sit through this. Nicki Minaj? Arianda Grande? No, just no.
When we first went to London in the early ’70s, there were old guys (WWII pensioners) who took you around on tours of the Houses of Parliament. That was the first time I heard the “divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived” thing. It made them much easier to remember.
Jeff, the appeal of SIX extends to a young audience. Katie loved it as did Diane. I found it fun, but my grade was a lot lower than theirs.
Henry’s fourth wife, Anne of Cleves (the second “divorced”) also survived Henry—in fact, was the last of his wives to die. Anne was also probably the luckiest of the wives: she negotiated a generous pension and stayed in England after she and Henry quite amicably parted. She stayed close to the royal family and left money to both Mary (who was Queen when Anne died) and Elizabeth in her will.
Deb, I came away thinking Anne of Cleaves might have been the luckiest of the wives. She talks and sings about her large castle in SIX.
To think that this ugly killer Henry VIII defined the Anglican Church made me kind of wonder again about religion.
To make a musical out of this horrible story is kind of crazy imho.
Wolf, history seems to be a hot topic for Broadway musicals. The glitz of SIX glosses over the horror Henry VIII put these women through.
You couldn’t pay me to watch this. There was a SHOWTIME series called THE TUDORS around ten years ago that covered this material in sleazy, but entertaining, fashion.
Michael, much of the history of the English Monarchy strikes me as sleazy.
Although I probably wouldn’t pay to see it, I certainly respect how open you (and Diane) are to varied experiences and styles.
Patti, the audience for SIX was a lot younger and more feminine than the audience for TINA: THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL. Katie wanted to see SIX so we decided to join her and our niece Elise. Even Patrick tagged along for this one.
I could go for this. Sounds like you come out tapping your toes and feeling smarter.
Dan, the music of SIX is infectious! And I learned facts about Henry VIII’s wives that I hadn’t known. All in all, a fun musical!