‘Six’: Queens celebrating a unique sisterhood

By Rich Fahey

BOSTON – You probably weren’t paying attention in history class when they tralked about the many wives of the celebrated 16^th Century monarch Henry VIII all being  rock goddesses, in the style of icons such as Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, Arianna Grande, and Alicia Keys.

 It certainly hasn’t gotten much play through the centuries, but it comes to the fore in the national touring production of “Six,” a dynamic, Energizer Bunny of a rock musical now at the Emerson Colonial Theatre through Dec. 29.

The premise is that the six wives of the English King Henry VIII are performing a pop concert as a girl group. But each one of the 16^th– Century Tudor Queens is sick and tired of the way she has been portrayed by history and is ready to set the record straight – in song, no less. So it evolves into a bit of a sisterly rivalry about which one can best the other by telling their story in song.

Co-Creators Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss developed the piece while undergrads at Cambridge University in the UK, and the 80-minute result has found its audience, with many theater-goers repeat customers.

 “Six” had a tryout at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge in 2019 on the way to Broadway, where it hit a huge speed bump when it closed in March 2020 due to the pandemic on what was supposed to be opening night. It is now playing at the Lena Horne Theatre on Broadway in New York City on an open-ended run and also had a run two years ago at the Emerson Colonial.

Om Broadway, “Six” won two Tony Awards for original score and the costumes by Gabriella Slade and is still running.

The musical is framed as a competition among the six women for best song, but eventually evolves into a competition over which wife has the most pathetic story – and the competition, given the backstories, is keen.

The six Queens, just to refresh your history-challenged memories, the performers portraying them, and their ultimate destinies are: Catherine of Aragon (Kristina Leopold), divorced; Anne Boleyn (Cassie Silva), beheaded; Jane Seymour (Kelly Denice Taylor), death by natural causes; Anna of Cleves (Danielle Mendoza), marriage annulled; Katherine Howard (Alizé Cruzas), beheaded; and Catherine Parr (Adriana Scalice), a survivor after Henry’s death.

Each of the six offers a piece of her individual story as well as a solo piece tailored to their own experiences. Your program thankfully provides a complete guide to all six queens

The six are all very different shades of wonderful, but the showiest role of the bunch goes to Silva  as Anne Boleyn, the former lady in waiting to Catherine of Aragon  who moved up before she got moved out in a rather gruesome fashion. She may be small in stature but she’s big in talent and personality, and feisty to boot, no shrinking violet when she belts out a hip-hop flavored number called “Don’t Los Ur Head,” standing out in the Sisterhood of the Palace.

Co-creator Moss said in an interview that one of the play’s goals was to write “great roles for women” and in the theatrical portraits that have emerged in the songs, it has more than met that standard.

Marlow said in an interview that extensive research was done to provide fodder for the musical numbers, and each of the Queens is heavily influenced by a pop star from today’s world.

And while “Six” works because of both the writing and the charms of its principals, it ultimately owes its success to the catchy pop-rock score that encompasses a broad spectrum of musical genres. The lyrics are wickedly witty, and probably need to be heard several times to catch all the bon mots.

Then there’s the ingenious production values. Gabriella  Slade’s eye-popping costumes are mash-ups featuring elements of Tudor-style clothing as well as elements of actual designs worn by the pop stars they are emulating.

The choreography by Carrie-Anne Ingrouille also pays tribute to pop stars such as Beyoncé, Avril Lavigne, Adele, Nicki Minaj, and Ariana Grande, and the six performers are often together in dazzling girl group precision-mode numbers.

The lighting by Tim Deling is rock concert-ready, and Paul Gatehouse’s sound balances the demands of the performers with a marvelous four-piece band featuring conductor/keyboardist Lizzie Webb, Emily Davies on bass, Rose Laguana on guitar and Camilla Mennitte Pereya on drums.

Directors Moss and Jamie Armitage never let the energy lag even for a moment.

 “Six” has wended its way from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to London to Chicago to Cambridge to Broadway, picking up fans along the way, especially after the success of  the “SIX: LIVE ON OPENING NIGHT”  Broadway album, which debuted at Number 1 on the Billboard cast album charts and has surpassed 100 million streams.

Theater-goers at a recent performance couldn’t get enough, especially after a pulsating finale of the title song “Six” had people dancing in the aisles.

They are six one-of-a-kinds who perform as one, celebrating their unique sisterhood.

The North American Touring Production of “Six.” Created by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss. Directed by Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage. At the Emerson Colonial Theatre through Dec. 29. BroadwayinBoston.com