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Title: Six: The Musical

The Room Where It Happened: The Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, AB and the Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts in Orlando, FL
Gimme That Eleven O’clock Number: “Six” and “Don’t Lose Ur Head”

After leaving the show (and singing and car-dancing on the way home), I immediately had to discuss it with my fellow video game/cordyceps/musical/theatre enthusiast, Stephanie, which then turned into this collaborative review!

Let’s Get This Show On the Road

Mandy W.: I only realized right before the show that I didn’t remember what it was about. But once it started, OH RIGHT — it’s the six wives of Henry VIII as pop stars. And they’re competing for WHO. WILL. BE. Tudor England’s top-suffering wife!?

Stephanie: Before the show I’d only seen the wives role-call section from the opening song (“Ex-Wives”) online, but I wanted the rest of it to be as spoiler-free as possible (at least, in terms of the music and production). That means I was not prepared for how funny the show would be. You don’t need to know the ins and outs of the actual history beforehand, but be warned this may make you go on a Wikipedia deep-dive after the show is over.

The Room Where It Happened

Mandy W.: The Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, AB

Stephanie: Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando, FL

Sign My Playbill

Mandy W: The premise alone is already so much fun, but the queens also each get a different music style* for their solos. Forget astrology — tell me your Six alignment! (I’m an Anna of Cleves sun, Catherine of Aragon rising, and Anne Boleyn moon.)

*Wikipedia’s list of pop star inspirations is a real trip.

Stephanie: Nowhere in that Wikipedia page does it mention the Spice Girls, which I feel is an egregious oversight. I never saw them in concert (and I wasn’t even that big of a fan when they were huge; I was ALL about the boy bands at the time), but I imagine that Six is a spiritual successor to that up-beat, GRL PWR, feminist joy you probably felt watching those eclectic and electric British women bop around on stage. (I am crap at understanding astrology beyond knowing my basic sign (Pisces), but I’m probably a Jane Seymour sun, Catherine Parr rising, and Anne Boleyn moon.)

Mandy W.: I was also surprised at the lack of ’90s inspo, because my ears definitely heard it! And I don’t understand astrology either lol but I love that Anne Boleyn made both of our lists. She is, after all, the one we’ve been waiting for.

The Book

Mandy W: I love a creative retelling, and what better way for these (pop) queens to duke it out than THROUGH SONG? Their stories have been updated with a modern touch, so it’s not exactly educational, but it’s not not educational, either. (Walking out of the show, I could at least name each wife and sum up their fates, which I couldn’t do beforehand.)

Stephanie: Ditto on the retellings, especially when it’s done in a such a creative and fun way. It felt like the ghosts of the ladies have been hanging out together since they died, observing the centuries as they go by, and were reanimated long enough to tell you their story using what they’ve learned from watching the ever-changing societal norms (or to comment on how much, in some sad cases like Katherine Howard, some things haven’t changed).

Setting the Scene

Mandy W: The concert staging is as straightforward as it gets. Striking the perfect balance between the real thing and a musical, the show is shorter than a real concert, but without an intermission or a fake encore. The queens also also accompanied by their ladies-in-waiting, aka the on-stage band!

Stephanie: I love it when the band is incorporated organically into a set! The set was deceptively “simple” compared to a “typical” Broadway show, but it made sense for the concert-like setting, and the use of bright colors, creative lighting, and choreography for the actors as they strutted and posed made it look unique and fresh for every song.

Gimme That Eleven O’clock Number

Mandy W.: I actually have a few nits to pick* with this song, but the chorus is SO DANG GOOD in that makes-you-leave-the-show-grinning-ear-to-ear way. (Source: MY FACE.) It has everything: clever wordplay, synchronized choreography, and an uplifting message of these beleaguered women taking back control of their own narratives. ALL HAIL “SIX”.

*The aforementioned nits are rhyming ‘category’ with ‘history’ and Jane’s entire verse. (I love a good pun, and even a so-bad-it’s-good pun. But these were just bad-bad! And I have to hear them again and again just to get to the good part!)

Stephanie: Jane’s verse is TOTALLY the cringiest of that super-catchy song, I agree, Mandy! “Six” is one of my favorites from the show, too. But I gotta mention Anne’s “Don’t Lose Ur Head” — aside from coming from the most well-known wife, the song is hilarious, up-beat, and full of amusing innuendos.

I am one of those people who, after seeing a show I like, goes on YouTube to watch all the comparisons I can. My Six touring cast was FANtastic; in fact, I prefer their versions of all the songs, even compared to the Broadway soundtrack, so I was thrilled to see they were the ones who got to do the NPR Tiny Desk Concert for the show so I can rewatch whenever I want (if only it was ALL the songs!).

For your viewing pleasure (shout out to Jasmine Forsberg (Jane Seymour) singing with so much emotion she made me tear up, and “Heart of Stone” isn’t even my top fave song):

Standing O

Mandy W: THE COSTUMES OMG. No wonder costume designer Gabriella Slade swept the U.S. awards* that she was nominated for. Does my search history now include the term “structured metallic dress”? YES. Have I found an acceptable knockoff? TRAGICALLY, NO. (MY QUEENDOM for Catherine of Aragon’s entire look.)

*Not the case in the U.K.; A TRAVESTY, even though I have no idea who the competition was.

Also, as someone who loves colour coding, I deeply appreciated how queen has her own distinct colour, both for costuming and solo stage lighting.

Stephanie: I obvs loved the music, but I also really enjoyed the banter between the ladies as they “competed” for the wife with the best story, and I wouldn’t have minded even more downtime with them just shooting the breeze together.

The Show Must Go On

Mandy W: Look, y’all. If you’re reading this site, there’s a good chance that you, too, are Of A Certain Age. (And even if you’re not, LEARN FROM YOUR ELDERS to save yourselves from our fate!) The biggest complaint I have is directed at myself for not bringing earplugs to what was ostensibly a concert. Not that the show was excessively loud, but my poor ears have just been excessively mistreated! As have yours, probably! (Stephanie’s note: LISTEN TO MANDY FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.)

In terms of the actual show, there was one part that stuck out in a… peculiar way. The casting of the queens is wonderfully inclusive; like several of the productions that I’ve come across online, mine had a mostly non-white cast. The usual exception (like it was for mine) is Jane Seymour. This might be because the role originated with a white actor, but it’s at least weird that white, blonde Jane — a devoted wife and mother, like literally a paragon of white femininity — is touted as the only one whom Henry actually loved, instead of all those other non-white wives. This actually reminds me of Bridgerton‘s approach to inclusive casting: I love it in theory, but it can also create unintended (and perhaps messy) dynamics that don’t hold up under scrutiny.

Stephanie: Interesting thought, Mandy. That didn’t cross my mind when I watched it, as the Jane Seymour in my cast was Filipino-American. But aside from a few tours, it looks like they tend to cast based on the same racial lines, so I do wonder if there was some unconscious bias there.

People will like what they like, but my advice for anyone coming out of the show and wanting to re-listen is to choose the pink-covered, Original Broadway Cast live version versus the black-covered, Studio Cast Recording album. I’d accidentally pulled up the London cast version first, and there was something so over-the-top poppy and cheap sounding about the production that I was lamenting the fact that I wasn’t going to be able to re-listen to the songs if THIS was all we were working with. But then I realized there was a second cast recording, THANK GOD.

Statler and Waldorf Say…

Mandy W: I know I got heavy there for a moment (and I swear I’m not a Jane hater lol despite singling her out twice), but I had SUCH a good time rocking out with these queens! LONG MAY THEY REIGN.

Stephanie: I feel much the same! Definitely a show not to be missed if you can swing it!

FTC Full Disclosure: Mandy W. received a free press ticket (as a guest) and Stephanie paid for her own ticket to this show. We received neither money nor gelato for writing this review (dammit!).

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Mandy (she/her) lives in Edmonton, AB. When she’s not raiding the library for YA books, she enjoys eating ice cream (esp. in cold weather), learning fancy pole dance tricks, and stanning BTS. Mandy has been writing for FYA since 2012, and she oversaw all things FYA Book Club from 2013 to 2023.