**** Highly Recommended SIX, the pop-rock musical playing at the Nederlander Theatre through July 14th, is now on my personal list of top ten favorite musicals. Six is a show about six women who happened to be married to the same man and as they observed, is only remembered because of them! It’s feminist, empowering, joyous, fun, sparkly – and those gals can SING! I’ve seen it several times, even downloaded the soundtrack, and it never gets old. I’m telling you, I LOVE this show! 4 BIG Spotlights
The ladies: Catherine of Aragon (Kristina Leopold), inspired by Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez & Jennifer Hudson; Anne Boleyn (Cassie Silva), inspired by Miley Cyrus, Avril Lavigne & Lily Allen; Jane Seymour (Kelly Denice Taylor), inspired by Adele, Sia & Celine Dion; Anna of Cleves (Danielle Mendoza), inspired by Nicki Minaj & Rihanna; Katherine Howard (Alizé Cruz was ill so Taylor Sage Evans was on), inspired by Ariana Grande & Britney Spears; and Catherine Parr (Adriana Scalice), inspired by Alicia Keys and Emeli Sandé; sing and dance their hearts out in a sort of contest – whoever had the worst life with Henry wins.
The songs are all different, most with driving rhythms, all with clever and frequently bawdy lyrics. The musical begins with song called “Ex-Wives” leading with that old rhyme, “Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived” and explaining how that got ‘unfriended’!
“No, no, no, no, no” is repeated frequently in Catherine of Aragon’s rockin’ “No Way”. Anne Boleyn, of course, has a hip-hop-ish number, “Don’t Lose Ur Head” in which she texts and shoots selfies before she does lose her head. Jane Seymour, on the other hand, sang about her true love for Henry in her ballad, “Heart of Stone” – and of course she thought she should win because she died before she could ever hold her baby.
All of the queens donned glowing white ruffs and sunglasses to sing “Haus of Holbein”, a laugh-out-loud hilarious look at German royalty and the artists who painted their portraits. Henry chose “Anna of Cleves” on the basis of a miniature. In her song, “Get Down”, she explained that divorce was inevitable but she had a pre-nup!
In “All You Wanna Do”, Katherine Howard sings about how the men in her life objectified her, and then she met Henry, who really objectified her, then had her beheaded. Finally, “In I Don’t Need Your Love”, Catherine Parr explains that she had a life before Henry – and had one after he died.
In the final song, “Six”, they realize that they are only famous because there were six of them – but on the other hand, nobody would remember Henry except – SIX!
Kudos to costume designer, Gabriella Slade who designed six sparkly modern costumes, with hints of Elizabethan style, a ruff here, a squared panier there, a puffed sleeve here, laces there. All the ladies had sparkly high-heeled boots too.
The SIX Ladies in Waiting aka the Band, Jane Cardona (Music Director/ Keyboard), Sterlyn Termine (Bass), Rose Laguana (Guitar) and Kami Lujan (Drums), play their hearts out.
Honestly, you’d have thought this was a major rock concert judging by the audience screaming and cheering for their favorite songs. Many had obviously already downloaded the sound track, since they were singing along.
SIX premiered at the Edinburg Fringe Festival, and is still running in London’s West End. The first American performance was at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre in 2019. It was scheduled to open on Broadway the very day of the Covid shutdown. SIX finally opened on Broadway on October 3rd, 2021, and is running still. SIX won the Tony Award for Best Musical Score.
SIX is co-directed by Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage, with choreography by Carrie-Anne Ingrouille.
SIX runs through July 14th at Broadway in Chicago’s James M. Nederlander Theatre, 24 W. Randolph Street, Chicago. Running time is 80 minutes, no intermission. Performances are Tuesdays at 7:00 pm; Wednesdays at 1:00 & 7:00 pm; Thursdays at 7:00 pm; Fridays at 7:30 pm; Saturdays at 2:00 & 7:30 pm; Sundays at 1:00 pm. There is an additional evening performance on Sunday, July 7th at 6:30 pm. There will be no performance on Thursday, July 4th. Tickets range from $39-$114. FYI https://www.broadwayinchicago.com/shows/six/ or www.ticketmaster.com.