Six (musical)

Following a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it officially opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on 3 October 2021[6] and has since launched additional touring companies.

The six Queens introduce themselves through biographical pop songs and explain that their band's lead singer will be whoever they determine had the worst experience at the hands of their shared ex-husband, Henry VIII ("Ex-Wives").

Catherine of Aragon recounts how Henry wished to annul their marriage and place her in a nunnery when he began pursuing Anne Boleyn, despite her loyalty to him ("No Way").

Henry chooses Anna of Cleves[a] for his fourth wife, but soon rejects her and annuls the marriage, claiming she failed to resemble her “profile picture."

She makes a show of complaining about living in a palace in Richmond with an enormous fortune and no husband telling her what to do, but ends up bragging about her life instead ("Get Down").

Katherine recounts her romantic history, having had many suitors even as a child, and at first relishes her attractiveness before later revealing the emotional trauma and sexual abuse she faced in each of these relationships ("All You Wanna Do").

As the Queens continue to fight over who the true winner is, the final wife, Catherine Parr, questions the point of the competition, which defines them by their connection to Henry rather than as individuals.

The other Queens, realising they have been robbed of their individuality, abandon the contest and declare that they don't need Henry's love to feel validated as people.

They use their remaining moments onstage to rewrite their stories, singing together as a group rather than as solo artists, and writing their own 'happily ever afters,' imagining that Henry had never married them ("Six").

They then perform a mashup of songs that appeared earlier in the show excluding "Haus of Holbein" in which the audience have their permission to film ("Megasix"), depending on which production they are attending.

Marlow, who was in his final year at Cambridge University, created a concept for a musical that would involve re-telling the story of King Henry VIII's ex-wives.

The six ex-wives and their corresponding pop star inspirations are: The world premiere production of Six took place at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as a presentation by the Cambridge University Musical Theatre Society.

[1] Paris and Atkinson reprised their roles as Jane Seymour and Katherine Howard, respectively, with Jarnéia Richard-Noel, Millie O'Connell, Alexia McIntosh, and Maiya Quansah-Breed joining the cast.

[citation needed] Six had its Australian premiere at the Sydney Opera House in January 2020 starring Chloé Zuel (Aragon), Kala Gare (Boleyn), Loren Hunter (Seymour), Kiana Daniele (Cleves), Courtney Monsma (Howard), and Vidya Makan (Parr).

Gare, Hunter, Daniele, Makan, Oka and Quan returned to the show, and joined by Phoenix Jackson Mendoza and Chelsea Dawson, replacing Zuel and Monsma as Aragon and Howard respectively.

[47] Moss and Armitage directed the production, with choreography by Carrie-Anne Ingrouille, set design by Emma Bailey, costumes by Gabriella Slade and lighting by Tim Deiling.

[54] The cast was Khaila Wilcoxon as Aragon, Storm Lever as Boleyn, Jasmine Forsberg as Seymour, Olivia Donalson as Cleves, Didi Romero as Howard and Gabriela Carrillo as Parr.

[56] The cast was Gerianne Pérez as Aragon, Alexandra "Zan" Berube as Boleyn, Amina Faye as Seymour, Terica Marie as Cleves, Aline Mayagoitia as Howard and Sydney Parra as Parr.

[60][61] Six had its Asian premiere at the Shinhan Card Artium in South Korea, the musical's first non-English production,[62] opening on 10 March 2023, with the cast of the UK tour performing the roles for three weeks.

[66] Beginning 31 January 2025, a Japanese cast will begin performances with multiple actors splitting the roles, including Emiko Suzuki and Sonim as Catherine of Aragon, Meimi Tamura and Maho Minamoto as Anne Boleyn, Mahya Harada and Harumi as Jane Seymour, Eliana and Marie Sugaya as Anna of Cleves, Airi Suzuki and Erika Toyohara as Katherine Howard and Sora Kazuki and Ruki Saito as Catherine Parr.

[68] Show co-creator Toby Marlow filled in as Catherine Parr for two West End performances on 28 July 2019 due to a cast-wide illness.

According to Playbill, the on-stage band members, "execute a myriad of musical cues, acting choices, and subtle choreography that further immerse the audience into the concert experience and underscore the razor-sharp wit of the show’s libretto.

[89] Marlow and Moss lamented the lack of gender diversity within the theatre industry, which caused them to focus on themes of queerness while developing the show.

[93] In a review of the Arts Theatre production, Dominic Cavendish of The Telegraph called the show "gloriously – persuasively – coherent, confident and inventive".

Marlow and Moss are "gifted comic writers", he said, and he praised the "musical force of the intensely committed and talented actresses" in the Chicago cast.

Jones said Six has an audience that is ready for it, in part because it gets to a complex historical paradox and treats it with verve, the memories of women in history being tied to the life of a man.

[97] According to Rachel Weinberg of BroadwayWorld, "Six carries out [a] joyful and anachronistic takedown of the patriarchy" through the performances of a "brilliant" cast and a book and score with an inventive and sensational compositional method.

[98] Jesse Green of The New York Times wrote that the musical is "pure entertainment", the writing is "wickedly smart", the "terrific singers" of the Chicago cast sell the show "unstintingly", and the production values "befit a splashy North American premiere with Broadway backing.

Green's New York Times review of the Broadway production labeled it a "Critic's Pick", calling it a "rollicking, reverberant blast from the past".

[113] After being in the Original West End cast for Six, Aimie Atkinson, Alexia McIntosh, Jarnéia Richard-Noel, Millie O'Connell, Maiya Quansah-Breed and Natalie May Paris teamed up with cast understudy Grace Mouat to launch a girl group called SVN (pronounced seven), with the band releasing their own original singles such as “Stars” and "WOMAN"[114] in the month of December 2021.

Marlow (left) and Moss (right) at the 75th Tony Awards .
Branding as seen on the Lyric Theatre in London in 2020.
Six at the Vaudeville Theatre, December 2022
Six at the Lena Horne Theatre (formerly Brooks Atkinson Theatre), May 2022
Portraits of the six wives of Henry VIII