SIX brings history, power, and glitz to Music Hall
Heads will roll as wronged women rewrite history one pop song at a time.
SIX. // Photo by Joan Marcus
A sold out crowd of all ages gathered at the Music Hall for the opening night of SIX on Tuesday night—many in the audience unaware of the girl power about to explode from the stage.
SIX hands the mic to the famed wives of King Henry VIII, giving them a platform to sing their stories and reframe the patriarchal view from which their lives are remembered. For example, did you know that “survived” wife number six, Catherine Parr, was an author and the first woman in England to publish books (in English) in her own name?
Probably not.
The majority of what we’re taught is in relation only to their husband.
SIX. // Photo by Joan Marcus
SIX won 23 awards in the 2021/2022 Broadway season, including the Tony Award® for Best Original Score (Music and Lyrics) and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical. The small cast, one stationary set, no costume changes, and the absence of an intermission all help to set this show apart.
Since the show has more in common with a concert than a traditional Broadway musical, the performer’s vocal talent is front and center with few distractions from props, scenery, or background actors.
The six vocal performers must be—and were—powerhouses who could enunciate in a variety of accents, all while constantly on the move with microphone in hand. They relied on each other for musical timing cues, and whether they were singing harmony or in unison, it was spot on. The choreography was less about dancing and more about visual formations, but again, these six performers sang on their bouncy and bedazzled feed nonstop for 80 minutes.
SIX. // Photo by Joan Marcus
Those energetic and moving 80 minutes included songs inspired by other female powerhouses like Adele, Nicki Minaj, Sia, Lily Allen, Shakira, Beyoncé, and more. Similar to our overall cultural shift in the last few decades, the show started as a competition pitting women against each other and ended with a slightly more feminist perspective of reclamation and unity.
Once reduced to a rhyme: “divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived,” the creators of SIX aim to shine a light on these queens and perhaps open audiences’ minds to other areas where history has only told a portion of the story. These stories just happen to be told with belting vocals and a confetti-drop finale.
The touring cast features Gerianne Pérez as Catherine of Aragon, Zan Berube as Anne Boleyn, Amina Faye as Jane Seymour, Terica Marie as Anna of Cleves, Aline Mayagoitia as Katherine Howard, and Sydney Parra as Catherine Parr. For this particular performance, Marilyn Caserta played Anna of Cleves and Aryn Bohannon played Kathryn Howard. The cast also includes alternates Jana Larell Glover, Taylor Pearlstein, and Cecilia Snow. Music for the show is performed on stage by Katie Coleman, Sterlyn Termine, Liz Faure, and Caroline Moore.
The National Tour of SIX is a part of the 22-23 PNC Broadway in KC Season, taking the Music Hall stage February 28–March 5, 2023. Tickets to SIX can be found at BroadwayInKC.com or by calling 1-800-982-2787.
