Joan Marcus
The hit West End and Broadway musical SIX has hit the road across the country and has taken up residence in Baltimore at the historic Hippodrome Theatre. While I do enjoy learning about the history of the Dark Ages and the Renaissance, I’m sadly lacking in my knowledge of King Henry VIII beyond the fact that he had six wives, the most famous of which is famous mainly for losing her head … literally. One wife has the same name as a very well-known British actress (are they related?), but the other four I’m really not familiar with. Probably most people in the audience are in that same boat with me, but the good news is you will come away with a better understanding of who these women were — through a modern lens.
SIX actually began as an undergraduate project at Cambridge University when Toby Marlow was selected to create and write a new musical to be presented at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Partnering with another student, Lucy Moss, they began constructing the concept for a re-telling of the story of King Henry VIII’s ex-wives over the course of ten nonconsecutive days. As the characters formed, the pair drew inspiration from pop stars who were composited into the six wives:
- Catherine of Aragon: is modelled after a mixture of Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, and Jennifer Hudson
- Anne Boleyn: includes elements of Miley Cyrus, Avril Lavigne, and Lily Allen
- Jane Seymour: is reminiscent of Adele, Sia, and Celine Dion
- Anna of Cleves: includes elements of Nicki Minaj and Rihanna
- Katherine Howard: is a blend of young, sexualized pop stars and includes elements of Britney Spears and Ariana Grande
- Catherine Parr: inspired by Alicia Keys and Emeli Sandé
The show ran for two-and-a-half months, played six performances in the West End, embarked on a tour of the UK, made its official West End premiere in 2019 (where it is still running) and launched another UK tour, had a pre-Broadway run in Chicago in 2019, and has become a production on Norwegian Cruise Lines. The show was to officially open on Broadway on March 12, 2020 … and everything shut down due to the COVID pandemic, then became the first new musical to open on Broadway when performances on the Great White Way resumed, with the North American tour — also delayed by the pandemic — finally kicked off on March 29, 2022 with two companies traveling the country, the Aragon Tour and the Boleyn Tour. It’s the Boleyn Tour that has arrived in Baltimore.
The show kicks right off with the six Queens introducing themselves (‘Ex-Wives’) and it quickly becomes apparent that this is more of a pop music concert than a traditional Broadway musical, and I am perfectly okay with that because it’s high energy, it’s visually engaging, the performers are top notch, and the songs are insanely catchy with lots of pop hooks, but lyrics that deliver (mostly) historical facts in a way that won’t leave your mind numb. The premise of the ex-wives telling their stories is presented as a contest for the audience to decide which wife wins their little contest to determine which of them had the worst experience as Henry VIII’s wife. Wife Number 1, Catherine of Aragon, tells how Henry wanted to annul their marriage and send her to a nunnery (‘No Way’) while he was chasing after Anne Boleyn. Wife Number 2 Anne then tells her story of Henry’s infidelity which led to her flirting with other men to make him jealous but it just cost her her head (‘Don’t Lose Your Head’). She’s got to be the winner, right? Wife Number 3, Jane Seymour, is ridiculed by the others because she had it easy and took offense to her saying she was the only one he truly loved … but that love was conditional on her bearing a male heir, which she did and it killed her. Winner? Running out of women in England to marry, Henry turned to Germany and selected Anna of Cleves as his next wife based solely on a portrait painted by Hans Holbein, but was rejected because she didn’t resemble her ‘profile picture’. Her relationship with Henry and her lavish lifestyle were drama-free so she bows out of the competition. Wife Number 5 is Katherine Howard, whom the others belittle as ‘the least relevant Catherine’, but her tragic history with men, emotionally recounted in the song ‘All You Wanna Do’, touches a nerve with the others, and the fact that she also lost her head keeps her in the running. Wife Number 6, Catherine Parr, finally questions the point of the competition, asking why they are comparing themselves by their connection to Henry. Not wanting to play their game, she is finally coerced into telling her story of her true love, Sir Thomas Seymore, whom she had to give up because of her arranged marriage to Henry. In the end they all realize that people only know them because they were the wives of the same man, and now it’s time to rewrite their stories, embracing their individuality, abandoning the contest, and coming together to declare they don’t need one man’s love to feel validated as people, coming together as a group to create their own ‘happily ever afters’.
Joan Marcus
SIX may not be a show for older theatre patrons because of the high-energy, pop-influenced music and concert-style production, but I thought it was fabulous. You can definitely hear the influences of pop music (I definitely heard a very specific drum beat in ‘Ex-Wives’ that I know from a Lady Gaga song), but get past that and listen to the really clever lyrics that tell you who each of these women are, what their lives were like, understand them better, and give them a respectful place in history. The entire cast is outstanding — Gerianne Pérez (Catherine of Aragon), Zan Berube (Anne Boleyn), Amina Faye (Jane Seymore), Terica Marie (Anna of Cleves), Aline Mayagoitia (Katherine Howard), Sydney Parra (Catherine Parr) — with voices that soar over the amazing accompaniment of the on-stage band (The Ladies in Waiting). Berube is probably the standout as Boleyn, with her Britney Spears-like persona, cracking jokes and always reminding everyone that no matter how bad they think their experiences were, she’s the one who lost her head. But at least she can find a compatriot in Katherine Howard. Amina Faye also gets a showstopping dramatic Jennifer Hudson-style number, ‘Heart of Stone’, that is filled with emotion and brings you to the brink of tears when she talks of losing her life giving birth … and Anne Boleyn quickly reminds Jane that she lost her head, tempering that sadness with a laugh. Terica Marie is also fantastic as Anna of Cleves, telling her story through the modern guise of a dating app (brilliantly staged as well). And the Hans Holbein, day-glo rave number should have come with glow sticks for the audience to wave in the air. I was seriously dancing in my seat throughout the whole show (the show’s score won the Tony Award in 2022).
The scenic and lighting design by Emma Bailey and Tim Deiling really gives you that concert feel with a wall of LED lights programmed to show different shapes from church windows and the dating app to the name of the show. The other stage lights frequently shine out on the audience — and the cast often breaks the fourth wall to address the audience directly, calling out the name of the city often (even, at one point, referencing the Lizzo concert that was happening at the same time just a block away from the theatre) — and there is one moment with a lot of strobe-effect lighting, so be aware of that if that affects you. The Tony Award-winning costume design reflects the period in a Spice Girls sort of way, with one of the Queens getting a pretty nifty second costume reveal. The reflect the in-concert concept of the show, the cast uses hand-held microphones, and they are all heard loud and clear, something that isn’t always the case in a musical where the actors are wearing mics on their foreheads or the side of their face. I really appreciated that I could hear every word. Carrie-Anne Ingrouille’s choreography is also really tight, and the cast is always perfectly in sync during their group numbers. Directors Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage have taken what appears on the surface to be a simple production — one set, six cast members, a small band — and made it a visually and aurally exciting experience. I didn’t know what to expect going in to SIX, but I loved every minute of it and I’m ready to see it again. When SIX comes to your town, don’t think twice, just go see it!
SIX runs about 80 minutes with no intermission. The show is recommended for ages 10 & up. Children under 5 are not permitted in the theatre but Don’t Lose Ur Head, we love our Queens of all ages!
SIX runs through May 14 at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre. Other cities on the schedule include Rochester, Detroit, Hershey, Durham NC, San Diego, Charlotte, Seattle, Portland, Cleveland, Richmond, Denver, Sacramento, Norfolk, Atlanta and more. Visit the official website for more information. Use our Ticketmaster link to purchase tickets.
SIX – National Tour trailer
Ex-Wives Ltd.
Check our Ticketmaster link for ticket availability.
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